A loud ringing broke the peaceful slumber of two children, for they were just on the verge of becoming teenagers, that caused a massive groan to escape simultaneously from their mouths. One feminine arm came out from the mass of covers before clumsily feeling around for the source of the noise. Once tan flesh came into contact with the hard, cool surface of the alarm clock a muffled victory noise was heard.

Crash.

And with that one lazy throw, the alarm clock met his untimely end.

The crash caused a head to emerge from the caccoon of blankets on the other side of the room, revealing the face of a teenage boy with messy brown hair and tired, bored brown-black eyes. The sleep left those eyes with a couple of blinks and instead was replaced with a slightly exasperated, bored look. With a scratch of his head the teen got out of bed with a sigh, standing and stretching to get the kinks out of his body before slumping over to the opposite bed to stand before the mound of earthy blankets, the only sign of life being the slightly twitching hand that still hung uselessly over the side of the bed.

With another sigh Shikamaru stripped away the blankets to poke at the body of his twin sister in hopes of arousing her from slumber.

"Come on Roka, we have to go." He met the silence he received with harder poking.

"Roooooooooka," this time the girl swatted at his hand before turning over on her side to ignore her brother.

"... Fuck it," Rokariku yelped at the tugging on her feet before she found herself on the cold, hard floor at the foot of her bed. She stood with a growl, brushing dark brown hair from her eyes, two sets of identical mocha eyes in a stare off, one bored the other glaring.

"So troublesome little sister," was all Shikamaru sighed out before leaving to the bathroom to get ready. While his back was turned his twin flipped him off before turning to the closet to get her clothes. Stupid academy making us get up at this kami forsaken hour, she let out a deep sigh, how troublesome.

Barely ten seconds later Shikamaru came from the bathroom, dressed and ready to go. With an inclination of his head he silently told her that he would wait down stairs for her. She nodded back before taking her own turn in the bathroom. She was in and out of the shower quickly and lazily gathered her waist length hair in both hands before twisting it and piling it onto the top of her head, securing it there with a green bandage and a whole lotta bobby pins, leaving her with a large messy bun type thing on top of her head.

With a yawn she then pulled on her long sleeved fishnet shirt before dragging on her loose, dark green tshirt on over it, it being littered with tears that she never really got around to fixing. Next she tiredlly pulled on her baggy black cargo shorts and secured them in place with her kunai pouch, she then slipped on her dark black ninja sandals before slipping out of the bathroom, not bothering to look in the mirror. Caring about her appearence like other girls did was too troublesome to do.

Once she made it down the stairs she looked up at the clock in the kitchen to see that she hadn't kept her brother waiting long, at all. She was greeted with a warm smile by her mother and an chocolate chip muffin tossed to her by her father... Which cause her mother to go off on him about how he shouldn't feed us junk for breakfest because it had unhealthy side affects and blah blah blah.

Rokariku tuned them out and automatically caught the red apple her mother threw at her before grabbing her double bladed chain scythe and slinging it across her torso like a sash. With a nod torwards her parents and a quick love you both she and her brother were out the door, both munching on their muffins rather than the apples as they trekked down to the academy.

Once her muffin was devoured the young girl looked up at the sky with her hands crossed behind her head.

"Ne, Shika," said boy looked over at her with a bored look on his face, his arms in the same position as hers. She ignored his look of disinterest and continued, "Today we finally graduate the academy."

"Only if we pass the test," his drone was met with a 'duh' look. He shrugged, they both were gonna pass and they knew it.

"Tomorrow we're gonna be placed into teams, which means we're gonna start going on C and D ranked missions." Rokariku let out a dragged out sigh, "Troublesome."

Shikamaru nodded his agreement, "With our luck we'll be paired with some loud mouth idiots." Sigh, "What a drag."

Rokariku nodded in agreement before once again turning her gaze to the sky, which was a beautiful and pure azure color. Puffy shapes of white were floating lazily across it and Rokariku dropped her head dejectedly, Today's the perfect day to watch clouds and I'm gonna' be stuck in some damn room. Troublesome.

She picked her head back when a high yell rang throughout the area. Both her brother and she looked at one another before sighing out again, Naruto was up to his old tricks.

"We're probably going to have to endure a lecture now,"

"Plus probably do some inane task."

They both sighed, "What a drag."

That blonde haired Naruto was always causing trouble, as a result most people couldn't stand him. Plus, for some reason, all the parents supported the dislike of the hyperactive blonde. At least, that's what Rokariku has gathered and she's pretty sure she knows the reason behind it but she's always been too lazy to prove her theory. Personally Shikamaru and she didn't particularly hate the boy, they just found him too troublesome to really deal with (What didn't they find troublesome?). The fact that he was always getting into trouble and causing them to have to pay the price along with him didn't help matters any.

Irksome little blonde. Why can't he just chill out and watch the clouds?

Rokariku took another glance at the sky, so calm.

She reeeeaaaally didn't want to be in school taking some ridiculous final exam.

After what seemed like forever they finally made it to the academy, walking in leizurely to plop down in the back row in their normal arrangement, with Rokariku being the closest to the wall and Shikamaru in the middle. The young girl didn't have to look over to know that her brother was already resting his head in his folded arms, snoozing like no tomorrow. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, knowing that doing so would only make her a hypocrite as she was usually doing the same thing as her brother.

Honestly she didn't even know why they went to the academy, the were both damn well smart enough to simply skip it or graduate early. That seemed too troublesome though, if they did that then everyone would know how smart the were, which would lead to things like expectations and pressure. Screw that, they'd rather just be thought dumb and lazy because at least that way they could still doze off in the sun, under those white, fluffy clouds.

With another sigh Rokariku rested her chin on her raised hand, the other folded infront of her, and began to look around to catalogue who showed up early and on time. It was a small habit of hers that she just couldn't break, not that she really tried or anything.

In front there sat Hinata Hyuuga, the girl looking like a timid white mouse in her oversized coat, pale Hyuuga eyes, and short blue-black hair. As usual her eyes were downcast and she was twiddling her fingers nervously. Poor little thing was like a bunny, one is scared to startle her less her heart gave up.

Rokariku dismissed her, there was no way they would be paired in the same team together.

Next her eyes came upon Shino Aburame, bug-boy. He just sat there with his glasses and oversized jacket. How boring... I wouldn't mind being in a team with him. The boy was always calm and boring, yet being born of his clan would make him undoubtly strong and a good ally. He would do.

Rokariku raised her eyebrow before filing him away, chances of them being teammates were slim to none.

Kiba Inuzuka was next, as usual he was playing in the middle row on the far side of the room with his dog Akamaru. The boy was feral looking and Rokriku had always wanted to touch the fang tattoos on his cheeks. She controlled herself though since the resulting reaction would be too troublesome to deal with. The kid was nice enough, but he was also exasperatingly cocky and short-tempered. Plus his grades weren't that good so chances were they wouldn't be paired together.

A yell coupled with a rather loud arguement brought her out of her wanderings and what she saw made her sweatdrop and question the worth of humanity. For there were two girls fighting shamelessly over who would get to sit with the last Uchiha, Sasuke. Both girls had bright and noticable hair, one with a shock of pink and the other with bright blonde. The girls were pretty enough, but their incessant screaching grated on the Nara Twins' last nerves.

Rokariku dismissed them, not bothering to even think of their chances of being in a group. Chances of having the Yamanaka or Haruno were surprisingly high but Rokariku desperately wished to break the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Choji would be find, but having either Ino or Sakura in her team would guarantee a very troublesome genin life.

Dismissing them with a grimace the brunette began to contemplate the Uchiha. One would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to not know of the story behind the infamous Uchiha Massacre. Personally Rokariku didn't see the big deal behind it, Itachi must have had his reasons and everybody's got to die sometime. At the same time, to think of Shikamaru betraying her... Her heart clenched painfully at the thought and she felt a headache coming on. Without her twin, she wouldn't be able to survive. Period.

Yes she was what some would call morbid and callouse but the fact remains that she was simply realistic. If Sasuke knew her views on the subject chances were he would flambe her alive. She didn't want to become a shishkabob before seeing her sixteenth birthday, thank you very much.

Bringing her thoughts back to the subject at hand, Rokariku thought of the possibilities of the cold, talented Uchiha being in the same team and them. The chances were low, but higher then the others at the same time. Though Shikamaru and she did not use their intellegience in class, preferring instead to slack off, they weren't the worst ones in class. Talent like the Uchiha's would have to be put in a team with someone like Naruto, in order to balance out the stupid.

She snickered quietly to herself at the thought, at the same time Uchiha looked up and caught her eye. Unlike most girls in the class she didn't blush or shy away; instead, she just looked right back, raising an eyebrow when the other wouldn't look away.

If he wanted a staring contest then fine. She didn't see why girls fawned themselves over a callous prick like him, they cerainly weren't making themselves more attractive in the boy's eyes surely. The boy was too troublesome, both Nara twins did not care much for him.

Rokariku rolled her eyes at the Uchiha's stubborness when a munching distracted her. Ignoring the Uchiha she turned her dark gaze to the boy sitting next to her brother and smiled.

Chouji Akimichi was overweight, as was the norm in his clan. The swirls on his chubby cheeks made him look adorable and combined with his squinted eyes he always reminded Roka of a squirrel nibbling on some nuts. Just replace nuts with bag of chips.
Chouji was the best friend that either of the Nara twins had and together they were the three amigos. The Naras appreciated his personality and calm, amusing attitude whilst Chouji appreciated the fact that they looked at him on the inside, not the outside. Plus the two had always been good friends of his and he basically felt that they were his siblings.

Rokariku's smile widened and she leaned over her brother's now awake form to snatch a chip from the boy.

"Roka! My bag's almost empty, don't steal my chips!" Rokariku just smiled at the other while nibbling on her chip. Shikamaru grunted at the light weight of his sister before pushing her off him and onto her own seat, taking the oppurtunity to steal the rest of her chip. Shi pouted indignitantly, "Shika! I stole that chip fair and square!"

Shikamaru just smirked at her and chewed on the crunchy BBQ flavoured chip. Just as his sister was about to pop him a new one, younger sister's could sometimes be so troublesome, a poof interrupted the classroom. The poof was too big to be just Iruka which means that...

Rokariku did a once over of the classroom and sure enough the only one missing was...

"Naruto! How could you deface the Hokage memorial with paint?!" Sure enough there in the front center of the class lay Uzumaki, his slender form tied up and his eyes squinted in a pout.

What a drag, both Naras simlutaneously thought. With a sigh they both layed down their heads, already bored with the lecture their sensei was dishing out to the blonde haired, blue-eyed, whisker-faced troublemaker. While Iruka droned on and on about respect and such Rokariku slowly felt her eyes become heavier and heavier before finally dozing off.

What she guessed was a few minutes later she felt a soft nudge on her shoulder; however, before she could swat it away a voice called out to her and she cursed under her breath before sitting up in her chair. An irritated Iruka stared back at her and asked her if she would like to join the rest of the students.

Sure enough all the students, save her and her brother (that's where the nudge came from), were lined at the fron of the classroom. Some of the more juvenile ones snickered at her, most likely assuming that she was emberrassed to be called out in front of all them. She rolled her eyes at them before shrugging and standing up, following her brother's example by shoving her pants in her pockets and walking leizurely down to the rest.

Once she was about to join the line a tanned hand stopped her, right in front of the others, and her eyes followed the arm up to the face of Iruka.

"Well Rokariku, since you decided to doze off you can go first." This caused more snickering and a mumur from her brother about 'troublesome sisters'. Again the girl shrugged and pulled her hands out of her pocket. From the murmerings she could deduce that they were being forced to have a surprise test on the replication jutsu because of Naruto.

Rokariku made the correct handsign and put up the illusion of being Iruka, her bored face replaced by his more cheerful one. Iruka nodded to her to get back in line and she did, muttering under her breath, "What a drag," before going to stand beside her brother. She finally took note of all the insults being muttered to Naruto, things like "Dobe," and "Deadlast." She rolled her eyes at the immaturity at it all before she heard a rather nasty insult come from Sakura.

How troublesome.

"Ya' know this is just a simple transformation jutsu," most stilled at her words, "you all must be muttering because you feel insecure in your abilities to preform it properly." Shikamaru rolled his eyes beside her and Sakura got a very mad look on her face before snapping back, "This is a simple jutsu! I could do it in my sleep!"

"Then quit complaining and muttering insults. You're so troublesome." With that she closed her eyes and leaned back against the desks, dismissing any further comments made by the pink haired girl. By doing so she completely missed the shocked look Naruto sent her.

Never had you come to defense, he always assumed that Rokariku hated him along with everyone else. The troublesome boy didn't realize that she simply couldn't be bothered to befriend him unless he made the first move, which he had of course never done. The other students just had somewhat shocked looks upon their faces, Rokariku hadnever bothered to really speak up before, preferring to stay unnoticed with her brother.

In fact, most of them thought that the two were complete idiots, which suited them just fine. Really the oly reason they made low grades on everything was because they simply couldn't be bothered to apply themselves. The only thing Rokariku every applied anything to was training once in a while, along with cloud watching with her brother of course.

One by one all the students preformed his/her transformation flawlessly. Then it was Naruto's turn and well... His could use some work... Okay a lot of work.

Rokariku sighed, troublesome idiot.

Some snickered at his attempt and resulting pout but others, such as her brother and she, just sighed and went back to their desks.

Soon enough it was time to take the exam, which turned out to be a simple clone jutsu. Again, everyone passed. Everyone except Naruto that is.

Afterwards, in the courtyard, the majority of the kids were congratulated by their parents. Their were shouts of joy and smiles all around. It was kind of annoying, all the noise, the Nara twins thought anyways. They too were greeted by their parents, their father giving them a lazy smile of pride and their mother gushing over them. They each internally rolled their eyes but put up with it with good humour.

Of course their parents couldn't stay for the whole thing, their father having a mission and their mother having to take something to the Hokage. That was just fine with them, now they could just chill out with Chouji and watch the clouds for the remainder of the day.

Perfect.

Rokariku blew her bangs out of her face before saying fuck it and removed her headband from where it had been on her arm, identical to Shikamaru's; instead, she moved the black band to wrap it securely around her forehead and keep her brunette locks out of her brown eyes. She stretched afterwards, waiting with her brother for Chouji to escape the happy rejoices and promises of numerous foods from his parents. He seemed to be enjoying all the food promises though, of course.

Finally he came over to them with his puffy squirrel like cheeks and they began on their way to their favourite clearing when something caught Roka's gaze. Over by a lone tree sat Uzumaki, his normally exuberent blue eyes saddened and downcast. Inwardly Rokariku cursed herself for giving a damn, wishing she could be more like her brother when it came to total indifference to people other then his friend's and family. Outwardly she told the two that she would catch up with them later and receive no inquiries in return, just two nods. Her big brother new she could take care of herself.

She lazily walked over to the boy from behind and was about to say something to him when she caught the tail end of the conversation between him and some jounin who had showed up out of nowhere. Great, the kid was now going to try and steal the secret scroll in order to become a genin because of some weird jounin who gave off a serious creeper vibe.

Damn freak.

He was gone by the time she was close enough to Naruto to touch him, which she did, laying a tanned hand on his shoulder. The blonde started with a jump and she barely resisted the urge to mumble out how troublesome he was. His azure eyes widened slightly when he turned around and saw who it was standing behind him.

It's that girl who defended me...

His eyes narrowed and the sparkle died from them again when the thought that she may just be there to insult him. He averted his eyes from her, preferring instead to once again look at all the happy families in front of him.

"What do you want?" Rokariku blinked in mild surprise at his tone, a far cry from the usual happieness and hyperness that usually laced it. She shrugged and shoved her hands into her cargo shorts again, chances of him being depressed were high so it's not like she didn't expect it or anything. Before she answered she walked beside him to lean up against the ancient oak tree that held the swing up.

"Be careful with that Jounin," blue eyes widened, crap did she hear us talking? "And yes I heard you both talking about the secret scroll." Naruto looked over at her with wide eyes, panic racing through him at the idea that she would tell the Hokage or Iruka, "No I'm not going to tell him." Her admission did little to quell his fears, and he was kind of freaked out that she was answering all of his mental questions, could she- "No I can't read minds. You're just easy for me to read."

Naruto sweatdropped at the utterly bored look on her face before asking, this time his voice laced with panic instead of bitterness, "What are you going to do? Tell the Hokage?"

His eyes widened in surprise when the girl shook her head no. "Why would I do that? Then I would have to tell him why you're doing it and how I found out. Much too troublesome." Her voice was very much like her brothers, low and drawn out, if speech could be catergorized as lazy then she would definately fall under that category.

This girl is weird.

"Who are you anyways?" Rokariku sweatdropped, she had been in class with this kid since they entered the academy and he didn't even know who she was. "I mean," he continued, oblivious to the brunette's thoughts, "I always see you hanging out with Shikamaru and Chouji but never caught your name."

The girl resisted the urge to facepalm the ground. With a heaved sigh she told the blonde he was an idiot and the blonde yelled idingintly back, "I'm Shikamaru's sister. His twin sister, Nara, Rokariku."

...

Complete silence before Naruto broke out in a grin and nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his head. Woops. "I knew you two looked alike!"

Rokariku just rolled her eyes before turning so her back rested against the tree. With another sigh she crossed her arms under her neck and looked up at the pretty blue sky between the verdant green leaves of the tree.

Damn, no clouds.

For a while silence reigned between them, though surprisingly enough it was not awkward, at least not to Rokariku. Naruto just returned his gaze to the embracing families in front of him, a melancholy look haunting his aura. Rokariku raised an eyebrow at his behaviour before muttering something.

Naruto turned his eyes ot her with a giant question mark above his head, "What did you say."

Rokariku sighed, "You're so troublesome." Naruto bristled slightly while shouting a hey, the ninja ignored him, "I was telling you how you could steal the scroll."

The look on the other's face was priceless and caused a smirk to light up Roka's face.

"Wh-why would you do that?"

"Because you sure couldn't come up with a plan that didn't involve getting caught. Now quit being troublesome and listen to me." Naruto shut up and leaned torwards her, nodding every once in a while as she explained the plan.

At the end of it she still retained her ever bored face whilst Naruto's was rather... Shocked as fucking hell (to put it lightly of course). The girl still stared up at the sky, absently wondering what her brother and Chouji were doing.

Most likely munching and cloud-gazing, lucky bastards.

She could see clouds rolling lazily across the sky. Damn, she was missing it.

Naruto disrupted her envious thoughts.

"Why are you doing this?" The somber and morose air had once again come about him. Pity, the younger Nara was actually starting to miss his bubbly personality. Weird.
In response to his question the girl shrugged her shoulders, "You're new attitude is troublesome."

The giant question mark once again made an appearence on the boy's face, Rokariku sighed- troublesome boy- before knocking him upside the head.

"What the hell was that for?" The blonde pouted and rubbed the bump on his head. Rokariku gave him a small smile before ruffling his hair and walking away, wishing for his good luck over her shoulder and waving off his attempts to call her back.

She missed the sparkle coming to his eyes and the bright smile on his face.

A few minutes later found her in the same spot as her brother, namely plopped down on her back, arms crossed behind her neck, watching the clouds lazily roll by while munching on some chips with Chouji. Neither of them inquired as to where she had been, if she wanted them to know then she'd tell them.

For hours that day they lied down and just watch the tranquil sky.

For tomorrow they started their life as ninjas

Instead of being awoken by a gosh forsaken ringing sound, the Nara twins got another kind of wake up call.

One that involved cold water and a cackling father.

Fuck my life.

Rokariku growled as she wrung the cold water out of her hair, trying to will away the chill bumps ghosting her skin. Beside her Shikamaru scowled and shook his head to get the water out and his sister bit her lip from saying how he reminded her of Kiba in that instance. That would definately get her in a shadow hold for a couple of hours.

She was happy for the sun beating down on them, it was helping to warm her up while also drying her. Shikamaru and she were both going to be a little bit late for class, and were currently hauling ass in order not to be.

Troublesome.

They both panted slightly when they finally arrived at the academy, their house was more then a little bit of a ways off. Luckily though they managed to still be somewhat early, at least that's what Rokariku gathered as she looked around the room, leaning slightly against her twin.

The few people in the room were the Uchiha, Chouji, and the hunched form of Hinata could also been seen near the front of the class.

Happy that they weren't going to be skinned alive for being late the siblings made there way down the rows to plop down beside the Akimichi.

Then they both dropped their heads and passed out, to the good-natured eye-rolling of their amused chubby friend.

They must have dozed for the remaining time because the next thing Rokariku remembered is both Shikamaru and she having a heart attack because of the loud stampeding noise coming their way. With a twitching eyebrow the female Nara turned to give a piece of her mind to the idiots who couldn't shut up but froze with a groan. It was nobody but those two idiotic kunoichis trying to get to their 'beloved' Sasuke'-kun'.

Thank you God for letting me be Shikamaru's twin and not a brainless imbecile. I would rather put up with my annoying brother any day of the frickin' week.

The entertainment value of the two rivals, though, could not be dismissed. She did find them rather amusing. After all, there was no way the Uchiha would bed the two, at least in her opinion. Hell knows she would never do it if she were male, she'd rather let Akamaru chew off her penis.

....

Okay that's a little weird, even for me.

Moving on.

Oh crap, they were coming over to her, why were they coming over her way?

Fuck.

She sat in front of the Uchiha.

Que more eye twitching.

Well then, today certainly had not been going well.

Scratch that, there's more.

Right on time, which no lie shocked Rokriku, Naruto charged through the classroom with a bright grin on his face and a ninja headband around his head. Her brown eyes lightened at the sight, the idiot had wormed his way into her heart through their academy years and she was somewhat happy to see him pass. When blue eyes crossed over to her Naruto's grin became more of a genuine smile. The Nara smirked in return before once more glaring at the troublesome Kunoichis, please shut the fuck up so I can go back to sleep.

Needless to say the two weren't getting her go away vibes.

Let it never be said that the two annoying pests were aware of their surroundings.

They are going to die their first mission.... Strangely enough, I am okay with that.

Also never let it be said that Rokariku is a nice girl when denied her right to nap.

Rokariku tried to ignore the two girls when their enraged shouts disturbed her yet again, but this time they weren't aimed at each other.

"Naruto! Get away from SASUKE-KUN!" Curious at the sound of Uzumaki's name the younger Nara turned around just in time to see Naruto plant on right. on. Sasuke's. lips. (Apparentally Chouji leaned back in his chair a little too far and knocked into the knuckleheaded ninja)

Dead Silence.......

Rokariku burst out laughing (more like cackling) and knocked the two boys out of their trance-like state. With a shudder they yanked themselves away from each other and started gagging and wiping at their mouths, Naruto holding his throat like he was chocking. Both Sakura and Ino were shocked, their eyes huge and mouth's agape.

It was the funniest thing Rokariku had ever seen (besides the time when a wet cat was thrown on her brother). She gasped for air in between laughs trying to stop, only to double over when she remembered the image. The Uchiha sent her a 'shut up or die' look, Chouji sent her an exasperated one, and Shikamaru was alseep next to her.

She really didn't care about the reactions of anyone else in the room, just the little drama in front of her was enough. She finally stopped when Sakura and Ino started beating the shit out of Naruto. Though she was tempted to laugh even more just at the absurdity of it all she relented and came to her friend's aid.

"Oi, Pinky, Blondie, shouldn't you be deciding who gets to sit next to Sasuke-kun instead of beating up on poor Naruto?" The two girls either didn't get the sarcasm in her voice or the sickly sweet way she pronounced Sasuke's name or they decided to just ignore it. Next thing Rokariku new they were duking it out for the seat whilst Naruto was nursing his injured head (and pride). The Nara snickered under her breath, earning her a dirty look from the blonde, he even stuck his tongue out much to her eye-rolling amusment.

Things calmed down a bit after that, Sakura having one the honor of sitting next to Sasuke because she nabbed the seat first. Naruto sat on her opposite side, still nursing his head and pouting to himself. Rokariku just resumed her nap after everything had calmed down.

"Okay class, today you are going to be placed into your ninja squads."

Can't a girl take a frickin' nap around here? Rokariku sighed in annoyance but raised her head up, knowing that any chances of sleep had just flown out the window. Shikamaru and she begrugingly gave their attention to Iruka, who stood at the front of the class with some papers in hand.

Her ears perked up, somewhat interested in whose team she would be in and how it would be decided.

"Firstly each of you will be placed in a group of three." Well that's going to be a problem considering the odd number of students. One group must have an extra member. "However, due to the odd number of you guys there will be one group with a fourth member." Knew it. Rokariku smirked. She zoned out as the groups were called out.

"Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Abumare, Kiba Inuzuka." Hmm, that's going to be a rather interesting group.

"Shikamaru Nara," her ears perked, "Ino Yamanaka," she snickered at her brother's misfortune, "Chouji Amichi." She pouted, lucky bastard. Seems like the ShikaInoCho generation would live on after all.

This left the question though, whose group would she be in?

As the list neared it's ending she began to wonder if she had been overlooked... Or if her name was called and she just didn't hear it (a very strong possibility).

"Group Seven will consist of Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno," Naruto cheered whil Sakura sagged in depression, "Sasuke Uchiha," Vice versa, "and Rokariku Nara."

Everyone blinked in surprise while her brother snickered beside her. Rokariku sagged in depression, really, SAKURA? Dear sweet Lord kill me now.

Once he got over the suprise Naruto grinned again, but then he remember who else he happened to be stuck with.

"Iruka-sensei why did you stick me in a group with Teme over there?!" Rokariku rolled her eyes at his enraged tone and Sakura hit him upside the head... Again.

Iruka let out an exasperated sigh.

"Naruto the groups were chosen based on individual skill level. Since you scored lowest in all areas," the blonde drooped, "You were placed in a group with the two highest students. Rokariku," she looked up bored, "since you also had below average test scores because you feel the need to leave most answers blank you were also put in the group with the two highest students." The brunette just shrugged, it's not like she could be bothered with tedious tests that were way below her IQ level. Not like the sensei new that though.

With a a shrug she accepted her fate before lying back down for some more Z's. Her three teamates had three different reactions to her being named the fourth member.

Hn, three people to slow me down.

That bitch better not make a move on MY Sasuke-kun!

Being with Sasuke sucks but having Sakura and Roka-chan on my team will be fun!

___Line:WhenRokaAwokeFromHerNap_____________________________________

"Roka-chan, Roka-chan, c'mon wake up!"

The brunette awoke with a groan, smacking the hand that kept incessantly shaking her. Damn why would no one let her have a decent amount of sleep?

After smacking the hand one more time she finally blinked open her dark eyes, which were still slightly hazy from sleep. Sitting up in her chair she stretched her arms, glancing over at the clock to see that it was past academy hours. In fact it was three hours past, why the hell were they still waiting for their sensei?

The Nara furrowed her eyebrows, I really hope I don't get stuck with a troublesome sensei.

With a sigh she looked over at Naruto, the one who had been energetically shaking her, raising her eyebrow in question.

"Hey you want to play a prank on the teacher? Show him what he gets for being so late?" His grin was huge and wreaked of mischief.

Rokariku couldn't resist her smile, the boy's energy was just too contagious to not be affected. Nevertheless she shook her head, amusement in her dark eyes.

"Nah, sounds too troublesome." She yawned lightly, "I'll just watch you, ne?"

Her refusal didn't damper the Kyuubi container's spirits. His grin still in place he concocted his brilliant plan to place an eraser at the top of the door, so that when their sensei did show up he'd have white chalk on his head.

Sakura voiced both Rokariku's and Sasuke's thoughts.

"Naruto, our sensei isn't going to fall for such a stupid trick like that." Though her voice was patronizing her inner voice sung a different tune.

Yeah! That'll teach the bastard not to be late! Inner Sakura screamed while pumping a fist.

A yawn split the young genius's face and she was about to settle down for a nap when the door slowly started to open. With rapt attention all four ninja's watched as bit by bit it inched open and their sensei stepped through.

And the eraser fell right on his slate head.

The Nara looked at her sensei with a bored face, Ne, so we get the famed Hatake huh?

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ACTUALLY WORKED!" Naruto laughed hysterically while Sakura sweatdropped and Sasuke wondered why the hell he got stuck with an imbecile for a teacher.

Rokariku just wondered what was in store for them all.

Kakashi sighed, "Why did I get stuck with imbeciles?"

____Line:UpOnTheRoofTopNinjaTalked_____________________________________

"So," the man started out, "to get to know each other we are going to go one by one and each of you will tell me your name, likes, dislikes, and dream."

"Sensei, why don't you go first?" Pinky asked from her place beside the last Uchiha, who looked emotionless as usual. Across from her sat Kakashi and on her other side sat Naruto, who still had an energetic grin on his face. Beside Kakashi sat Rokariku, who was boredly looking up at the clouds lazily moving across the sky.

Hmm, she would have to come up on the roof more, it had a nice view of the clouds though it wasn't as nice as lying on her back on the grass.

Kakashi gave a sigh but started anyways, "My name is Hatake Kakashi, I have a lot of likes and a few dislikes, I've never really thought about my dream before."

Well that was no help! Sakura sighed in irritation before going herself.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are well," she blushed and looked over shyly at Sasuke, "my dream is well, um," again she blushed and looked at Sasuke.

Kakashi held in a sigh, great, he got stuck with a boy crazy kunoichi. "What about your dislikes?"

"NARUTO!" Naruto slumped at the immediate, fiery answer. Rokariku snorted, snobby little bitch ain't she?

Kakashi refrained from rolling his eyes. Three answers and they all had to do with boys.

"Next, you." He gave a pointed look to Sasuke, who just let out a huff.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I hate a lot of things and like few things, my dream is to restore my clan and kill a man." His answer was cold, emotionless. After he got done speaking there was a chill in the air.

Rokariku raised an eyebrow at the sentence. He does know he has to actually have sex to continue his line, right?

Sakura squealed internally, He's so cool!

Naruto shivered at the hateful glint in the boy's eye, Geez I hope he's not talking about me.

"Okay, you next imbecile." Naruto's turn and the boy didn't disappoint. He spoke in an excited voice, movements exaggerated and all.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto!" Rokariku winced before turning her face back to the clouds, sheesh his voice was loud. " I love ramen but hate spicy things and my dream..."

He paused for dramatic effect before fiddling with his forehead protector, "Is to become the next Hokage!" At this Rokariku looked back at him, tilting her head in thought as the read the reactions on her teamate's faces.

Sakura had an annoyed 'yeah right' expression, Sasuke was emotionless, and Kakashi was looking thoughtfully at the boy.

That's a big dream for the one who contains the Kyuubi inside of him. Nonetheless the brunette smiled at the blonde, Let's see just how he plans to accomplish this dream of his.

The sound of Kakashi clearing his throat brought her out of her musings and she glanced over at him with bored dark eyes. He matched her gaze with a raised eyebrow, indicating her to go next. She sighed.

"My name is Nara Rokariku," she didn't bother looking at her teamates, the clouds were so much more interesting after all. "I enjoy looking at the clouds and sleeping and I dislike anything troublesome. My dream," her eyes softened, "is to protect my family."

Naruto grinned at her, Sakura thought it was a stupid dream, Sasuke gave her an emotionless/thoughtful look, while Kakashi just gave her the raised eyebrow he gave everyone else.

"So you're lazy?" She looked over at her sensei before nodding. Hey, she wasn't going to deny the drawled out question. The Naras were known for being brutally honest after all (when you could bother to get them to speak).

"I thought the Nara women were suppose to be different from the men." The teenager shrugged. Maybe the rule didn't apply to her because her twin was the laziest boy in existence. She didn't really care, she was glad not to be as overbearing and naggy as her mother. Not to say she wasn't naggy to Shikamaru but that was a different matter entirely.

Kakashi let out another sigh before giving all of his students a thoughtful look.

He got stuck with a boy cursed with a demon who just happens to be an imbecile, a boy obsessed kunoichi, an avenger, and a lazy no-doubt genius.

He had his work cut out for him.

"Meet at the training grounds at 7 sharp tomorrow morning." He gave the students a sharp look, "And don't eat breakfast." With that he exited with a poof.

Don't eat breakfast? Rokariku narrowed her eyes, Why does he want us at a disadvantage?

She would think about it later, maybe.

"Um. Sasuke-kun. Do y-you want to go eat with, um, me? Maybe?" The Uchiha heir just ignored her before getting up to walk away.

"I'll go with you Sakura!" The girl shot the boy down with a blazing no, making his head hang in disappointment. Rokariku watched this all with a raised eyebrow, the boy should stop wasting his attention on the pink bimbo.

Isn't there that nice Hyuuga who likes him? Geez the boy was as blind as a bat.

The blonde turned towards her with grin on his face, trying to mask how hurt he was that he got turned down. "Do you want to eat ramen with me Roka?" Roka? With a raised eyebrow at the nickname the girl thought about it before deciding she had nothing better to do, the clouds had long left the sky.

"Sure Naruto, why not?" The blonde's expression changed to one of surprise before warping into a smile. Not a grin, but a true smile. Rokariku blinked in surprise, momentarily stunned at how handsome it made the boy's childish face look.

They bothed missed Sakura's surprised look that someone would actually willingly hang out with Naruto, and they also missed the glance the Uchiha threw over his shoulder before he walked away. The Nara stood and walked beside the boy to the ramen shop.

Unknown to them a silver haired ninja smiled and quirked his eyebrow, What an interesting developement.

____________________Line:AsTheyReachRamen____________________________

Rokariku felt the glares being shot at Naruto, glares so cold they made her shiver in disgust. Mainly because they were coming from adults, granted they probably witnessed the Kyuubi's destruction but still. They're full grown, she glanced a look over at the blonde who was chattering away, They should know it's not his choice to house that demon fox inside him.

Let it never be said that Rokariku is emotional. She isn't. Emotions are to troublesome to deal with on a day to day basis. It's just something about Naruto...

The brunette glanced over at her chattering companion, Being his friend is going to be troublesome...

She chanced a glance again but this time her own dark eyes met with bright blue. Naruto paused his speech, shockingly, and just looked at her for a moment. Then he smiled one of those true smiles of his and she just sighed before looking back up at the clouds, hiding the smile curling at the edge of her mouth.

Something tells me the trouble will be worth it. She closed her eyes, I can't believe I just thought that. Her chest heaved with another sigh, Life is too damn troublesome.

"Hey Roka, we're here!" The blonde jerked her inside before shoving her, quite literally, into a seat by the bar. She blinked wide eyes before looking over at him, "Geez Naruto."

He gave her a sheepish look before ordering himself a large bowl of pork flavored ramen. The owner then looked over at her, pen poised to take her order. Naruto looked over at her expectantly. She just blinked before giving them both a bored look.

"Naruto can pick for me, I've never eaten ramen." Her statement was met with deaf silence. Naruto looked flabbergasted, his eyes wide and mouth hanging open. He was clearly wondering how she could survive without knowing the wonderful delicacy that is ramen. She shrugged in response to his stare.

"Roka-chan! How can you still be alive without ever having ramen?!" She just gave him a look.

"Two bowls of pork and one bowl of oriental ramen please!" Rokariku raised a dark brow, was the boy seriously going to eat two bowls of ramen by himself? Ichiraku was famous for their large portions of food. She doubted she would be able to get through even one bowl herself.

In response to her stare Naruto grinned, claiming that the oriental was for her and the pork were for him.

She shook her head, this boy was hopeless.

While they waited for their ramen Naruto got uncharacteristically quiet. The young Nara gave him a curious look, waiting for him to meet her eyes. When he did their was a questiong in his cerulean orbs.

"Roka, why did you talk to me on the swings?" The kunoichi paused, wondering herself why she had done it. Luckily she was saved from answering by the waitress who placed their steaming ramen in front of them. Naruto grinned, quickly digging into his food with a happy cry. Roka took a slurp of her own ramen, hiding her smile.

Hmmm, this isn't too bad.

Naruto looked her way and she smiled in approval. The hyper boy let out a whoop before going back to his own food, quickly devouring both bowls of ramen before she got even half way through with hers and he shouted for another. The girl's eye twitched, how could someone eat that much without getting sick?

"Naruto why do you strive to be the next great Hokage so much?" Rokariku blinked, surprised at her own question but no less curious. Why would this boy, this poor misunderstood boy, wish to protect the very people who curse him and spat on him as a child? She may not be the harshest ninja, but even she wouldn't be able to look kindly upon those fools.

The blonde paused in his eating, shockingly, and leveled her with strangly serious blue eyes.

"Because, I want to be the best. I want to show everyone that they're wrong about me." He looked angrily down at his bowl, "I want to protect my precious people."

When he raised his head Rokariku's own brown eyes widened at the sheer devotion in his gaze. Silence settled on them for a few minutes before Rokariku broke it.

"You'll be better then the Fourth himself Naruto." She stated it in a matter of fact tone of voice before going back to her food.

Naruto stared at her in shock before grinning.

Yeah, he would definately protect his precious people.

God finally took mercy upon the youngest Nara child; instead of waking up to a screeching alarm or impromptu cold shower she awoke to the gentle shaking of her brother.

Of course, this didn't make her any happier to get out of her nice, comfy bed.

"Owe Rokariku, what the hell was that for?" His twin opened hazy brown eyes to glare at him. He tsked, mumbled something about troublesome sisters, then yanked the covers off in an attempt to get her up. Not because he didn't want her to be late, but because if he had to get up then so did she.

Shikamaru was such a caring brother after all.

The fact that she hit him when he tried to gently wake her up probably didn't help matters.

Rokariku let out a groan, damn her evil twin for making her get up. She released another one when she remember just what she had to do today. I really don't want to deal with Sakura today, she could already feel a headache coming on.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes at his sister's groans, though secretly he was laughing at her misfortune. After all, he may have gotten stuck with Ino but at least he didn't have the Uchiha and a rabid fangirl on his team. Plus he heard her grumbling last night about having the lazy Hatake for an instructor. His poor little sister... Had better get her ass out of bed before their mom started nagging about the time.

Rokariku could feel the annoyed aura rolling off her brother in waves and she couldn't help but smirk to herself. Serves him right, with a tired sigh she reluctantly got up. Shikamaru rolled his eyes before smirking and ruffling up his sister's hair, as was his customary 'Good Morning' ritual.

Rokariku stuck her toungue out at him before getting up to head to the bathroom. Her twin was already dressed which made the girl raise an eyebrow. He muttered mom under his breath and she knew, heaving a sigh because no doubt she would be the next to be lectured in the importance of getting up in the morning. She got ready and grabbed a bottle of painkillers before exiting the bathroom.

She knew she would be having a headache by the end of the day.

When she made it down to the kitchen she was met with the sight of her mother cooking, her father drinking coffee, and her brother snickering at her. To this last one she raised a questioning eyebrow, only for him to snicker some more. Realization dawned on her and she cursed under her breath, stomping back up the stairs.

In her morning haze she had forgotten to put her hair up, leaving it a long and tangled brown mess. Quickly she ran a brush harshly through her hair before throwing it up in her usual fashion, making sure it was secured with bandages and hair pins. It would be a bother for it to come loose while she was training.

With a sigh she decided to go ahead and change her earrings, she knew if she wore the same pair for too long they would ultimately start to smell. Her nose wrinkled at the thought. Quickly she took out her two industrials in her left ear, replacing the longer one with a silver one that had a snake on it and the shorter one with a plain green. In her right ear she had three cartilage holes, a plain spiral winding threw them. She took it out and spun a green one, the same color as her industrial, threw the holes instead.

With that done she took the time to actually look at herself in the mirror. Her reflection's mocha eyes stared back at her, the exact same color as her brother's; instead of being small however, her eyes were larger like her mother's. They also shared the same tanned skin and dark hair, though hers fell to her waist when not up in her messy bun. As a child her hair had caused her to be alienated from other girls, save for one or two, because of the belief that the Uchiha liked girls with long hair. Honestly she would rather have it shorter, to be less of a hassle, but it was too much of a bother to keep cutting it.

Rokariku looked at her reflection, spotting the subtle differences between her twin and she. Unlike Shikamaru, she had the faintest of freckles running across her nose and... That was it. Except for the whole gender thing, the two were perfectly identical.

For some reason that caused the edges of her lips to curl into a smile.

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of her mother calling her name. Heaving a sigh the youngest Nara dismissed her reflection and once again made her way down the stairs. She could still see the faint smirk on Shikamaru's lips and resisted the urge to stick her toungue out at him.

She glanced at the clock, groaning when she realized she would have to leave now if she was going to make it on time. With a lazy goodbye to her mom and dad the twins made their way out the door, deciding to travel together until they needed to split.

They walked together in a silence only the two of them would find comfortable. Rokariku came to her stop first, the training grounds. With a sigh she gave a nudge to her brother.

"I'll stay here and wait for you after training. Bring Chouji and we'll watch the clouds, neh?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "Sure."

With that Rokariku made her way over to her team, stopping when she heard Shikamaru call her name. Turning her head it was only her reflexes that kept her from getting hit in the face with a bright green apple. She looked curiously at her brother, who just shrugged and told her that she didn't eat breakfast. With that he turned and left to go to his own troublesome meeting.

Rokariku let a rare smile, one she saved purely for those close to her, grace her face.

It's the little things that count. Love you too bro.

She ate a chunk out of her apple, belatedly realizing she wasn't suppose to eat breakfast. Glancing at the apple she shrugged.

In for a penny in for a pound.

While munching on her banned breakfast she made her way to her teammates. As she had guessed she was the last one there, in fact she was three minutes late. She heaved a sigh when she noticed Kakashi wasn't there. Yes, she knew of his legendary tardiness but she had been hoping that everyone else was lying.

Guess not.

As she approached she took note of her teammates. Naruto seemed very tired, and even from where she stood she could hear his stomach growling. The normally bright blonde was tiredly leaning against a wooden training post, no doubt trying not to fall asleep.

Sakura was sitting upon another training post, there were four of them in a row and she preoccupied one of the middle ones. She was much more awake than Naruto, though probably just as hungry. Her green eyes were fastened onto her beloved Sasuke. Said Uchiha was leaning against the last post, hands in his pockets with a look of indifference on his face.

They all turned their attention to the Nara once she came upon them. Sakura frowned at the apple in her hand.

"Kakashi-sensei told us not to eat, Rokariku," said girl rolled her eyes before taking a deliberately exaggerated bite from her quickly diminishing apple. The pink haired girl huffed, her headband keeping her hair from her face so Rokariku could see the glare in her eyes.

"Well don't come crying when you get in trouble!"

Cha! You'll be made a fool of in front of Sasuke-kun!

Rokariku rolled her eyes and finished off her apple, mumbling about troublesome teammates. Sakura looked like she was about to say something when a puff caught all of their attentions. In front of them stood the silver haired ninja. Rokariku inconspicuously chucked her apple and walked to stand next to Naruto.

Sakura didn't waste any time, "You're late sensei!"

Kakashi's eyes closed and squinted, Rokariku assumed he was grinning, and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Sorry, a black cat crossed my path so I had to take the long way to get here."

...

Liar. Rokariku sweatdropped while both Naruto and Sakura shouted that he was a liar. Kakashi waved them off before turning serious and holding up two bells.

"I'm going to test you today," Naruto and Sakura leaned in eagerly, Sasuke opened his eyes, and Rokariku focused her attention on her sensei rather than the clouds.

"You are going to to need to get a bell from me," he jingled the two for effect, "before this timer rings or you fail." He set a timer and laid it ontop of the middle stump.

"Sensei, what happens if we don't get a bell?" Sakura inquried, her head tilted to the side but her eyes fastened on Sasuke. Even Rokariku was getting annoyed with her fangirl worship. Which isn't surprising, considering she found a lot of thing annoying.

Kakashi laughed, which caused everyone to become suspicious.

"Well, if you fail to retrieve the bells by noon none of you will get lunch," he said that entirely too cheerfully for the genins' tastes. "I'll only tie one of you up to the stumps, and then I'll eat in front of all four of you."

So the reason he didn't want us eating breakfast... Sasuke thought, his thoughts irked but face emotionless.

...was because of this! Cha that jerk! Sakura all but yelled in her head.

Rokariku had her own thoughts on the matter and she narrowed her eyes in contemplation. She also mentally thanked her brother for throwing her that apple. That bastard, did cross her thoughts all the same.

"Eh, but Sensei, why are there only two bells?" It seemed the only one interested in asking questions was the green eyed genin. Rokariku rolled her eyes, the answer was obvious and she wanted to be done with it all as soon as possible. The clouds were calling her name oh-so-sweetly.

Her eye roll didn't go unnoticed by a certain silverette.

"Because there are two that means two of you will definitely be tied to the posts. Which means I'll be sending two back to the academy no matter the outcome. There is also the possibility that I might be sending all four of you back to the academy. You can try to take me down by any means necessary, you can even use your shurikans. You won't get one unless you come at me with killer intent." Kakashi explained, his eyes tilted in a way that showed he was smiling underneath that black mask of his. The smile went away at the end of his explanation, his gaze all too serious. The bells jingled ominously in his right hand.

"But Sensei," Sakura gasped out, "you might be hurt."

Rokariku once again rolled her eyes, Yes Sakura, four genin can definitely take down a full grown Jounin with years of experience.

"Yeah! You can't even dodge an eraser!" Naruto yelled out, pointing an accusing finger at the Jounin.

I'm surrounded by idiots, what a drag.

"The dogs who bark the loudest are often the weakest," Kakashi was clearly unamused. His tone and statement got to the blonde, whose eyes were quickly becoming infuriated, "Let's ignore Mr. Dead Last for now. You may begin when I say..."

Naruto didn't pay attention to his words, his mind still stuck on the man's insults. With a yell he took out a kunai and charged at the older ninja. In a blink it was over. Kakashi grabbed the boy's arm and twisted it, the kunai ending up at the blonde's neck.

"What's the rush? I didn't even say start yet," Kakashi muttered, his hand keeping the blonde firmly in place.

The three not captured backed away from the Jounin a couple of steps as he released the blonde.

No way... I didn't even see him... Sakura was wide eyed and dumbfounded.

So, this is a Jounin. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and tensed his body.

We are so screwed. Rokariku glanced up at the sky with a sigh.

"Well it seems you all are willing to come at me with killer intent," Kakashi laughed, "Maybe I will be able to like you guys. Okay, now let's get going."

"Ready..."

Rokariku crouched, along with Sasuke and Sakura, ready to spring away.

"Begin."

Rokariku sprang away from Kakashi, hiding her presence in the deep foliage of an old tree. She suppressed her chakra before taking note of her teammate's positions. Sasuke was well concealed in a tree to the right of her and Sakura was laying in the bushes underneath them. So that left Naruto...

Who was standing in the clearing, right in front of Kakashi with a smug look plastered on his face.

Rokariku resisted the urge to sigh.

Knuckleheaded baka.

"I'm not afraid of you Kakashi-sensei!" The blonde's voice was loud and his grin was huge and cocky, "I'll get those bells no problem!"

While the blonde rambled on Rokariku took note of her surroundings. Enclosing the clearing was a forest, the trees thick and providing excellent coverage for a sneak attack. She bit her lip as thoughts raced through her mind. Something about Kakashi having only two bells was very important. Naruto's loud voice was distracting her though, so the answer kept escaping her reach.

Keeping in a frustrated noise Rokariku turned her dark eyes back onto the fight in front of her, one eyebrow raising in question. She didn't know how much she missed but now Kakashi was behind Naruto, an orange book held in his hands as he made the hand seal for tora (tiger).

"Only an imbecile gets caught from behind over and over again," the Jonin muttered.

The Nara's eyes widened, Naruto you baka move!

Sakura yelled for the blonde to move but by that time it was, in Kakashi's words, 'too late'. He charged the unsuspecting blonde, fingers still poised.

"Ultimate Hidden Leaf Taijutsu Technique:" Poke. "One Thousand Years of Pain!" Naruto was sent soaring into the air, limbs flailing about as he landed into the water some yards away from them all. Rokariku facepalmed, barely resisting the urge to fall out of the tree.

Bakas. I'm completely surrounded by Bakas. To top it off one of them is perverted to boot!

Life was so unfair.

With a groan she turned her eyes back to the scene where Kakashi now stood calmly, his book open and his eye intently reading it. Rokariku narrowed her eyes to read the title... And resisted the urge to face plant.

Come Come Paradise? You've got to be kidding me.

Rokariku shut her eyes and prayed her brother would not grow to be a pervert. If it happened she would kill herself. Or lock her brother up in a room to beat the pervert out of him. Which ever came first.

She opened her eyes just in time to see two shurikan break the water, heading straight for Kakashi. The elder didn't even lift his visible eye from the txt in front of him; yet he easily caught the two weapons, spinning them around on his fingers. Not long after Naruto pulled himself onto land, spluttering and hacking up water.

"What's wrong? If you don't get a bell by noon you're not getting anything to eat," Kakashi seemed to be almost taunting the boy.

"I know that!" Naruto exclaimed in frustration.

"You're pathetically weak for someone who wants to surpass the Fourth Hokage," Kakashi continued.

"Shut up! I can still fight on an empty stomach!" The boy's growling stomach belied his statement.

Rokariku frowned thoughtfully. Though her stomach was not making a scene a simple apple was not going to assuage her hunger for long. Especially if she was going to go up against a jounin by herself.

...

Wait a minute.

Her eyes widened as the answer to the mission came to her. The bells, the taunting, the threat of being sent back to the academy- it all made perfect sense.

He's been playing us against each other. He's wanting to see if we have what it takes to be ninjas. He wants to know if we can be a team at all. I've been as blind as Naruto! The Nara thought angrily to herself before glancing up and blanching.

Said blonde was hanging up in the air via a rope tied around his ankles. He yelled something about being tricked and squirmed, trying to get out of the obvious trap Kakashi had captured him in.

Kakashi stood in front of the genin, scolding the ninja for falling into such an obvious ruse. This left his back wide open and Rokariku sensed Sasuke was going to take advantage of it. A barrage of kunai and shurikan proved her thoughts and she cursed under her breath, quickly jumping to another tree just as 'Kakashi' turned into a log. The Nara seized her chance to put her plan into action.

Movement signaled that both of her 'teammates' had gone on the move as well, though they sped the opposite direction she now warily made her way to.

Naruto noticed the brown headed figure and shouted excitedly, "Hey Roka-chan! Help me down from here will ya'?"

She twitched, what the hell did the boy think she was doing? Why else would she be in the wide open?

"Naruto... Shut up," the blonde grinned at her but obeyed, shockingly enough. The Nara took a kunai out of her pouch, which was placed in a very odd place Naruto observed curiously. It was hooked around her waist, keeping her baggy shorts up, and the pouch itself was located on the back of the belt. This had to do with the Nara's affinity for shadow jutsus, though Rokariku would try to keep her jutsus a secret for as long as possible for now.

It would do no good for a ninja to have no tricks up the proverbial sleeve.

So with her newly freed kunai the girl cut the fox boy down, where he cheered and began to walk away only to be strung up again.

Rokariku sighed and he grinned sheepishly, once again asking for help which she gave.

As soon as his feet hit the ground Rokariku spoke, "Naruto I have a plan to get the bells and we'll need to work..."

The blonde had already shouted both his goodbye and his thanks as he rushed away to challenge Kakashi once again.

I should have kept him tied up, troublesome boy.

The Nara had a near permanent twitch in her left eye.

With a growl she made her way deep into the forest, searching for the faint chakra signatures of her teammates. She didn't need to for long, not because she found their chakra, but she did hear a high screech.

Sounds like Sakura screaming, what a drag. I guess I should go help her. Sasuke will probably be nearby too.

She found Sasuke minutes later, well, err, his head anyway.

She also found Sakura, who had apparently fainted in front of him.

...

Rokariku couldn't resist the laughter that bubbled in her chest. With gasping breaths she tried to reign in her loud guffaws. Then she made the mistake of looking at the Uchiha's annoyed face and the laughter started all over again.

About fifteen minutes after her outburst the Nara was now digging the Uchiha out of the ground, chuckles still escaping her every once in a while. Having learned her lesson from Naruto though she stopped halfway through before crouching in front of his face, smirk firmly in place.

"What are you waiting for Nara?" His voice was cold and annoyed, Rokariku frankly didn't care.

"Listen I'm going to get you out," the look on his face clearly said it would be in her best interest to keep digging, "if and only if you agree to work with me to get the bells." The boy tsked and glared at her. She grinned much like a cheshire cat, waiting for him to agree.

With an annoyed roll of the eyes he finally consented with a nod of his head. Grin firmly in place the girl continued to dig the boy out. As soon as his arms were in the clear he wriggled himself out of the hole. The brunette stepped back to allow him space.

Sasuke shot her a glare as he made his way over to Sakura, shaking the girl awake none too kindly.

The pinkette wearily blinks her eyes open before squealing in delight at seeing her 'Sasuke-kun', who is not an animated head in the ground. To Rokariku's amusement she glomps the poor boy, spouting out some nonsense about being so worried and glad and blah blah blah. The young Nara averts her gaze from the two to the sky, by the positioning of it she can tell they are not too far away from their deadline.

"Okay lovebirds, wrap it up," she drawls out. "We have to make a plan to get those bells."

Sasuke gave her an incredilous look while Sakura blinked, just realizing the brunette was there. Without further adieu he shoved the annoying harpie off him and stood beside his less annoying teammate.

For her part Rokariku looked around, anxious and wary of any sounds that Kakashi might be near. Though she couldn't pick up any traces of his chakra didn't mean he wasn't nearby. He was a jounin, afterall, and a very powerful one at that. Sneaking up on a bunch of wannabe genins would be a piece of cake to him.

With that in mind Rokariku kept her senses open and muscles tense.

This is way too troublesome.

She crouched when the Uchiha came to stand beside her, lowering her voice to tell him of her plan. A look of surprise flashed across Sasuke's face before he reverted back to his emotionless stare.

This girl isn't as dumb as she appears, his dark eyes narrow and though he wants to oppose the girl he doesn't. He does need a bell afterall.

Sakura watches their exchange with confusion, innerly becoming angry at the fact that the idiot girl from the academy was getting so close to her Sasuke.

"There's little time before noon, we're going to have to act fast," Sakura's emerald eyes widened.

"Are you still going after the bell, Sasuke-kun?"

"I was able to touch it a little while ago, I'm sure I can get one," Rokariku nods to his statement, the chances of her plan working are very high afterall.

"Really? Wow you're so cool!" Sakura gushes with hearts floating in her eyes.

Damnitt! At this rate I'll be separated from Sasuke-kun! Inner Sakura yelled, punching her fist.

"Ano... Since the bells about to ring why don't we just give up? We can try harder next year," Sakura said.

The little clearing they occupied became deathly silent, the only thing that stirred was a slight breeze and Sakura's nervous fidgeting.

Rokariku looked at the girl, unsurprised that she wanted to just give up because things seemed hopeless. Personally she wanted the girl to fail, being her teammate would be too much of a hassle. She chanced another look up at the sky, their little drama was taking too long.

Sasuke glared at Sakura, stopping the girl's fidgeting. She hung her head, avoiding his gaze, wondering what she had said to anger the boy. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Rokariku.

"This little drama is taking too long," the girl spoke in her usual bored voice. "We need to get a move on Sasuke." She jumped into the trees.

Sasuke nodded to himself and, with a final glare at Sakura, jumped away as well.

Sakura was left painfully alone, tears in her wide eyes.

___HiImaLineSceneChange_______________________________________________

Kakashi sighed, leaning lazily against a tree, book in hand. His one onyx eye drank in the perverted words and pictures while he mentally checked off his students.

Sasuke I left buried in the dirt... The look on the Uchiha's face had been priceless.

Sakura fainted at the sight of my genjutsu... For search a smart girl she had been easy to trap.

Naruto is tied to the log... ...

That just leaves Rokariku.

Just as the thought crossed his mind a barrage of kunai and shurikan came flying from the trees. Kakashi dodged easily, putting his book away because something about the attack hadn't been right. It was too familiar to be the Nara's.

The copy-cat ninja grinned from behind his mask just as a huge fireball headed towards him.

Sasuke smirked when his attack made contact, only to curse when Kakashi turned into a log. Warily he looked around and up, determined not to be caught unaware again. He jumped in the air just in time to avoid being pulled into the ground again by the headhunter's technique.

Come one Sasuke, quit dragging this hassle out.

Kakashi came from the ground, quickly avoiding the shadow shurikan Sasuke sent his way. He was about to retaliate when he froze. His eye widened in shock, his body wasn't obeying him. Sasuke smirked and kicked him in the stomach.

"Damnitt Sasuke that hurt!" Rokariku's yell came from behind Kakashi and he cursed mentally, I forgot she's a Nara.

He glanced down and his suspicions were correct, a shadow was connected to his own. Sasuke had distracted him and pushed him to a place where Rokariku could entrap him with her shadow. She must have known that with the Uchiha in front of him he wouldn't be expecting her.

Just how smart is that girl? He made a mental note to check with Asuma about the girl's brother.

Rokariku was still muttering angrily.

"I told you! If you hit him it hurts me too, baka!" Sasuke shot the girl an annoyed glare before walking to Kakashi and reaching for the bells. He smirked, "We win."

Just as his fingers were about to grasp the bells a poof rang in the area. Sasuke cursed and Rokariku sighed as 'Kakashi' turned into a log.

He must have sensed my chakra beforehand, the bell of the timer rang out loud and clear.

Sasuke shot the Nara a glare before heading to the meeting spot. She raised her eyes to the sky. At least some clouds are out.

_____HiImaLineMeetingSpot______________________________________________

She arrived at the clearing minutes behind Sasuke, once again being the last one to arrive. Brown eyes blinked against the sudden onslaught of sun, unprepared for the harsh glare. Once her eyes adjusted she came upon a rather unusual sight.

Sasuke and Sakura stood on opposite sides of Naruto, who was tied to one of the inner poles. With a sigh she made her way over to stand on Sasuke's side, though further away from the others, and plopped onto the ground with her back leaning against the wooden pole, hands behind her head. Infront of them were three bentos with three pairs of chopsticks and the aroma had all of their stomachs growling in want.

"You're stomach's are hungry, eh? Well I have the news about the results of your training. None of you will need to return to the Ninja Academy," Kakashi appeared infront of the hungry genins. Rokariku quirked an eyebrow.

"Huh? But all I did was faint. Was that okay?" Sakura was dumbfounded.

Once again love conquers all! Inner Sakura exclaimed with glee.

Sakura pumped her fist in excitement and Naruto celebrated, "Does that mean all of us..."

"Yes all of you... Should quit being ninjas!" Kakashi stated. Everyone immediatly froze.

"Quit? What do you mean?! Just because we didn't get a stupid bell you say we should quit!" Naruto squirmed, trying to get out of his bindings, his voice loud and angry.

"You four are just kids, you don't have what it takes to be ninjas," Kakashi continued in his usual bored town.

Rokariku felt Sasuke tense beside her, anger feeling him and hazing his mind. He sprang up and charged Kakashi, kunai in hand.

Sakura gasped his name in shock and Naruto let out a surprised yell, both shocked at the way the boy had reacted. Rokariku let her own eyes widen, What the hell is this boy trying to do?

Kakashi was faster than the enraged youth, and in the blink of the eye he had the boy pinned under his foot.

"See? You're just a bunch of kids," the Jounin muttered.

Something about seeing Sasuke pinned snapped something in Sakura, most likely her common sense.

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted and Rokariku winced, the girl could shout.

"Do you all think being a ninja is easy?" The dull tone was erased, replaced with a cold anger. Kakashi spoke harshly, his eye cold as he glared at him.

"Why do you think we train you in groups?" Kakashi's toned remained cold and his glare was still firmly in place.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked. Rokariku closed her eyes, she had been right afterall.

"You four don't understand the answer to this test. Actually," Rokariku opened her eyes to connect with Kakashi's, "one of you had the right idea."

The group followed his gaze to you and their confusion was obvious.

"What? What answer?" Naruto questioned.

"The answer to determine wether you pass or fail," Kakashi continued.

"We've been asking what the answer is..." Sakura trailed off, looking down in emberassment.

"Are you all seriously this thickheaded? You don't understand why you're in a group?" Kakashi sounded exasperated at this point.

"So what about the groups?!" Naruto, ever impatient, yelled.

Rokariku twitched from where she was sitting, eyes once again closed. With all the yelling it was impossible for her to think.

"For the love of Kami," she muttered. She continued in a louder voice,"Teamwork. That's the answer."

Kakashi nodded his head in agreement while the other's looked at her in surprise.

"That's right, if all four of you had come at me together then maybe you would have gotten a bell. Too bad you airheads didn't realize it," Kakashi said.

Rokariku ignored them when Sakura asked another question. To be a ninja was the only dream her brother and she ever had, and now that dream would never come to frutation. Her brother had undoubtly passed his test and he would go on without her. She would be left behind.

An uncomfortable feeling bubbled in her chest. Before she had a chance to identify it Kakashi's voice broke her concentration and she started to once again pay attention as he told them of their individual failures.

"Sakura," said kunoichi flinched, "you were more concerned about Sasuke then anyone else! You completely ignored the fact that Naruto needed your help and that Rokariku was nearby."

"Naruto! All you did was rush me alone and completely ignored Rokariku when she tried to team up with you. Even after she helped you twice!" The accusation quieted Naruto and the blonde looked down.

"You," Kakashi looked down at Sasuke, pushing a little harder with his foot. "You just thought that those three would bring you down and refused to go to them for aid. You only helped Rokariku because she bribed you. "

"And you, Rokariku," said girl looked up at him. "You had the right idea but you were too lazy in persecuting it! You also dismissed the idea of asking Sakura for help, even though you were willing to ask the boys. You thought having her help would be too troublesome."

Rokariku averted her gaze.

"Missions are done in groups." Kakashi lectured. "Individual strengths are important but if one cannot work in a group then that ninja is useless. Just one mess up can result in the capture and death in the death of a teammate. For instance..." Kakashi whipped out a kunai and held it to Sasuke's throat. "Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies."

Rokariku tensed, eyes wide. Her tan hand immediately went for a kunai, prepared to defend Naruto if the girl tried anything. For his part Naruto looked panicked, frantically looking from Sakura to Kakashi.

"That's what will happen," Kakashi continued calmly, putting the kunai away.

"Oh, you worried me," Sakura let out a sigh in relief. Rokariku just watched her warily, like the girl would finally snap and try to break Naruto's neck or something. Luckily no such thing occurred... yet.

"Once someone is taken hostage a choice will have to be made, and it will likely end with someone on the team dying," Kakashi twirled his kunai on his finger, his voice having lost all traces of anger. He put it back into its holister and stepped off Sasuke, whose relief was clearly painted across his face. "In every mission there will be a chance that you die."

Sasuke made his way back over to the group while Kakashi walked towards an interesting stone. It was black and unobtrusive but the mere sight of it sent a chill down Rokariku's back.

"Look at this rock. On it are carved the numerous names of people who are praised as heroes of this village," his voice took on a somber quality and his face softened. Rokariku looked at the stone with grim realization. If things went her way she would most likely end up on that stone, preferably far before her brother.

"Hey! I like that! I've decided I'm going to get my name carved on that! I'll be a hero! A Hero! Believe it!" Naruto excitedly squirmed against his bindings.

"Naruto, those people were not normal heros," Kakashi glanced at his team.

"Well, what kind are they?" Naruto was too excited. Rokariku closed her eyes at the inevitable answer. "Come on! Tell me!"

"They were K.I.A."

Sakura gasped somewhere beside Rokariku, causing her to open her eyes. Beside her Sasuke clenched his fists subtly. So, they both know what that means.

"K.I.A?" Naruto exclaimed questioningly, his excitement palpable.

"Naruto... Those people, they died for Konoha. They were killed in action. That's what K.I.A stands for," Rokariku's voice was low and solemn. She turned her dark gaze to Kakashi, seeing the emotion played out in his eyes.

"The names of some of my best friends are carved here," his voice was low and they strained to hear him. The loss in his eyes was obvious, even Naruto must have seen it and Rokariku averted her gaze respectfully. A quiet breeze wafted through the clearing, playing with Rokariku's bangs and caressing her cheeks. By some unspoken agreement no one spoke, their silence in remembrance to those who passed.

"I'll give you guys one more chance to get the bells. You're going to want to eat because it will be much harsher than this morning was. However," he sternly looked them over, "do not let Naruto eat! It's his punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat early. If any of you try to feed him that person fails automatically. Got it?"

Kakashi's eyes were stern as he looked each of the genins over. Naruto was abjectly depressed that he didn't get any food.

Kakashi disappeared without further adieu, leaving three to eat and one to wait in misery. Rokariku snapped apart her chopsticks before picking at her food. She knew already what she was going to do, she just hoped her hunch was right. If she wasn't, then she was screwed.

She heaved a sigh, Dear Kami help me.

"I'm okay! Even if I don't eat I'll get a bell!" Naruto's stomach grumbled contradictly. "I'm okay..."

"Oh for the love of- Here!" Rokariku shoved some rice into Naruto's gaping mouth. Sakura gasped beside her and she could feel Sasuke's dark stare penetrating her back.

"But, Rokariku, Sensei said..." Sakura trailed off at the glare shot her way.

"I don't sense him nearby. Here," Sasuke said, shoving his food under Naruto's face. "We need to work together to get those bells. If Naruto's hungry he will just slow us down."

Sakura was silent, contemplating as she stared at her partially eaten lunch. With a sigh she too offered her lunch up to Naruto. Naruto stared at them all, bewildered.

"Thanks..." Naruto choked out.

"Don't thank me, just hurry and eat," Sakura let a weak smile come on her face. "I'm on a diet anyways."

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but was cut off with another mouthful of rice. His eyes watered as he looked at Rokariku, chomping the rice and swallowing it greedily. Rokariku let a small smile cross her face and she kept feeding him.

"You two eat," Sakura looked about to protest but the girl cut her off. "Listen, I cheated and had an apple this morning. You two need the food more than I do."

Before either could say anything an ominous cloud of smoke appeared behind them.

Rokariku dropped her food and whipped out a kunai, standing defensively infront of Naruto.

Please let my instincts be right!

"You," Kakashi's voice boomed and a tendril of fear snaked it into Rokariku's mind. "You four broke the one rule I laid out. Are you prepared for the punishment?" Kakashi preformed some seals and thunder began to roll into the dark cloud. Rokariku gulped to herself. "Any last words?"

Sakura was shaking on the ground and Sasuke stood crouched, ready for an attack. Rokariku held her ground but her eyes widened considerably and behind her poor Naruto's teeth were chattering from sheer fright.

"But.. Um... You said.. Th-that's why they," the blonde couldn't string together a coherent sentence but his meaning was clear.

"We're a four man cell, right?" Sasuke was surprisingly the first one to speak, glancing at his teammates.

"Yeah! We work together as one!" Sakura found her courage.

"Yeah! Yeah! That's right! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed waving back and forth, chattering gone.

"Correct," Rokariku sighed out, realizing where it all was going.

"You four are one, huh?" Kakashi advanced on them and Rokariku resisted the instinctive urge to step back.

"If that's the case you all..." Kakashi paused dramatically. "Pass," his visible eye curved in a smile.

Rokariku sweatdropped. Was it really necessary to take twenty years off my life Kakashi?

Everyone paused in a state of confusion.

"You pass," Kakashi repeated.

"Um, why?" Sakura stuttered out.

The dark cloud went away, allowing the sun to warm the clearing once again. It helped the team come out of their shock and confusion. "You four are the first to pass my test. Previous applicants just listened to what I said, not caring if one of their team suffered. Ninjas need to be able to think beyond the norm. It's true that a ninja who doesn't follow orders is scum; however, those who don't take care of their friends are even worse than scum."

Rokariku leaned against the post next to Naruto's heavily, hearing a faint "He's.. cool," come from the blonde. She nodded her head in agreement.

"The survival training ends here, tomorrow Team Seven will start doing official missions," Kakashi, smile in place, lifted his thumb to the four genin.

"Yes sir!" Sakura was ecstatic.

Sasuke smirked.

"Yatta! I did it! I'm a ninja! A ninja, ninja, ninja! Believe it!" Naruto exclaimed.

Rokariku nodded her head in agreement. She was happy that she passed. Then the thought of going on missions occurred to her. Well, there went her happiness.

This is going to be so troublesome.

"Let's go home," Kakashi turned and began to walk away.

Naruto, still tied up, grew angry and began to yell.

"Damnitt! I knew it would end this way! Come back here and untie the frickin' rope!" He yelled indignantly just before he fell onto his face with an 'Oof'. Surprised he cast blue orbs up to meet the bored face of one dark haired shinobi.

"Thanks Roka-chan!" Naruto grinned from ear to ear when on his feet. He surprised the girl with a hug. Though it was quick just the fact that she got hugged startled the girl senseless. With a couple of blinks she came back to her senses before nodding at Naruto, waving his thanks off.

As he turned to leave she stopped him, calling his name in her usual bored voice.

"Oi, Naruto!" Naruto looked at her curiously, grin in place. "You're not allowed to end up on the K.I.A. stone." Naruto's grin faded and left behind his confusion.

"What? Why not?!"

"Because, Baka, you're not allowed to go and get yourself killed. Missing you would be such a drag," the jinchuuriki's eyes widened in shock as her words hit home. Minutes later a grin split his face and he glomped the poor Nara, spouting her praises. The girl, once again, just waved him off.

She was his teammate after all. No, that didn't sound right.

I'm his friend.

She smiled at the thought and waved as the blonde headed home.

__________HiImaLineSceneChange________________________________________

The sun shone in the sky, slowly drifting lower west, splattering the azure with shades of orange and purple. A couple of white, fluffy clouds drifted lazily across, in no hurry to go to no destination. Beneath them laid a lone figure, napping on the open hill.

Dark hair was out of its normal bun and splayed across the ground wildly, long locks going every which way. Her legs were crossed at the ankles, her hands behind her head, and her dark eyes were closed as she dozed waiting for someone.

A figure approached her sleeping form, a foot nudged gently at her side. Brown eyes opened to connect with identical orbs. Rokariku unceremoniously slapped her brother in the shin.

"Sheesh bro, you could've taken longer," her voice was heavy with sarcasm that Shikamaru answered with a sigh.

"Shuddup, troublesome girl," he glanced up at the sky. "We need to get home. I don't want to have to deal with Mom's nagging."

Rokariku winced, their mother could be a downright harpie when she felt like it. Which was pretty much all the time.

A tan hand came infront of her face and she looked at it as if it were an alien appendage. She grasped it when it started to twitch, a sure sign of impatience, and allowed her brother to help her to her feet. Once up she didn't bother brushing herself off. Afterall, the only place to be dirty would be her backside and people shouldn't be paying attention to that area anyway.

With another sigh the two Nara's made their way home, discussing their individual teams. Rokariku got to hear how exasperating it was to work with Ino, to which she snickered, and she got to hear the smug note in his voice when he talked about Chouji, to which he snickered. She retaliated by telling him about the agony of working with a harpie, an emo kid, and a hyperactive ball of sunshine.

If her brother noticed, which he no doubtly did, the small smile that crossed her face when she spoke of Naruto he didn't comment on it. His fists involuntarily clenched when he heard of their task. The fact that he couldn't always be there to protect his little sister was something he needed to come to terms with.

Probably not going to happen anytime soon though.

Dear Kami, Rokariku thought with amusement, if he's like this with my training, how's he going to react when I date... On second thought, I don't wanna' know.

With a grin she looked up at the darkening sky. Things were definitely looking up now.

...

Psh, yeah right.

_____HiImaLineTBC___________________________________________________

"Sasuke, point B."

"Sakura, arrived at point C."

"Rokariku at point D."

"Naruto, arrived at point A."

"You two are slow. Okay Team 7," Kakashi said through the headset right before a black blur tore through the forest. "The target has moved, after it!"

Four blurs jumped through the forest until the black one stopped. The four hid behind trees, waiting for the next move to end their mission.

"Okay we found him," Naruto said.

Rokariku hid behind an oak, the closest one to the target. Cautiously she chanced a glance at it before glancing at her shadow.

"What's the distance to the target?" Kakashi questioned.

Rokariku spoke before anyone else, "I can trap him long enough for someone to catch him."

There was silence before Kakashi consented to her plan.

"I'm ready to go," Naruto announced. The others also spoke up in agreement.

Rokariku eyed there target again before stretching her shadow subtly. It connected and she smirked in victory.

"Okay, got him," she whispered. "Go!"

Naruto was the first to spring from his position and he pounced on the cat. The poor thing tried to run but couldn't, Rokariku's Shadow Hold had it firmly in place.

"I got you!” the blonde exclaimed, squeezing the cat to his chest. Rokariku hurriedly let go of her jutsu, worried that Naruto might do something stupid and she would bear the aching consequences.

As soon as the cat was freed he howled furiously and scratched Naruto’s face all to Hell.

“Does it have the ribbon in the right ear? Is it Tora?” Kakashi questioned amidst the screeching and yelled pains.

“It’s the target for sure,” Sakura ascertained. Meanwhile Rokariku rolled her eyes, as if she would let them torture a poor cat unless it was without a doubt their target.

Naruto’s pained yelps brought the Nara’s attention to him and she couldn’t help but sweatdrop at the sight of a genin getting mauled by a cat. She debated on whether to step in and help the blonde or not.

In the end, she decided not too. The sight of him getting mauled was just too hilarious to pass up.

At least something good came out of this boring mission, the devilish girl thought with a grin.

“Oh! My darling Tora-chan! Mama was so worried about you,” an overly excited woman exclaimed, smothering the cat to her well endowed chest.

Not too far away from the scene stood four genin and their sensei, their eyes widened in horror. Well, actually just Sakura’s eyes were widened in horror. Naruto was snickering at the cat’s obvious discomfort, Sasuke looked emotionless, Kakashi was reading his book, and Rokariku was... asleep at Naruto’s feet.

“That cats getting what he deserves,” Naruto snickered, careful to not step on the sleeping girl at his feet. How she could sleep with all the commotion was a mystery to him.

“No wonder that poor cat ran away,” Sakura winced when the woman delivered another bone crushing hug. Tora squirmed and yowled piteously, making the kunoichi wince again and finally waking Rokariku up.

Said girl opened glaring brown eyes. She quickly found the source of her disturbed nap and sighed angrily.

If that woman wasn’t a client I swear I would kill her.

The Hokage’s voice brought the girl out of her murderous thoughts and he began to list the next possible missions for Squad Seven.

“Let’s see, Kakashi’s 7th Unit’s next mission possibilities are: babysitting Yojyu-san’s son, grocery shopping for an elderly woman, helping dig up potatoes at...”

“No!” Naruto shouted, making everyone freeze and turn to him with different expressions, most annoyed. Rokariku looked at the boy with a lifted eyebrow, still in her position on the floor.

“No to all of those!” Naruto went on to exclaim, crossing his arms in an ‘X’ to prove his point. “I want a more exciting mission, none of this baby stuff! Choose something else!”

The dobe has a point, were Sasuke’s thoughts.

Ugh, he’s so annoying, Sakura glared at Naruto.

Damn Naruto you better not get us anything difficult, Rokariku thought with an eye twitch, finally getting on her feet.

I knew this was coming, Kakashi thought with a sigh.

“Naruto you idiot! You’re still nothing but a novice ninja! You don’t have enough experience for harder missions!” Iruka was clearly annoyed and aggravated with his favorite ex-student.

“B-but...! We’ve only done dumb missions lately!”

Kakashi punched the blonde in the back of the head, effectively shutting him up and sending him spiraling to the floor face first. Unfortunately Rokariku was not balanced on her feet yet when the blonde was struck, and she was still near him. The blonde’s flailing limbs knocked her back down, right under the blonde. She oofed and winced.

Oblivious of the person under him, Naruto groaned in pain. He picked himself up, nursing the bump already forming on the back of his head. Only then did he notice annoyed dark eyes coming from the girl on the floor. He laughed sheepishly. “Sorry Roka-chan!” and helped the girl up.

Rokariku winced, Damn that boy falls heavy. She began to plan on her revenge (Hey! Her ass hurt now!).

Meanwhile, while she was lost in thought, the Hokage began to explain how missions worked. He went into detail about the rankings of each and how they were distributed to each level of ninja. Basically, he went over things that anyone would know if they paid any attention what-so-ever while in the academy. Since everyone, except for Naruto, knew what he was talking about they didn’t really pay attention.

“I had tonkotsu ramen yesterday, so I’m going to eat miso ramen today.” Naruto turned to Rokariku, completely ignoring the Hokage. “Roka-chan, you should come with me!”

The Hokage finished what he was saying and glared at the babbling blonde.

“Listen!” Sarutobi yelled.

“I’m sorry,” Kakashi said apologetically, he hadn’t been paying attention either.

Naruto turned to face the agitated Hokage, not sorry at all. “You always lecture me like that, Gramps. But I’m not the kid who used to pull pranks all the time!” Naruto shouted angrily. He turned his back to them, pouting at the whole situation.

Naruto, Rokariku sweatdropped, you’re the one being a child.

I’m going to here about this later... Kakashi sighed. He was not looking forward to that lecture.

“Okay, I see,” everyone perked up at the Hokage’s comment. “If you insist I will allow you to go on a C ranked mission. It’s an escort mission.”

“Really! Who? Who? Is it a feudal lord? Or a princess?” Naruto was practically fluttering with excitement.

“Calm down. I’ll introduce him,” Rokariku didn’t like the smirk on the pipe-smoking man’s face. “Can you please come in now?”

Everyone simultaneously turned to see the door being slid open by a tanned and calloused hand. A gruff looking man stepped into the room, staring at the ninja in front of him. He was tan and older, with the eyes of someone who had seen many things. He also had a roguish tint to his cheeks.

“What? You’re kidding me! They’re all kids!” The slightly inebriated man exclaimed, taking a swish from the bottle in his hand. He leaned heavily against the door frame, sizing each of the genin up with an incredulous look in his hard eyes.

“Hey, is the smallest on with the idioitic face really a ninja?” He asked, voice heavy with disbelief.

Naruto laughed, looking around to find out who the man was talking about. His laugh faded as he stared at his three teammates. Sasuke was the tallest, followed by Rokariku, and then Sakura. His laugh finally tapered off when he digested the new information.

A vein pulsed visibly in his temple.

Well, that can’t be healthy.

“I’m going to kill you!” Naruto screeched, attempting a lunge at the man. Fortunately Kakashi held him back by his collar. The blonde struggled, yelling insults and pleading to be released. “Don’t kill the person you’re escorting, idiot,” Kakashi drawled out lazily. The man took another gulp of his drink.

“I Tazuna, an expert bridge builder. Once I return to my country, you all will protect my life with yours until I’ve completed the bridge,” the man explained.

Rokariku stared at the man -Tazuna- with a steadily growing throb in her temple.

So instead of buying groceries, I’m suppose to guard a drunk? Her eye twitched. I’m going to kill Naruto.

__HiImaLine:ChangeOfSceneYo____________________________________________

The mission wasn’t until the next day, giving everyone time to pack up and tell their family.

Shikamaru was not pleased with the fact that his little sister was going to another country so soon as a genin. He didn’t complain much, just mumbled about “Troublesome sisters,” and made sure she didn’t forget anything before she left. He did stop her as she was heading out the door, though.

“Hey Roka,” Rokariku turned, hand already clasped around the door handle. With a sigh her brother walked up to her, hands behind his back. Once he was close enough he held out his arms, showing her the gift he had hidden behind his back.

Rokariku gasped, eyes wide and happy before she glomped her brother joyfully.

“Neh, Onii-chan!” she couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. “Thank you so much!”

Shikamaru smirked before returning the hug. They separated, Rokariku taking the gift from him with eager hands.

It was a weapon, her weapon of choice to be precise. It was a long chain, it could easily wrap around an adult from their head to toes and still have some slack, tipped with mini scythes on both ends. The handles the scythes connected them to the chain and were wrapped in a deep green bandage. The heads were rather large, easily the size of Rokariku’s forearm, and gleamed a deadly obsidian. It was a weapon not many used, or even new about, and Rokariku was quite adept at using it. She had been heartbroken when it broke.

While practicing with the blades some months ago the chain had shattered. Rokariku had taken it to get fixed but no one could do it because the links were made out of a very strong natural material that had to be imported and Rokariku didn’t have the money for it.

“Thank you so much Shikamaru,” the Nara’s voice dripped with gratitude and her brown eyes were alight, a rare smile on her face. Shikamaru smirked.

“It was a hassle to do,” her brother complained, “but Dad and Mom chipped in. Don’t expect any birthday presents this year.” He ended his sentence with a smirk, “I also fixed the chain and infused it with my chakra. It’s basically unbreakable unless you just majorly screw up.”

His sister ignored the last comment and glomped him again. He muttered another troublesome udner his breath.

Not too long afterwards Rokariku showed up at the team’s meeting spot, surprised to see that Kakashi had arrived before her. Well, looks like I’m actually late.

Nobody said anything, so she wasn’t that late, and Naruto called her over with excited hand movements. When she joined them nobody said anything about her weapon, which was situated on her right hip. In fact it got no recognition, except for the subtle glances of both Kakashi and Sasuke.

The gates opened shortly after and the small group, Tazuna in tow, made their way out. Naruto was chattering away about something or another and Sakura was complaining about something, but it all passed through the Nara’s ears without substance. Everything had drifted out of focus the moment she had stepped out into the world beyond the village gates and she watched the path blankly.

Mentally she was in tune with her surroundings. The weather was mild, not too hot but not too cool, and it was made cooler by the occasional passing breeze. The only sounds were that of her teammates’ squabbling and the occasional chirping of a bird, or the slight rustle of leaves caused by a disturbance in the trees. It was quite peaceful...

“Hey Roka-chan!” Naruto yelled right into the Nara’s left ear, causing her to start and punch him in the face. The blonde flew into the ground before hopping back up, holding his cheek and complaining.

“Roka! Sheesh, what was that for?” Rokariku stared at him, brown eyes losing their glazed look and coming back into focus. When she spoke her voice retained its usual bored quality, “Naruto, you can’t shout into a person’s ear when they are unaware. You’re lucky I didn’t stab you.” By the end of her lecture she was smirking devilishly, fingering the shurikan pouch on her left arm.

Oh, she hadn’t forgotten the fact that the blonde was the reason she wasn’t sitting at home watching the clouds. Said genin gulped nervously, laughing while subtly backing away from her.

When she took her attention of him she found herself the center of attention. While she had been daydreaming she’d fallen behind the group ever-so-slightly, plus there was the fact she just gave her friend a bruise.

Tazuna laughed, “Haha, got beat up by a girl shortstuff?” Naruto growled, turning around to yell at the old man and the group kept moving. Rokariku found herself beside the Uchiha and glanced at him through her peripheral vision.

There was no denying the boy was attractive, but he wasn’t good-looking enough to have girls raving after him. Rokariku mentally twitched.

Geez, it’s not like he’s that handsome! Naruto looks just as good, if not be-

Her eyes widened slightly. She didn’t just think that.

No, I did not just think that. Nope. Natta.

It must be the fact that this was her first time out of the village, she decided. It was making her have strange thoughts.

She missed the look that Sasuke gave her as she continued to mentally make excuses. His onyx eyes were emotionless, but he was curious as to why the female next to him looked like she was having a conversation with herself.

Weird girl, he thought to himself.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened as the group made their way down the trail. If anything it was kind of boring. All they passed was multiple trees, boulders, and a single puddle.

Only once they had walked a couple of feet from the puddle did stark realization freeze Rokariku in her tracks.

Wait... It hasn’t rained.

Just as the thought completed itself two ninja appeared, materializing from the puddle the group had passed. One threw his partner at Kakashi, and together they wrapped a chain around him, much like the one Rokariku wore on her hip.

Rokariku watched with wide eyes as both pulled on their halves of the chain, tearing her sensei to shreds. A sense of helpless washed over her as his remains hit the floor, locking her limbs as the ninja targeted the genin next.

“First one,” they both said before rushing the group.

“Kakashi-sensei!” Naruto screamed.

The feeling of helplessness was replaced with fear. However, fear was something Rokariku could work with. With the changing of emotions her limbs were once again under her control. She could hear the murderous intent pouring off the two in waves.

Something in her reared its head and Rokariku let instinct overtake her.

Quickly she thought, even as her body moved to protect Naruto, who was frozen in place.

The ninja were experienced, they knew to go after the ones who couldn’t fend for themselves first.

Rokariku unwound her weapon from its place, both blades clutched firmly in her hands. With a growl she intercepted their charge, aiming both her blades at their throats. The assasins stopped short on their heels to avoid her blades. She was counting on this.

With precision she swung on of her blades under them. One of them jumped in the air while the other flipped back to avoid being tripped. Mind calculating she threw other other blade at the one in the air, managing to slice through the delicate tendons oh his knee. The man fell with a cry, crippled for the time being.

Still holding onto the chain Rokariku pulled her blades back to her just as the other sent his chain her way.

Thank God for Sasuke.

He leapt into the air, throwing a shurikan at the chain and pinned it to a tree. He sent a kunai shortly after, effectively pinning the chain to the tree. No one would be able to get it without serious distraction. With his chain pinned, and therefore he himself pinned, Sasuke landed on the ninja’s steel claws. The Uchiha quickly switched his feet with his hands and kicked the ninja hard in the face, knocking him back and breaking the chain that connected him to his partner.

Neither ninja was finished though.

Both ninja ran around Rokariku and Sasuke, who had both took up points to protect Naruto while Sakura stood guard in front of Tazuna. One was aiming for Naruto, the other had his kunai set on Tazuna.

“Naruto!” Rokariku shouted, throwing herself in front of the boy to protect him further, scythes up defensively. Her eyes narrowed as the ninja came closer, closer, closer...

Now!

With a quick sign Rokariku connected her shadow to the charging man, stopping him cold in his tracks. The sight of this made the other one change his attack on Tazuna and he headed for her instead.

Thinking quickly the girl walked up to the frozen ninja, about to complete her plan. But she didn’t have to.

The charging ninja was stopped by Kakashi, who easily knocked him out with little to no effort.

“Hey,” Kakashi said lazily, ninja firmly under his arm.

Rokariku blinked her brown eyes in surprise before mentally slapping herself.

He’s a jounin. Of course he noticed the puddle. That’s when he must have preformed the replacement jutsu.

Sure enough when she looked back over at his ‘remains’ all there were, were some split logs.

She breathed a heavy sigh of relief before muttering, “This was such a hassle. C ranked mission my ass.” Then she raised her voice and questioned, “What do I do with him?” She glanced at the ninja in her grasp, who was looking at the silver haired jounin fearfully.

I think I’m insulted. He’s more afraid of Kakashi then me. Asshole.

“Let him go,” she did as told and Kakashi promptly knocked the ninja out before he had time to react. Their sensei then turned his attention to the four of them.

“Naruto, sorry for not helping out immediately. I got you hurt. I didn’t think you would freeze like that,” Kakashi apologized to the still shocked boy. Rokariku glanced at him as she put her weapon back in place, he didn’t sound very apologetic. “Anyway, excellent job Rokariku, Sasuke. You too, Sakura.” Kakashi praised before giving Rokariku a calculating look.

She was able to stop a ninja five times her level, and she no doubtly had a plan to stop the other one as well. The girl was quickly becoming very interesting to the silverette, he needed to keep an eye on her. Said girl blushed a little at the praise but then turned her attention to the blonde boy beside her.

I... Couldn’t do anything. But Sasuke was able to fight in his first battle. Roka-chan even captured one.. They weren’t afraid at all? Naruto thought shell-shocked.

“Hey,” Sasuke called. Both genin looked at him, though he was speaking to Naruto, “Are you hurt... Mr. Scaredy Cat?” Sasuke taunted. Rokariku glared and, surprising everyone, flipped the boy a very rude gesture. She then turned her attention to the distraught blonde next to her before gently putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Ignore him Naruto. Are you okay?” Rokariku asked, worried that the blonde might be in a permanent stage of shock.

“Well...”

“Naruto! There’s poison in these guys’ nails. We need to take it out right away,” Kakashi said camly.

Dark eyes widened. Naruto go hurt? He was poisoned?! Damnitt, Rokariku thought when she located the three scratches bleeding on the blonde’s left hand, I couldn’t protect him. The Nara angrily berated herself.

“We’re going to have to open the wound and leech out the poison. Don’t move, or the poison will spread quicker through your body.”

Rokariku bit her lip before pulling out some bandages from her bag, which had somehow managed to stay on her back the whole time.

“Stay still Naruto, I can get that poison out. My clan is rather gifted in the art of healing so I’ll be able to take care of it,” the Nara stated, her bored tone back. She paused at Kakashi’s voice.

“Wait a minute Rokariku,” Kakashi said. Rokariku quirked an eyebrow and sent him a questioning look. “We’ll return to the village so Naruto can be treated.” The girl furrowed her brows but nodded and slowly put the bandages back in her bag. Then she paused, still as ice.

In front of her Naruto pulled out a kunai and pierced his injured hand roughly, drawing out the poisoned blood. All eyes widened at his little stunt and Rokariku clutched her bandages until her knuckles turned white.

“Why am I so different?... Why am I so?... Damnitt!” Naruto cursed.

“Naruto, what are you doing?” Sakura exclaimed.

“I shouldn’t be this weak... I’ve done lots of missions and I practice my techniques every day...” Rokariku’s eyes were fastened to the steady droplets of blood dripping onto the ground, “I’m never going to do something that will require someone else to rescue me. I’m never going to be frightened and try to back out of things. I’m never going to lose to Sasuke. I vow with this blood that I’m going to protect this old man!” Naruto lifted his head up, determined blue eyes shining in the light, his kunai still imbedded in his flesh. “The mission is still on,” he smirked.

“Naruto, it’s nice you took out the poison so heroically, but you’re going to die from blood loss if any more comes out,” Kakashi stated bluntly.

Naruto’s face quickly changed from determined to frightened. His face turned blue and sweat poured off him profusely while his body began to shake. Kakashi appeared behind him, “It’s won’t be good if you don’t stop it no. Seriously...” He stated that way too happily, was a certain Nara’s thoughts.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I can’t die like this! I haven’t become Hokage yet!” Naruto screeched, spazzing out and behaving sporadically.

Rokariku blinked at the sudden change in the boy’s demeanor.

What a troublesome boy.

She stood up from her place on the ground, bandages back in her hand. She allowed a small, humorous smile to grace her mouth as the boy continued to spaz.

Naruto turned panicked wide eyes to his left when a gentle touch to his shoulder got his attention. He calmed down at the look in the other’s eyes. It was... warm, amused, and calm all whirled into one stare. He sighed in relief when he saw the bandages the other held, and he finally quit shaking. Rokariku cradled his injured hand in hers, keeping her movements gentle and slow.

Her eyes sharpened when she noticed the skin repairing itself, healing quickly with no help. Her hands didn’t falter in their task of bandaging the blonde, she didn’t want the others to take note of the unusual occurrence. As long as Naruto wanted to keep the Kyuubi a secret a secret it would remain. Maybe later she would allow the blonde to know of her knowledge. Maybe.

Kakashi, despite her efforts, did notice the healing, though. His eye was sharp while he thought, not missing anything.

The Kyuubi has already begun to heal him, Kakashi thought. His eye moved from the blonde to the girl tending him, the dark orb narrowed. That girl knows, to say Kakashi was surprised would be an understatement, interesting.

The Nara girl was definitely something else. The jounin looked forward to seeing her grow further.

___HiImaLineTimeSkip___________________________________________________

The journey after the attack was calm, though all of you were tenser and more wary. Once they were on the boat, courtesy of one of Tazuna’s friends, Rokariku began to think.

Gato, huh? The man who sent out a hit on Tazuna. Apparently the man didn’t want the bridge to be completed as he rather liked having the town under his control. So he had let out a hit on the bride builder’s head, the Demon Brothers were only the start Rokariku would bet. The mission was easily a B ranked one, but the man hadn’t been able to afford the higher ranking escort team.

We’re going to die, how troublesome.

The boat only went through a little bit of fog, luckily. Rokariku hated not being able to see the clouds and welcomed the warmth the sun brought on her face. They made it to their destination in peace, which was still pretty far away from Tazuna’s town. Though the man had been his friend he still wasn’t willing to be seen with Tazuna so close to the town.

Rokariku didn’t blame him. From the story Tazuna had told them, things were dire and tense because of Gato.

So far the group had been walking for ten minutes, traveling through yet another forest. It was quiet too, which made them all tense and had Rokariku’s nerves jumbled up. She had a feeling something bad was going to happen. The proverbial chill was making its way down her back. She didn’t try to shake it off.

To get her mind off of her nerves she took her weapon from its place. The blade she had sliced the ninja with had crusted blood on it and she didn’t want that dulling her blade. She wrinkled her nose at the sight, quietly cleaning the blade with her shirt. She would need to polish it when they stopped.

Naruto chose the exact moment she was distracted to break away from the group, seeming to think something was in the brush. He scanned the area, looking for the what had ‘disturbed his senses’. He finally determined its location and through a kunai knife in the direction with a shout.

Said shout startled Rokariku, making her nearly slice her thumb off. She reflexively brought up her blades in a defense position, one bent over her head with the other stretched out in front of her stomach, knees crouched. Nothing came out of the brush.

Rokariku sighed, putting her scythes back and walking over to Naruto, who was squabbling with Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna. She parted the brush where Naruto’s kunai had struck, only to see a terrified white rabbit cowering underneath the weapon.

“Ah! Poor rabbit! I’m so sorry!!!” Naruto exclaimed at the sight of the poor creature, whose expression pleaded for help as the blonde cuddled him to his chest, shouting his apologies. Sakura berated the boy for terrorizing the creature.

Meanwhile Rokariku stood up, her eyes narrowed as she took in the rabbit’s fur.

It’s snow white fur.

Shit.

Kakashi realized the same thing his student did, that something was amiss. The whirl of a blade ascertained their assumptions.

“Everyone, duck!” He ordered just as Rokariku pulled Naruto and Sasuke down. A large sword careened harmlessly over everyone’s heads, embedding itself deeply into the bark of a random tree. Instantly a figure appeared, balancing perfectly on the sword's hilt.

His back was towards the group, but his head was turned in their direction. Bandages concealed his face, and he wore no shirt to cover his grayish tanned skin. A headband rested titled on his forehead with the symbol of the Mist Village.

Rokariku gulped silently, it was slashed.

Tension was thick in the air and threatened to choke them.

Kakashi stood before the rest and walked unfearingly to the ninja in the tree.

“Oh my, you are Zabuza Momochi, the exiled demon of the Village Hidden in the Mist,” the jounin stated calmly. Rokariku cursed silently as she stood.

She had been hoping that she was wrong and that the man wasn’t an exiled shinobi. This Zabuza was going to be serious trouble.

Naruto was ready to rush forward, but Kakashi stopped him. “You’ll be in my way. Stay back team, protect the bridge builder,” his voice was still irritatingly calm.

“Why?!” Naruto demanded.

“He’s different from the Demon Brothers. If he’s our enemy...” Kakashi began, lifting his headband from his eye. Both the eyes of Rokariku and Sasuke widened... “I can’t win like this.”

“Ah, you’re Kakashi of the Sharingan,” Zabuza stated.

But... How the hell? Rokariku was shocked and by judging from his face Sasuke was too.

“You need to hand over the geezer,” Zabuza demanded, his voice just as deathly calm as Kakashi’s.

The very air was still, everyone watched with baited breaths while their minds raced. The word Sharingan had them all confused.

“Everyone, for the Quad formation. Protect Tazuna at all costs and whatever happens do not join the battle. If anything happens, run,” Kakashi’s headband was fully lifted by this point, revealing the scared of the sharingan for everyone to see. The red eye starkly contrasted against the black one, and the three comma like marks surrounding the pupil made the eye seem terrifying.

“Fight me...”

What’s up with that eye? Naruto wondered as he felt both the tense body of Rokariku and Sasuk, who stood on either side of him with Sakura in the back.

“I’m honored that I get to fight the Sharingan that I’ve heard so much about,” Zabuza said, slowly turning his body to face the group fully.

“What’s this Sharingan you guys keep talking about?” Naruto voiced the question on everyone's mind.

“Sharingan... It’s a power created by the eye. Ones who use doujutsu are said to have eye powers that can see through all genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu, and can even cancel their effects. The Sharingan is one of those eye powers that certain doujutsu user’s possess. Yet the Sharingan has many more abilities as well,” Sasuke explained, his voice low and haunted.

Rokariku new about the Uchiha Clan Massacre, as most shinobi did. The act had been huge, the murder of a whole clan. Only leaving behind one child. Sasuke, the girl sent a rare, concerned glance his way.

This was getting more troublesome by the minute.

“Correct. But that isn’t all. The scariest part of the Sharingan is the fact that it can understand how an opponent’s technique work, it can even copy these techniques,” Zabuza explained just as an unnatural mist began to cover the area. “When I was in the Mist’s assassination squad your information was in the bingo book I carried. It note this: The man who copied more than one thousand techniques, Kakashi the Copy Cat Ninja.”

Kakashi and Zabuza stared intensely at one another, both deadly calm in the situation.

Huh? Kakashi-sensei is that great? Sakura thought.

“Wow!” Naruto exclaimed.

I don’t understand... The Sharingan is a special trait that only appears in certain individuals in the Uchiha clan. Could he be... Sasuke thought, his mind shocked.

One thousand techniques? I hope some of them can save our sorry asses, Rokariku thought dryly, already imagining her brother’s reaction to her death. He was going to be pissed.

“Enough of this. I have to kill that geezer,” Zabuza’s voice was matter-of-fact and the four genin stiffened, kunai at the ready to strike. Rokariku crouched low to the ground on Tazuna’s right, her scythes out and in the defensive position, eyes firmly trained on Zabuza.

“It seems like I need to kill you first Kakashi,” the man easily yanked his sword from the tree, jumping to land swiftly on the lake in front of Kakashi and the genin.

“He’s there!”

“He’s standing on the water?!”

Naruto and Sakura both exclaimed. Rokariku ignored their shouts, waiting for the first strike to fall. Zabuza thrust his free arm out, gathering his chakra and causing the spray from the water to jump around him.

“Mist concealment,” the jutsu was uttered just as a thick mist covered the area, causing everyone’s visibility to be nonexistent.

“I can’t see him!” Naruto exlaimed while Sakura called for Kakashi.

“He’ll try to eliminate me first...” Kakashi began as he walked out to the lake.

“What is he?” Sakura asked.

“Momochi, Zabuza. He was part of the Hidden Village of Mists’s ANBU and was renowned for his ‘silent killing’ techniques.

“Silent?” Somebody muttered, it sounded like Sakura.

“Just as the name implies. It’s a killing technique done quickly and carried out in absoloute silence. A person will be dead before they even realize it. Don’t let your guard down, if you fail you’re going to die.”

Thanks for the encouraging words Kakashi, Rokariku glared at the mist in front of her.

“The mist is getting thicker!” Naruto exclaimed.

Thank you Captain Obvious! Rokariku snapped in her mind as the mist indeed got thicker. It was near impossible to see.

“The Country of the Waves is surrounded by the ocean, mist isn’t uncommon,” Tazuna stated.

Rokariku scoffed, “This isn’t a natural mist.”

The mist became thicker until it eventually shrouded Kakashi from her gaze.

“Eight points,” Zabuza’s voice echoed all around.

“What?” Sakura asked.

“The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart. Hmm, which vital organ do you want me to strike?”

Rokariku froze at the voice. A cold sweat started from her body and she struggled not to shake. There was a lump in her throat that she fought to get rid of, only succeeding from pure will. Her heart sped up, increasing when Kakashi’s chakra tore through the mist, blowing it all away.

Beside Naruto, Sasuke trembled.

That thirst for blood. One breathing motion, a single eye movement and it might get me killed. If I stay here I’m going to lose my mind... The murderous intent of two powerful shinobi clashing... I would rather kill myself. I need to escape this feeling. Sasuke thought, gripping his kunai with white knuckles. His nervousness spread and touched Rokariku, making her own heart rate speed up the slightest bit. The pounding pulsed through her body, even Zabuza must have heard it.

“Sasuke, Rokariku,” both of you looked up to Kakashi. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect all of you with my life. I won’t let anyone on my team die.” He was smiling. Rokariku sucked in a deep breath at his words, forcing her body to calm and her heart rate to slow.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Zabuza said slyly.

In the blink of an eye the man was between the group and Tazuna. “This is the end,” he muttered. Kakashi turned to stare at him, both of his eyes focused intently. Everyone sprung away when the man swung his sword, Rokariku grabbed Tazuna so he was out of harm’s way. Kakashi sprang forward to attack the demon and he struck the man faster then the eye could follow.

He embedded his kunai in his side, expecting to see blood but instead the only thing that leaked out was water.

Fuck a water clone. Rokariku felt her mind race, millions of calculations being processed in her brain while she focused on staying alive.

“Sensei behind you!” Naruto warned when the real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, but it was too late. Zabuza swung his sword, succeeding in cutting Kakashi in half, only to have him turn into water as well.

Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza, kunai in hand an pointed at the man’s throat.

“Don’t move,” Kakashi muttered. “It’s over.”

Rokariku seriously doubted that. (J†: Soooo tempted to leave it here XD)

She was right.

Everything was quiet for all of three seconds, but it was silence so deep that it had Rokariku's hear racing and her mind reeling. Her hands trembled ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly.

Laughter broke the silence. Laughter... from Zabuza.

"Is this the end?" his dark chuckles reverberated throughout the mist. "I assure you, you can't defeat me with your little clones," his chuckles never ceased, the sound was pounding in Rokariku's head. "You're pretty good, though. I now see you copied my water clone when you made your speech about no one dying. By making that clone speak you made me think it was the real you, meanwhile you used the Mist Concealment to hide and observe my movements. But Kakashi you should know," Zabuza once again appeared behind Kakashi, the real one, "I'm not that easy to defeat."

Rokariku was getting pissed at the whole 'getting behind the other' thing going on.

Kakashi attacked the clone, nope not the real one, but it reverted quickly back to water.

Naruto shouted the obvious, "That one's a fake, too!" Rokariku shot him a look. Well, at least her trembling finally ceased.

Zabuza swung his ridiculously sighed sword at Kakashi, barely missing him as he ducked at the last seconds. Zabuza caught him with a kick, sending him flying high into the air. The missing ninja quickly picked up his sword and charge the falling man. He froze abruptly when he noticed the small items scattered over the ground.

"How idiotic," Zabuza muttered.

When Kakashi finally landed it was right into the lake.

"Sensei!" Naruto called out.

Sakura stood in shock. Her sensei just got kicked away...

"His taijutsu is superb," Sasuke muttered.

Rokariku groaned, she couldn't focus on her thoughts!

Kakashi finally emerged from the water and he looked around in confusion. The water seemed heavy to him.

"Idiot," Zabuza muttered as he appeared quickly behind Kakashi, performing handseals too fast for Rokariku to follow. "Hydro Prison Technique."

"No!" Kakashi yelled but it was too late, a large bubble of pure water had him entrapped. He fell right into Zabuza's trap.

Zabuza chuckled, right arm connected to the water prison.

That must be what's keeping it intact. Rokariku noted, her mind already calculating the new information.

"You fell for it. This is a special prison no one can escape from. You were giving me a hard time when you were moving. But now Kakashi... I'm going to finish you off later. First, you're going to get to watch as I kill them," Zabuza formed familiar seal with his unoccupied hand. "Water clone technique."

Surely enough a new clone appeared in front of the group, chuckling darkly with murderous intent. "The four of you think you're ninjas just because you have hitai-ate. But you're not. A ninja refers to someone who has gone through numerous life and death situations. You four aren't ninja," Zabuza, the real one, informed as another thick mist hid him from view.

A plan took shape in Rokariku's mind just as the sound of a kick connecting with something solid resonnated in her ears. The loud thud that followed had her snapping her head to look, and she froze when she saw Naruto sprawled out on the ground. He slowly got to his feet, eyes focused on the Zabuza clone.

"You're nothing but kids," Zabuza said seriously.

The clone disappeared, only to reappear in front of Rokariku. He sent an attack her way and the girl instinctively blocked the kick before jumping back out of his range but still in front of Tazuna.

"Everyone!" She heard Kakashi's yell but she didn't dare take her eyes off Zabuza. "Grab Tazuna and run! You can't win against him! The real Zabuza can't move as long as I'm trapped. Run for it now!"

Rokariku sent the man a look, her signature quirked eyebrow. There was no way in hell she was leaving, not while she still had a chance of saving her sensei.

"We have to do it!" Sasuke exclaimed. In order to survive, we have to save you!

Sasuke charged forward tossing various weapons at the clone before going in for an ariel attack.

"Too easy," the clone stated. He stretched out his hand and grabbed the boy by his neck, strangling him. With a firm grip he threw him aside, making him skid along the harsh ground.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura screeched.

"Sasuke... he," Naruto struggled to say anything.

Rokariku just looked on with wide eyes before her instincts kicked in and she once again raised her blades.

Naruto panicked, This is a jounin... I have to run. At this rate we're all going to get killed.

Rokariku felt the air behind her shift and she glanced back, worried that another clone had gotten Naruto.

"Bad move!" Was the only warning she got before a severe pain made itself known in her right leg. A kick to her stomach had her flying to land beside Sasuke. She groaned in pain, her stomach spasming and she felt a trickle of blood make it's way down the corner of her mouth. Her leg was in excruciating pain, a glance down told her that a kunai was buried deeply in it, shoved even deeper by her fall.

"Naruto! What are you thinking!" Sakura screamed.

Naruto skidded to a stop in front of Rokariku on his back. He had tried to attack the Demon of Mist by himself. Rokariku ignored himas she sat up. With a deep breath she yanked the kunai out of her leg, holding in the scream bubbling in her throat. Hurriedly she took the bandage from her hair and wrapped around her thigh to make a tourniquet.

Shakily she staggered to her feet, waist length brown hair coming to hang over hair shoulders, the sweat making it cling to her back and face.

Naruto and Sasuke both got to their feet as well, much to the concerned looks of Tazuna and Sakura, although Tazuna seemed more worried about the brunette girl. Said Nara pushed the hair out of her eyes and ignored Sakura's angry shouting at Naruto.

Shut up Harpie, I'm trying to think. Her plan could still work.

Naruto made some speech as he picked up his headband, Rokariku didn't care.

"Sasuke, listen to me for a sec," Naruto said, only loud enough for his two teammates to hear.

"What?" Sasuke replied.

"I have a plan." Rokariku looked at the blonde in surprise as he explained his plan. She saw the holes in it though, she had thought of the same thing, and voiced her opinions.

They came up with a plan in this situation? Sasuke thought skeptically, and shocked at Naruto, "I can't believe you want to work as a team,"

Let's pray we don't fuck this up, Rokariku thought.

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed, wiping his mouth with his bandaged hand. His exuberance caused Zabuza to chuckle mockingly. "You're confident for someone who has no chance of victory."

Kakashi shouted angrily from his prison, "What are you doing! I told you to run away or you'll die! The mission is to protect Tazuna! Did you forget that?!"

Naruto glanced back at Tazuna, "Old man."

The bridge builder lowered his gaze so no one could read his eyes, "Don't worry, this is my fault. I won't say that I want to survive no matter what." Tazuna lifted his gaze to look at the four Genin's prepared to die for him, "Sorry everyone. Fight as much as you want."

"That's how it's going to be," Sasuke smirked.

"You ready?" Naruto questioned.

Zabuza found the situation hilarious, "You sure don't learn, do you?"

"What?" Naruto growled.

"Still pretending to be a ninja? Tsk, when I was your age my hands were already stained with blood."

Everyone stood still, eyes widened in shock and horror.

"The Demon Zabuza," Kakashi muttered.

"So you have heard of me," Zaubza mused to himself.

"A long time ago, the Village of Mist was known as the Village of the Bloody Mist. In that village there was one obstacle that existed to become a ninja," Kakashi had a solemn look in his eyes.

"So you know about their final test."

"Final test?" Rokariku questioned, her voice hoarse and her breathing labored from the kick she had received. Her body was wracked in pain.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

Zabuza paused before he pierced them with the eyes of a killer, "You had to kill the students." Once again everyone froze, Sakura was on the verge of throwing up. "Friends who have eaten together are separated into groups of two and forced to right one another. Until one of them is dead. This is done with friends who have grown up together, fought together, and helped each other. These kids knew eachother's dreams."

"That's horrible..." Sakura whispered.

"Ten years ago, the village had to go through a reformation because in the previous year a monster appeared," Kakashi said with a serious glint in his eyes.

"What did the monster do?" Sakura breathed out.

"A small boy, who had not yet even gained the right to become a ninja, killed more than a hundred canidates. He killed them all silently and without hesitation."

Rokariku's eyes widened and she choked down the pain. W-what the Hell...

Zabuza laughed, "That was fun." His eyes were still riveted on the group of three who stood injured. Tazuna shouted, "It's impossible! You can't beat a guy like that!" Zabuza's clone rushed them at that exact moment.

Sasuke was the first to go down, the clone caught him in the stomach and pinned him down. He stomped hard on the boy, making him cough of blood.

Naruto cursed, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Multiple Narutos appeared and rushed the clone. The clone looked around casually, no trace of worry on his face.

"Hmmm, shadow clones. And you've made quite a few," Zabuza noted.

Each clone drew a kunai and shouted, charging at the man in the middle of their horde.

Sasuke was released as the clones bore down on Zabuza, stopping him for only a second or two. Then, in one quick motion, all the clones -with the original- were all knocked away.

One by one the clones disappeared in a cloud of smoke, leaving only the original on the dirt. That one pulled open his bag and searched for something. He found his weapon and threw a special type of shurikan in the air with a shout of Sasuke's name. Sasuke lifted his hand and caught the shurikan easily, spinning around and preparing to throw.

This plan is pretty good coming from you Naruto, Sasuke thought with a smirk. He flipped the shurikan open, revealing for long blades.

"Shadow Windmill," he stated with a deadly look on his face. Tazuna looked on with worry while Sakura stared in admiration. Rokariku, still injured and unable to move, subtly made a seal with her hands.

"A pathetic shurikan won't work on me," the clone said.

Good thing we're not aiming for you.

Sasuke jumped in the air, performing a flip before throwing the large shurikan with force nonsurprising of an Uchiha. It flew by the clone's head on a direct course for the true one's head.

"Hmm, so you're going after the real me this time. But this is too easy for me!" Zabuza easily snatched the shurikan with his free hand. That's when he noticed the second shurikan, which hid in the shadow of the first.

Sakura looked at it all with hope in her eyes. A hope that died as soon as Zabuza jumped over the second one nimbly. Her eyes widened and she looked over at Sasuke and Rokariku, hoping that they had another plan or that they would flee. Their plan had failed after all.

But they were both smirking, much to her confusion.

A familiar pop was heard and Sakura's head snapped in Zabuza's direction. Right where the second shurikan had been was Naruto! A kunai was gripped firmly in his hand, ready to throw with deadly precision.

"This is it!" Naruto shouted, tossing the weapon with all of the force he possessed.

With no way to dodge the sharp blade, Zabuza was forced to leap away. Just as they had hoped the water prison fell away, releasing their sensei in a rush of water.

What was surprising was the fact that not only had they made him release Kakashi, but Naruto had even succeeded in cutting the shinobi below his eye.

Zabuza growled angrily, clutching the shurikan with white knuckles, prepared to end the jinchuuriki's life. "You damn kid!" Zabuza shouted, shurikan ready to strike.

He brought the blade down, aiming for Naruto and it made contact. Just not with the flesh of Naruto. Instead one of the blades pierced the metal plate of Kakashi's glove, causing him to release a steady stream of blood.

Much like the stream still coming profusely from Rokariku's leg, despite her make-shift tourniquet. The girl's chest heaved as she worked to maintain consciousness, blocking out Sakura's happy exclamation and the sting of sweat in her eyes. She kept her focus on the clone still in front of her, hair obscuring her vision but she was too weak to move it out of the way.

Kakashi said something about them growing and Naruto popped his head out of water, proceeding to explain the plan to them. Rokariku tuned in and out.

"I used the shadow clones to hide the fact that I had transformed into the shurikan. I didn't do it to defeat Zabuza by myself... Sasuke would throw the shurikan... Rokariku kept the clone still," it was at this that attention turned to afformentioned genin, who barely managed to stay on her feet. Zabuza glared and commanded his clone to attack, but it stood still.

"What the hell!" Zabuza shouted angrily. Kakashi smirked, seeing what Rokariku had done.

When everyone had been distracted by Sasuke's stunt the girl had stretched her shadow, indiscreetly connecting with clone's shadow and rendering him immobile. As the clone struggled to free himself Rokariku held him still, the pain in her body making itself known.

She needed to end this, now.

"Obviously you've never heard of the Nara clan of Konoha," Kakashi explained with a touch of pride in his voice. "They are extremely skilled in the medical field but are known for their shadow manipulation techniques. The Nara men are also rumoured to be the smartest shinobi, albeit lazy. Rokariku happens to be the exception to the all men rule."

Rokariku's face was flushed, whether from pain or embarrassment no one could tell, and she decided to end it before she lost consciousness. She clutched her blades in her hands, seeing the clone copy her motion, but his hands clenched only thin air.

With a deadly look in brown eyes the girl cast out her scythe, slicing the clone and forcing it to revert back to water.

Then the pressure in her body exploded and she promptly passed out to the worried cries of her teammates.

The time transitioning from sleep to the waking world always differs from individual to individual.

One person may see the transition as quick, they may not even remember their first thoughts upon wakening. Others take more time to collect their thoughts. Still, others regain their senses one by one as they transition. They stay in that moment long, the blurred line separating consciousness from a black reality.

Rokariku was the latter.

The first sense to come to her, unfortunately, was the ability to feel. Her first waking moment was filled with pain as her body throbbed from injuries she couldn't remember receiving. The pain wasn't sharp, yet, as she still was in that transitioning time, but it was still there. A dull throb steadily growing stronger and sharper.

Her sense of smell came next. With deep breaths she took in the scent of water and clean sheets. The rustic smell of faded blood and antiseptic tickled her nose and made it wrinkle.

Then her ears became open, hearing the subtle sounds around her. There wasn't much, just the faint hum of voices that were far away enough to not disturb her hurting head.

Her eyelids twitched once the senses awakened, but there was no light beyond the closed lids. They fluttered for minutes before getting the strength to open, brown pupils adujsting to the darkness of the room.

Only now did her thoughts come to the girl. Along with the full pain of her physical being.

Rokariku winced and kept back a cry of pain, her eyes shutting against the sudden onslaught of agony her body was in. Suprisingly enough the most pain didn't come from her leg, where she remembered getting stabbed, but instead it resonnated from her stomach. Her limbs also ached, but they were easily overshadowed by the severe, sharp pain in her torso.

Crap, Zabuza must have hitten me harder than I thought.

The events came back to her. The fight, the fear, the determination, the ass whooping they had received.

Wait...

I'm not dead. Brown eyes opened wide because she wasn't dead. So they must have won the fight. Either that or she got captured.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she rolled her eyes. Yes, she thought dryly, because they would fix me up and put me on a nice bed before torturing me. She blamed the lapse of sense on her slee/pain muddled brain.

Speaking of pain the sharp stab in her stomach was receding ever-so-slightly. Wary, cautiously, she began to sit up, wincing everytime her sore muscles jostled. She tried to not tense her stomach, but everytime she did she would have to pause and breathe through the pain.

Once she had succeeded in sitting up she threw her legs over the side of the bed, wincing again at the pain in her stabbed leg.

Probably should have done that more gently.

Nevertheless she gritted her teeth and bored through the pain. With a deep breath she managed to stand, catching herself on the bed when her knees threatened to buckle under her.

Once she felt steady enough she cautiously let go of the bed, taking slow steps to the illuminated door frame. Luckily the room was clean and sparse so she didn't trip over anything or have to avoid troublesome obsticles.

She managed to make it to the door without incident. With a mental victory cheer she opened the door, taking a moment to allow her retinas to adjust to the sudden onslaught of light. Once they did, though a pulsing in her temple warned her of an oncoming headache, the Nara made her way down the hall and to the low voices, using the wall as her support. She made a small, victorious sound when she finally came to the door way she was looking for.

Rokariku stepped through the doorway, though she still leaned her back against the door's frame for support. This positioned her body point blank in front of the occupants in the room. She breathed deeply, trying to block the pain signals coming in waves to her brain.

"Ah, Rokariku," Kakashi stated calmly from his position propped up on a futon, "you're awake." The statement turned all eyes to the girl, who wasn't aware of the way she looked.

Rokariku quirked an eyebrow when Naruto's cheeks flared a deep red and he instantly turned around. It went higher once her eyes caught sight of the pink dusting Sasuke's face before he too turned around. Even Tazuna looked away from her, though he did not blush and had done it as soon as he had noticed her.

Rokariku became aware of the sudden draft and looked down. Her chest was covered by bandages, as was most of her torso, but otherwise her upper area was exposed. Instead of wearing her normal shorts, which reached her knees and were baggy enough to conceal a sword in comfortably, she was donned with skin tight black shorts that scarcly covered her rear end. The only bandage on her leg was the one wrapped tightly around her wound. Her headband was missing and her dark hair spilt down her back and few strands hung over her shoulders.

Rokariku slowly blinked, I look like a hooker.

Too bad she couldn't scrounge up enough energy to care. Her body was still wracked with pain, showing a little skin was the least of her worries.

"Here Dear," Rokariku looked up to see a kind looking middle aged woman. She held out the genin's usual clothing and directed her towards the bathroom. Rokariku simply took her clothes but stayed in the same area.

"Go change, Nara!" Sakura screeched.

If anybody is going to be naked in Sasuke it's going to be me! Inner Sakura punched the air in rage. The pinkette was furious, not only at the fact that Rokariku was barely decent in front of her Sasuke but the fact that the girl was developing sooner than she.

And it was true.

Rokariku's body was developing, she had curves that were still in the stages of coming in and her breasts were already beginning to become full. However, her body was tough with muscle and lean, like a swimmer's body. Some would say it was somewhat boyish, but their thoughts would no doubt change just as her budding curves were.

The girl really wasn't anything spectacular, she just happened to be blossoming earlier than the other girls were, that's all.

"Um, I can't," Rokariku said in regards to Sakura's shout.

"Why not?!" The kunoichi was furious.

"Because Sakura," it was Kakashi who spoke, "she probably can't move without help, I'm suprised she got out of bed at all without assistance. Plus she needs her bandage changed, it seems she tore the stiches in her leg." Everybody turned to look at the girl's leg bandage. The stark white cloth was quickly becoming saturated in a dark red colour.

Just as quickly as they had looked Naruto and Sasuke looked away, faces pink. Tazuna had never turned his face to begin with.

"I'll help you," the kind woman said and Rokariku nodded, wrapping an arm around the warm person as she was escorted to the washroom.

She came back moments later in her regular clothing, minus the headband, and still propped up against the woman, whose name turned out to be Tsunami. Rokariku liked her, not only because of her motherly aura but also because of her attitude. They both had a vow of silence, what happened in that washroom would never be discussed or brought up again.

If you took that the wrong way then you're sick... And we could be great friends... Moving on.

The scene had actually been quite hilarious. The Nara had felt like a cripple as she tried to get dressed herself, ending up on the floor with one short's leg on and succeeding in tearing the bottom of her fishnet shirt. Plus her hair was still down and had gotten to be a tangled, gnarled mess do to her thrashing. The overall scene, including her eyetwitch, had Tsunami giggling into her dainty hands.

It was only after much glaring and giggling that Rokariku took Tsunami up on her offer and allowed the older woman to help her dress.

So now there she was, black shorts and wripped shirt firmly in place. The only thing that was abnormal was her waist length hair because she had yet to find her headband and bandage.

Damn, long hair is such a drag.

With Tsunami's help she seated herself by Naruto beside Kakashi's rested form. On his orther side sat Sasuke and Sakura, who was still glaring at her fellow teammate.

"So," the injured girl drawled out, "I'm guessing we won?" Naruto guffawed, saying of course they did because no one could beat Naruto Uzumaki 'believe it', Sakura gave her a 'duh' look (obviously missing the dry humour), and Sasuke... well, he was emotionless.

Kakashi chuckled before retelling the events that had happened after her imprompt napping. Kakashi had fought the missing nin and had succeeded in pinning him, but was stopped from performing the death blow. He had been beat to the punch by a Mist Hunter Nin, who had struck Zabuza with some senbon. Rokariku just nodded, happy that they were alive and Zabuza was dead.

Then something Naruto said caught her attention.

"That stupid Hunter Nin! He told us to leave because we wouldn't be able to take the sight of him disposing of the body. Ch, like that guy's so much better than us," the blonde complained loudly. Rokariku was about to comment that yes, the Hunter Nin was better than them, how did she know? Because he was a bloody Hunter Nin!

Then the sentence sank in and she froze, brown eyes narrowed.

A Hunter Nin? Asking a group to leave before he dealt with the body... Shit.

Rokariku let out a depressed sigh, causing her to receive curious looks.

"Neh, what's wrong Roka-chan?" Naruto asked, leaning into her unconsciously.

Rokariku leaned back heavily on her hands, head tilted back and gazing at the ceiling.

"Zabuza isn't dead, is he Kakashi," the way she spoke it made it a statement, not a question.

Kakashi solemnly nodded his head, much to the shock of everyone.

Well, this sucks.

____HiImaLineSceneChange______________________________________________

The week after Rokariku woke up was uneventful. Kakashi was still bed ridden so their training was on hold and Tazuna had yet to commence on the bridge. Needless to say, all three genin had been somewhat bored, especially Naruto, good Heaven's that boy was stir crazy.

Now you may be wondering why only three genin were bored and not all four of them. This would be because Rokariku quite liked the fact that she got to doze all day and recuperate. The wound from the kunai was healing over and would scar quite nicely (her first ninja scar, yay). As for the bruising to her insides, well.

Rokariku winced from where she lay on the porch, a faint twinge of pain coming from her torso. She let out a sigh once the pain subsided, closing her eyes to the warm rays of the sun while she mentally recounted what had happened since she had woken up.

They all found out Zabuza was alive, much to Tazuna's grim shock. Which meant that as soon as Kakashi healed up they would be undergoing some major training in case the Demon were to return. Rokariku wasn't looking forward to another encounter with the man. Why? Because the next time they met he was most likely going to kill them.

Light but hurried footsteps broke the genin out of her thoughts and she lazily cracked open an eye just in time to see a small figure duck behind a wall.

Inari.

The child was Tsunami's, Tazuna's grandson, and he had to be the most annoyingly adorable thing Rokariku had ever set her eyes on. Something few people knew about her was the fact that she loved children and children loved her. Inari was no exception and something in her ached for the boy. His eyes were terminally dull with sadness and utter hopelessness whenever he looked at their team.

A light nudge to her side had Rokariku huffing angrily and shooting a glare at the foot which dared to disturb her. A chuckle had her casting her glare upwards where it connecting with the amused eye of her sensei. Behind him stood her three teammates, two of which who were giving her strange looks for napping on the hard wood. Sasuke just gave her a raised eyebrow.

Rokariku resisted the urge to stick her toungue out at them.

"Rokariku," Kakashi's voice once again drew her gaze upward, "it's time to start training."

Oh bite my life.

Kakashi led his team into the forest behind Tazuna's home, coming to a stop in a small clearing surrounded by great trees.

"This is where we'll be training," Kakashi announced, turning to face the genin. His wounds had healed qutie nicely but he still relied on the aid of crutches when walking around.

Rokariku fleetingly thought of stealing them so they couldn't train.

"But before we begin let me once again talk about chakra, the base ability for ninjas."

Sasuke said something sarcastic under his breath and Rokariku raised a brow. Surely they all knew about chakra so why waste the time explaining the subject?

"Psh, I already know about that. Chatra, right?"

Oh. That's why he's explaining it. Rokariku sighed, Naruto... You're an idiot.

"Um. It's chakra Naruto. Not Chatra," she voiced, throwing the blonde an exasperated glance.

Kakashi sweatdropped then threw Sakura a look, "Sakura, why don't you explain it?"

"Fine. Listen, Naruto, I'm going to explain this in a very simple manner to save time," she pulled out a red scroll and opened it, allowing everyone to see the diagram of chakra. " Chakra is energy that all ninja need in order to perform any technique. That energy comes from the body energy that is collected from every cell in the body. It is also taken from the spirit energy, which comes from training and experience. Simply put, techniques come from these two energies that are squeeze out of the body and then molded together. This process is referred to as molding chakra. With this molded chakra a ninja can perform a technique by focusing the chakra by forming a seal." Sakura looked quite proud of herself.

Rokariku sweatdropped, That's a simple explanation? Did she just memorize the bloody text books?

"Correct. Iruka was blessed with a talented student," Kakashi praised.

"Who cares? You can just learn it with your body, you don't need to know about the hard stuff," Naruto asked with a slight whine in his voice.

Surprisingly Sasuke agreed with the blonde, "We're able to perform jutsus now anyways."

"No, you guys can't use your chakra completely," their sensei bluntly stated.

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed in disbelief.

Kakashi explained the differences between different types of chakra. He detailed the reasons why balance is a key element in molding the chakras in order to perform different jutsus. He ended by explaining how, without proper training, an individual would run out of chakra before a battle would finish; therefore becoming easy prey to enemy ninja.

Rokariku cut to the chase, "So, what are we going to do?" Naruto scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"You're going to learn how to control the chakra with your body via rigorous training."

Not what I was asking Sensei.

"So what are we going to do?" Sakura questioned.

"Climb a tree," Kakashi said simply while the Nara twitched. Why he answered Sakura but not her was a complete mystery.

"Climb a tree?" Everyone save Rokariku echoed. Said genin waited for the catch.

Kakashi is not going to be that nice.

"That's right; however, this is no ordinary tree-climbing," Kakashi said with amusement.

Called it.

"You're going to climb a tree... without the use of your hands,"

Naruto's face faltered, along with Sakura's.

"Is that even possible?" The pink haired girl asked increduously.

"Just watch me," Kakashi formed a simple seal with his hands. The grass at his feet swayed at the gathering of his chakra. Leaning on his crutches the jounin walked calmly towards the base of the tree, placing one foot on it nonchalantly. Then he procceeded to walk directly up the tree, vertically walking with ease without the use of his hands, which still gripped his crutches.

"He's climbing with just his legs," Naruto muttered, awed by the sight.

Kakashi came to a branch half way up the tree, walking along it upside down before stopping dead in the center. He turned to face the four genin.

"That's how you do it. Gather your chakra at the base of your feet then attach your feet to the tree. It's quite simple if you know how to harness your chakra," Kakashi's visible eye was curled in amusement.

"Wait, how is this making us strong?" Sakura inquired.

"The main purpose of this excercise it to accumulate just the right amount of chakra in the correct location. This is difficult to do, even for seasoned veterans. The amount of chakra used for climbing a tree is quite subtle. Also, the most difficult place to concentrate chakra is just behind the feet. Simply put, if you can master this then you can learn almost any technique. The second purpose to this is to maintain the chakra you've molded. Most of the time, ninja hold a set amount of chakra during battle. In a battle situation it's difficult to maintain that chakra. With all this being said you guy's aren't going to learn anything from this lecture. I need you to learn it with your bodies."

With that Kakashi threw four kunai down in their direction. Each one landed at a person's feet.

"Use the kunai to marke where you are able to climb with your current ability. Then, try to make a mark above that mark everytime you climb. None of you are good enough to climb by walking, so run to give yourself a boost until you get used to it. Begin."

Rokariku picked down to pull out her designated kunai. She absentmindely twirled it on her finger while she gazed at the tall tree in front of her. Thoughts buzzed in her head, brown eyes contemplating the task.

"This training is too easy for me! Since I'm the guy who is growing the most," Naruto bragged/yelled while pointing a finger at his sensei.

"Okay, be quiet. Try and climb up any of the trees," Kakashi said, dismissing the loud mouthed blonde as usual.

The Nara ignored her teammates as they gathered their chakra, unaware of her sensei's gaze. Out of all of them she needed this exercise the most, she knew that. Her jutsus tended to take a large amount of chakra in a short amount of time, leaving her tired and vulnerable. Maybe this practice would actually benefit her.

A yell from Naruto caused her to look over at him. The blonde's foot had slipped as soon as it made contact with his tree. The resulting effect caused the blonde to fall onto his head, earning him a nice bump and possible concussion. His failure made things click in the brunette's head and she turned her gaze back to her tree with a smirk.

Without further adieu she closed her eyes and formed the seal, blocking out everything but the buzz of chakra flowing through her. Like it had with Kakashi the grass and dirt swayed at her feet, a dark green swirl almost becoming visible but not quite. The chakra within her was a warm buzz and she focused on it, molding it and moving it to her feet. She lazily opened her dark eyes, still blocking out everything but the tree in front of her and the pleasant thrum in her body.

Like her teammates she rushed the tree, keeping her focus even as her foot connected with the bark. She didn't hesitate in her running, darting up the tree confidently.

Too little chakra and I'm going to slip off the tree, as Naruto demonstrated. Likewise, if I put too much I'm going to crash my foot through the bark and possibly sprain my ankle while I fall to my death. I've got to keep a steady flow of balance.

She finally stopped and hopped over to a branch, sitting on it and looking down... and down... and down.

I think I may have over did it.

The kunoichi had successfully scaled the tree and now found herself situated on the topmost branch. With a bored sigh she threw her kunai into the bark from where she sat before leaping off the branch with ease. She didn't perform any fancy flip and landed comfortably on her feet in a crouch, absorbing the impact without injury.

Brown eyes glanced to the left to see Naruto on the ground, head clutched in both hands, shooting her an incredulous gaze.

"This is easier than I thought," Sakura's voice rang out, causing Rokariku to divert her eyes upward and to her right.

Sakura sat on a high tree branch, dangling her feet over the edse and kicking them lightly back and forth. Her tongue stuck out in a playful sourt of way as she looked down on the three below her, mainly Sasuke. She wasn't paying attention to Rokariku, her emerald eyes focused solely on her crush.

"Sakura-chan! Roka-chan! How did you do that?!" Naruto exlaimed, looking between his two teammates. Rokariku shrugged before leaning back against the trunk of her tree, hands tucked into her black shorts.

"Oh? It looks like the best one at controlling their chakra is Rokariku, along with Sakura. Seems that the girls have beaten the boys," Kakashi praised from his branch before he dropped down, the crutches not hindering him in any way.

He turned to face them, focusing his dark eye on the brunette girl, his gaze calculating. No genin should have been able to reach the top on their first try unless they were a prodigy of some kind. The conversation with Asuma lurked in the back of his mind and he decided to put his theory to the test.

"Wow, Sakura-chan! That was amazing! And Roka-chan, you went all the way to the top!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly, bring attention to the Nara once more. Sakura glared at her, not noticing before how far she had gotten.

"Damnitt," Sasuke muttered under his breath. He had gotten high but had put too much chakra into his feet and crushed the bark.

All I want is for Sasuke-kun to notice me. Why does it always turn out with him angry? Sakura thought, lowering her head.

Rokariku sighed, "This is such a drag."

"Sakura, your knowledge of chakra is splendid, and your control and stamina are rather good as well. Rokariku, with your lazy attitude I am quite surprised. I expected you to be like Naruto, but you managed to scale the tree in your first try. Hmm, it seems that the two girls of the team, and not someone else, are the closest ones to becoming Hokage right now. Looks like the Uchiha Clan isn't as great as I though it was as well."

"Shut up, Sensei!" Sakura shouted towards the man while she inwardly lamented. Sasuke-kun was going to hate her!

Kakashi turned his attention to the two glowering boys in front of him, who were engaged in yet another glaring contest. True it was that the girls were excelling at the moment, Kakashi wondered about the future.

Naruto and Sasuke, they have an incredible amount of chakra untapped within them that neither of the girls can match. With further training they can easily become strong ninja, what I'm worried about is their minds. Rokariku, however... Kakashi once more turned his gaze to the girl leaning against the tree, eyes closed.

"I challenged him to a game, since they seem to be the only things he puts thought into. Really, though, it was an IQ test. He scaled well above 200," Kakashi looked over at Asuma, who puffed on his cigarette with a look of wonder on his face.

"Can I borrow that test?"

"All right, I'm going to beat Sasuke first. I'm going to do this, believe it!" Naruto shouted, pumping a fist up in challenge.

Rokariku cracked an eye open, resisting the smile that was trying to curl her mouth. That blonde...

Soon a shock of silver came into her vision and she opened her eyes, looking up at her sensei boredly. She was waiting for him to demand she get back to training.

What a drag.

"You like playing Shogi, right?" The girl's eyes widened in surprise before she nodded.

"Come, there's a game I want to challenge you to," with the promise of a challenge a glint appeared in the girl's eyes and she nodded, following after the jounin as he walked back to the house. He told the other's to keep training or they wouldn't be eating dinner and they nodded, Naruto with a look of dread on his face.

While they walked through the forest a flash caught Rokariku's eye and she looked through her peripheral to see a child hiding behind a tree, watching her teammates with a heartbreaking sadness in his eyes. The girl turned away, her heart heavy and her curiosity piqued.





Hours later found Rokariku back at the training area, sitting against the trunk of a tree situated to the left of Naruto's. Said blonde was still going at it with the Uchiha, they both were acting like they had all the strength in the world, even though they both showed distinct signs of chakra depletion. Sasuke was kneeling on the ground, panting heavily and covered in scratches. Naruto had successfully fallen on his head, again, and Sakura was laying against her tree panting as well.

How can they keep this up? The pink haired girl thought wonderously. Then again, at least I'm trying, she thought, casting a look in Rokariku's direction. As soon as the girl had returned she had plopped down against the trunk, hands behind her head, and had seemingly gone to sleep.

"Damnitt!" Naruto's shout woke the girl, who started violently, whipping out a kunai and jumping on her feet in a defensive position. She looked around wildly for a second before the haze of napping had lifted from her brain.

With an eye twitch she looked for the disturbance. Unsurprisingly it was Naruto, who was getting quite worked up over his progress, or lack thereof. The blonde hadn't made much improvement at all, but he was far to stubborn to give up.

He tries so hard. Rokariku's eyes softened at the sight. She was still going to get him back for waking her up though. With her panicked moment over the girl sat back down, watching Naruto as he walked over to where Sakura was resting.

"Hey, will you give me some tips?" Naruto whispered to the panting girl. Rokariku sweatdropped, the boy needed help on his whispering.

"What?" Sakura quit panting, seeming to perk up quite a bit.

"Don't tell Sasuke I asked though, okay?"

Rokariku quirked a brow, waiting to see what her fellow kunoichi would do. A flicker of suprise passed through her when she heard Sakura actually help the blonde.

Maybe there's hope for that nagging girl after all. She thought boredly before looking to the sky. The forest was thick, but not thick enough that it blocked out the bright blue sky above. Rokariku sighed contently, eyes trained on the lazy puffs of white drifting along at their own pace.

She wanted to be a cloud.

After a couple more hours Kakashi asked if the two females wanted to help guard Tazuna as he worked on the bridge (Finally!). Sakura jumped at the oppurtunity to impress Sasuke while Rokariku declined, claiming that it would be too much of a drag. Kakashi had rolled his eye but allowed her to stay, much to her relief.

True, she really didn't want to do the troublesome guarding, but she also didn't want to leave the boys unattended. Knowing them, Naruto especially, they wouldn't quit till they died of chakra depletion. She was going to make sure that, that didn't happen.

Hopefully.

It was only mere moments after Kakashi left that Naruto once again fell to the ground. He flailed his limbs around, complaining about the whole situation while Rokariku just rolled her eyes, deeming his whining to be too troublesome to deal with. Sasuke was in no better shape than the bruised blonde, though he managed to keep in a kneeling position instead of falling over. Both the boys were still competing and Rokariku could feel the glares they shot at each other, seeing as her tree was in the middle of the two rivals.

Lucky me.

Once more the boys ran at their respective trees, competing to see who would win their small challenge.

Rokariku sweatdropped at their antics before switching her gaze once more to the sky. Unlike her teammates she wasn't out of breath, though she had climbed her tree a couple of more times just to make sure she had her chakra under control. She hadn't tried walking up it though...

The girl released another sigh before standing, drawing the attention of her two teammates.

Like her previous times she stood still and formed the sign, her chakra forming quite quickly with her accumulated practice. Unmindful of the eyes on her she started to walk towards her tree, keeping a steady pace even as she placed her feet on it.

Walking proved a bit more difficult than running. When she ran the chakra was a quicker continuous flow, but with walking she had to constantly adjust her chakra. She managed to almost make it to the top, but she was out of breath when she landed at the bottom.

Brown eyes narrowed, Looks like I found my practice.

Her success lit the flames in the two boys and they once again rushed their trees. Rokariku smirked and continued her own little practice of chakra stamina.





This. Is. Such. A. Drag.

Rokariku panted from where she sat kneeling before her tree. They had been going at it for hours, already the sun was setting and casting an array of colours through the sky. Beside her Naruto looked annoyed at Sasuke before he formed the hand seal, prepared to have another go at it. Wiping the bangs from her sweat slicked brow the Nara watched him curiously. His form was good, his chakra steady, it all seemed perfect as he began to run towards his tree.

Seemed being the key word.

"Hey, Naruto!" Sasuke called out from his place next to Rokariku.

The call distracted Naruto, causing him to trip over his own feet and causing his face to become aquainted with the ground. Again.

"What the hell was that for?! I'm trying to focus!" Naruto yelled, causing Rokariku to place her pinky in her ear because dang, that boy had a set of lungs on him.

"Um.. Well..." Sasuke was mumbling something under his breath which piqued Rokariku's interest and caused her to perk up slightly.

"What is it?" Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms moodily.

Sasuke visibly twitched, "Earlier you asked Sakura for some advice, right?... What did she tell you?"

Naruto looked shocked for a split second before his face broke out in an evil grin, reminding Rokariku somewhat of a fox who ate a hen. She snickered at the Uchiha, Oh how the mighty have fallen.

"I ain't tellin'!" The blonde's exclamaition caused the snickers to grow.

The twitching increased ten fold, obsidian eyes glaring darkly at the blonde. Once again the two were locked in a glaring contest with one poor Nara stuck in the middle. She could practically see the lightening shooting between the two and a twitch started to grow on her brow. As the glaring continued, so did the twitching before the inevitable happened.

Rokariku snapped.

"Men. Are. So. Frickin'. Troublesome." The girl stated in a deathly calm voice before leveling the two with an icy stare. "If you don't quit glaring at each other I am going to make it very difficult for the Uchiha clan to replenish itself and Naruto, you'll never have a successor."

Both boys leveled somewhat terrified stares at the girl before returning to their training, running up trees and trying to get away from their teammate.

Geez, Roka-chan can be really scary.




"Wow! This is great! It's been a while since we've had a meal with so many people," Tazuna grinned, scratching the back of his head.

Rokariku rolled her eyes at his enthusiasm from her place at the end of the table. The smell from Tsunami's cooking made her stomach growl and she was eager to begin eating. Beside her Sakura was eating daintly while Sasuke and Naruto competed to see how much food they could shovel down their throats. Rokariku twitched as they both stood up, demanding food at the same time and then proceeding to glare at one another.

The contest of theirs was getting a tad ridiculous for her tastes.

"More!" They demanded, mouths still filled with food.

Both kunoichi's looked at them with surprise, though one's expression was tinted with mild exasperation. The boys were once again glaring at each other, practically shooting lightening at one another with their eyes. With a slightly fearful look Tsunami indulged them, filling their bowls with some more steaming rice. With huffs they sat back down, shoveling the food in their faces before pausing, both getting weird expressions.

Then they promptly turned and threw up on the floor. Rokariku twitched and she looked down at her bowl with a look akin to disgust. She pushed her food away from her, not all that hungry anymore.

"Stop eating if you're just going to throw it up!" Sakura screeched standing up from her seat, disgusted at the boys' behavior.

Rokariku bowed her head before praying.

Dear Kami, thank you for making the laziest boy ever my brother. From now on I promise to protect him from mom's wrath instead of blaming him so I don't have to put up with her. I even promise to let him win more games of shogi and I will never, ever nag at him to pick up our room again. Furthermore-

She got interrupted by Sasuke.

"No, I must eat," the Uchiha said, wiping his mouth.

"Yeah, we have to, because we have to get stronger as fast as possible!" Naruto chimed in, a weird smirkish grin on his face.

"Yup! But there's no need to throw up," Kakashi said, sweatdropping.

Rokariku twitched.

"Don't you know that the acid from throw up erodes the lining in your throat? Which can cause you to die," the girl lectured in a scarily monotonous voice.

Naruto's eyes widened and Sasuke shot her an annoyed glare.

Thankfully Tsunami broke the tense atmosphere, offering some tea to everyone with a slightly nervous smile.

After the rather uneventful tea drinking (I say rather uneventful because Naruto and Sasuke were going to have a contest to see who could drink the most tea, but they were quickly put back in their places by the deathly glares both kunoichi shot their way.), Sakura had gotten up to stretch her legs. Now she just stood by a picture frame on the wall, hands clasped behind her back and green eyes curious. Rokariku shot her a look from the corner of her eye, wondering to herself what had caught the bright, yet stupid young girl's attention.

"Why is there a piece missing?" Sakura's question drew everyone's attention to the picture she stared at. Sure enough there was a piece missing towards the upper corner.

"It's my husband..." Tsunami said solemnly from the sink, her eyes firmly fixated on the dishes in her hands.

"That man was once called the Hero of the city," Tazuna added, taking another swig from his bottle.

Everyone's attention turned to the slam of palms hitting the table. Inari sat up from his chair, head downcast and eyes unseen as usual. He walked briskly out of the room without a word, sharp brown eyes watching him.

"Inari? Where are you going?" Tsunami called after her soon, her brow furrowed with worry.

She hurried after her son, pausing at the doorway to shoot a look at Tazuna, "Father! I've told you not to speak of that man in front of my son!" With that she ran after her son, no doubt to comfort him.

Rokariku tried not to care, she really did, but it wasn't in her nature. She let out a deep sigh.

Stupid kid.


The next morning Rokariku opened her eyes to see emerald and an abundance of pink.

She tried not to twitch.

"There something you need, Pinky?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched at the nickname but she managed to withold from screaming at her teammate.

"Naruto's missing and Kakashi wants you to find him. Baka probably stayed out all night training," the last part was said under her breath but Rokariku still caught it. She fixed her teammate with a glare, now sitting upright in her borrowed bed.

"Yeah, he was training to get stronger while you did nothing but moon over Sasuke," Sakura blinked in surprise.

The only time I ever hear anger in her voice it always has to do with Naruto.

Then the insult registered.

"Hey! I don't have to train at it! I can already do it!" Rokariku rolled her eyes and didn't respond. It was way too troublesome to deal with a vexatious girl this early in the morning.

"Whatever, leave. I'll go find him," Rokariku had a good idea as to where the blonde was.

Once the fuming girl left Rokariku dressed. She put on her normal clothing and tied her hair, headband and weapon firmly in place. With that she leizurely walked through the forest, heading torwards the clearing that they all had been using as a practice area.

The morning's rays warmed her exposed skin and, glancing up, she could see the fluffy white clouds glide lazily along the sky.

Hmm. If Naruto's sleeping I may have to join him.

A glint caught the corner of her eye and she turned her head, unsurprised to see that she had almost passed the clearing. The girl really needed to stop getting lost in her head.

The glint had come from Naruto's forehead protector, and the Nara girl had been right. He was dozing away on the dewy ground, his breathing even and soft.

With even steps the girl walked over to him, careful not to wake him up. Brown eyes looked up at the clear view of the morning sky. Without further adieu she plopped down next to him, arms behind her head.

They'll find us eventually.

They being her annoyed teammates of course.

Before she could doze off like her companion a slight rustling caught her attention. Rokariku kept her breathing light and even, pretending to be asleep. She pushed the tiniest amount of chakra into her ears, increasing their sensitivity.

She heard the bending of grass as the figure sat down next to Naruto and the rustle of clothing as an arm reached out to touch the blonde.

A tan arm grabbed the pale one seconds away before the latter touched the genin. Warm chocolate eyes gazed at a darker pair, narrowed in suspision.

Rokariku looked from where she had captured the hand. The person before her was beautiful. A kind, porcelain face with long raven locks that easily reached the ground when kneeling. The stranger was wearing a pastel kimono with a basket filled with herbs not too far off.

"Neh, sorry, I'm a bit jumpy," Rokariku sighed out, her eyes returning to their normal state of nonchalance while she let the hand go.

"Is this boy a friend of your?" A feminine voice asked, but Rokariku could hear the faintest traces of masculinity.

Neh, a boy huh? And a pretty one too. What a drag.

Rokariku didn't bother answering just nodded an affirmation. She looked into the boy's eyes.

There's something wrong with his eyes.

She paid it no thought further from that single observation. A shifting caught her attention and she looked down at the boy next to her. He was waking up.

Naruto stirred before opening his cerulean eyes. He sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly, completely unaware that he had company. He look decidely rumpled, and dirty with scratches on his face and visible skin.

Troublesome boy, how long did you train before passing out?

A flicker of concern entered her mind, but the Nara pushed it away. If she started getting worried of the boy's training schedule she would die an early death.

Naruto looked up, blinking when he noticed he wasn't alone.

"Neh? Who are you?" He addressed the boy before noticing Rokariku.

"Roka-chan? What're you doing here?"

"Pinky sent me to come get you," she leveled him with a dry stare. "She never said I had to take you back."

Naruto grinned at the girl before turning his attention to the boy, whom he thought was a female.

"Hey Lady, what are you doing out here?" He scratched his whisker marks, missing Rokariku's snicker.

Oh this is too good.

She wasn't going to correct him. It'd be too much fun to see him embarass himself.

"I'm sorry I woke you two. I'm collecting some medicinal herbs," the low, feminine voice said with another warm smile at the two.

"Herbs?" Naruto echoed.

"Yeah Naruto. You use them for healing wounds," Rokariku told dryly, giving the boy an exasperated look.

He's lucky he's cu... Er, my friend.

Darn. Getting interrupted during her naps was starting to get to her.

The pretty boy giggled at the their actions. Rokariku quirked a brow.

Don't ask if he's gay. Don't ask if he's gay. Don't ask if he's gay.

The boy went back to collecting his herbs. He showed the two what to look for and they helped out. Well, Naruto did. Rokariku just sat where she was, pointing out whenever she saw the correct herb so Naruto could pluck it.

"You sure are working early Miss," Naruto commented, plucking an herb that Rokariku pointed him too.

"Yes, but so are you. What are you two doing out here at this time?" He replied.

"Well, Naruto passed out whilst training and I was forced out of my fluffy, comfy bed to come fetch him," Rokariku answer, laying on her back once again and completely missing the amused smile the boy sent her.

Huh, she's something else.

"You two are ninjas I assume? You're wearing forehead protectors after all,"

"Oh, you noticed did you?" Naruto huffed up, adjusting his headband and pointing to himself proudly. "Yeah, I'm a ninja! This is my teammate, and fellow ninja, Rokariku!"

Rokariku lazily brought up her hand in a wave.

"Wow, that's amazing. But why are you training?" Something strange entered the boy's voice, prompting Rokariku to sit up and level him with a brown stare.

"But you already look strong," the youth prompted.

"Yeah, but I want to become stronger!" Naruto boasted, a light pink dusting his cheeks.

"Why... Why is that?" That strange note had now entered his eyes and Rokariku drug herself so she now sat on her knees. Her curiosity was piqued.

"Because one day I'm going to be the best ninja in the village! I'm going to bring strong! Plus, I have to prove something to someone,"

Rokariku quirked a brow, Prove something to whom Naruto?

The boy turned his attention to Rokariku.

"What about you? Why do you become stronger?"

Rokariku looked up at the sky, ignoring the curious looks leveled on her.

"I train because I don't want to be weak. I want to be able to protect my big brother like he does me. I don't ever want to lose a comrade on the battlefield because I was too weak to help them."

Naruto looked at her with wide eyes.

Roka-chan...

"Ah, so you do it for someone else. What about you Naruto? Do you train for yourself, or for someone else?"

Naruto looked at him in confusion. He giggled behind his hand at the blonde's confusion. Rokariku brought her attention back to earth in time to catch their conversation.

"Huh? What do you mean Lady?"

"Do you have someone who is precious to you?"

Naruto repeated his question. A distant look entered the youth's eyes, as if he was being transported back to some moment long ago. The look dissappeared moments later.

Rokariku touched the boy's hand lightly, snapping him out of his memory. He smiled.

"When someone is protecting someone precious, that's when they become truly strong."

Naruto nodded, thinking back to that time when the Demon Brothers had attacked. He thought of how Rokariku had jumped in front of him and how Sasuke had helped her.

He cast a look at Rokariku, catching her brown eyes with his own blue. He looked back at the boy, understanding across his face.

"Yeah, I understand."

The boy smiled again before standing up, his basket in his hand.

"Then one day you'll become very strong. I hope to see you both again. Oh, and before I leave," the boy's eyes turned slightly mischievious as he began to walk away, "I'm a boy."

Rokariku laughed at the flabbergasted look on her friend's face. He turned to look at her.

"Did you know?" She nodded, "Why didn't you TELL me?!"

She coudn't answer, she was still laughing too hard. She stopped when she noticed a bundle of herbs. Figuring that she might as well leave Naruto to steam for a few minutes, she grabbed the bundle and stood up.

"I'm going to give these to him," she cracked before taking off before the blonde could cry out.

She almost ran into Sasuke due to her laughter induced hazed mind, the look on Naruto's face still burned into her mind. She noticed right before they crashed though and nimbly dodged him, resisting the urge to throw a barb his way.

What? Lack of naps made her cranky.

Sasuke looked after her with a raised eyebrow.

Weirdo.

Thankfully the next person she ran into was the right one.

Unfortunately she literally ran into him.

Damn Naruto's hilarious look.

"Oof!" The brunette crashed into a hard back, sending both people to the ground. Unfortunately the boy had looked back once he noticed he was being followed, which winded up with them in an awkward position.

Rokariku shook her head, pissed when she realized that her head had become unbound. It waterfalled around her.

I really need to start securing this thing better.

"Um, Miss? Are you alright?" A voice broke her out of her thoughts and she opened her brown eyes, connecting them with a concerned chestnut gaze.

Well... This is troublesome.

Rokariku had fallen on top of the boy and was basically straddling his hips. Her arms were braced on either side of his head ontop of his soft black hair. The boy's hands had fallen on her waist, no doubt in an attempt to steady her before they both went down.

...

"Well... This is awkward," Rokariku deadpanned, making the boy below her chuckle. The barest amount of pink dusted her cheeks as she stood before offering a hand to the boy. He grabbed it and she pulled him up, slightly surprised when he didn't need much help.

He's stronger than he looks.

"Sorry about that," she sighed out, "I was distracted. What a drag."

The boy smiled at her warmly, amused at her put out tone.

"Oh, you forgot these," she held out the bundle. "I figured to save you the trouble of coming back for them."

The boy blinked, before taking the herbs, barely brushing against the kunoichi's skin.

She shivered, but decided it was from the chilly breeze rather than the touch.

"Thank you," the boy said.

"Meh," Rokariku shrugged, shoving her hands in her pockets. "See ya' around."

"Wait Miss," Rokariku turned back from where she had been about to walk away.

"We were never properly introduced. What's your name?" Rokariku blinked at the question.

"Nara, Rokariku. What's your's?"

"Haku," he, Haku, smiled congenially. Rokariku didn't miss the fact that he gave no last name and a sinking feeling formed in her gut.

How troublesome.

"See you around Haku," Haku nodded and, like that, the Nara was gone, on her way back to Naruto.

What a strange girl. His smile turned sad.

If only we had met under different circumstances.

Not too long after Rokariku said goodbye to Haku she heard Sakura yelling her name.

The brunette looked down from her perch on top of a branch. Kakashi was with Sakura, apparently looking for the three missing genin.

A kunai landed in front of the two bringing their attention up to the trees. Sakura's eyes widened when she saw Naruto laying on a branch, covered in dirty scratches with his usual grin stretching his whiskered cheeks.

Sakura made a comment of disbelief.

"Whatcha' think? Look at how high I can climb now!" Naruto shouted, jumping up to show his enthusiasm, only to end up losing his balance and falling over.

Sakura and Kakashi screamed, the latter getting ready to catch him. But just when it looked like the blonde would fall he caught himself, pumping chakra into his feet so he now stood upside down on his branch.

"Hahaha! You fell for it!" Naruto bragged.

"You scared me Naruto!" Sakura screamed, shaking her fist at the blonde.

So he's grown a bit, Kakashi thought, looking up with a touch of amusement.

Unfortunately Naruto forgot to keep a steady supply going to his feet. His eyes widened once he felt himself come unattached with a pop. Sakura and Kakashi once again went bug eyed as they watched the blonde quickly descend to the ground.

I'm gonna' die! The blonde flailed his arms as he fell.

Just as quickly Sasuke ran up the closest tree before jumping over to Naruto's branch. With ease he grabbed the blonde's ankle, stopping his decent, while sticking to the underside of the branch.

"You're such a dunce," Sasuke muttered to himself while Sakura sung his praises from down below.

In the shade of her own tree, Rokariku rolled her eyes at the girl's fawning.

Dear Kami, what did I do to make you so angry as to put me on her team?

She sighed, but didn't bother to squash down the pride that bubbled up inside her.

You've come a long way boys.

Her small smile didn't go unnoticed by her Sensei's sharp eyes or a pair of curious onyx orbs. Rokariku went back to dozing in her tree.


"They're late," Sakura announced during dinner, worried for her precious Sasuke.

"Way to state the obvious," Rokariku sighed out, pushing her rice around on her plate. Everyone paused to give the girl a look, unused to the snappish attitude. The Nara ignored them, trying to squelch the worry blooming in her gut.

Troublesome boys, you better have not have croaked from chakra exhaustion.

Just as she finished her thoughts the two genin stumbled through the door, surprisingly supporting each other.

"You both look like shit," Tazuna announced bluntly, but they didn't rise to the bait. Instead they stated their accomplishment, they had climbed all the way to the top. Sakura squealed, "Of course you did Sasuke!"

Rokariku twitched and tried not to hit the girl for blatantly ignoring Naruto.

Kakashi grinned underneath his mask.

"You two have done amazing. From now on you'll both also be guarding Tazuna!"

Naruto cheered, causing him to topple over with Sasuke.

"You idiot," the Uchiha said, but Rokariku couldn't help but notice that the term seemed almost like a friend's endearment. She cast the Uchiha an appraising gaze.

Maybe you aren't so troublesome after all.


After a rather dramatic dinner everyone retired to bed.

Instead of being awoken by an alarm clock, Rokariku was greeted by the covers being torn off her body right before her ankles were grabbed and she was drug out of bed.

The dark haired brunette growled from her place on the floor. The seen probably looked quite comical from a bystander's point of view. The Nara's dark hair was in a tangled mess around her head, her arms were bent at awkward angles from her flailing, her baggy bed shirt was ridden up her stomach, and her shorts were slid up from the force of gravity.

Dark eyes glared at the Uchiha who was still holding her ankles in the air.

Sasuke smirked.

"Kakashi told me to get you up by whatever means necessary, we're heading out with the bridge builder," Rokariku's glare increased at his smug tone. Then she took note of her position and an identical smirk popped up on her face.

"Geez Sasuke, this how you treat all the girls?" A blush stole across the Uchiha's cheeks when he realized how his teammate's clothing had shifted during her struggles to stay on her bed. While he was embarrassed Rokariku took the opportunity to wiggle her leg free and tried to kick him in his face.

Luckily Sasuke dodged. He dropped her other leg like it was infected and hurried out her room.

"Be ready in five minutes!" He called over his shoulder, blush still in place.

Rokariku resisted the urge to throw something at his head.

It wasn't long before she was ready in her ragged clothes, bun and headband firmly in place. When she met up with her team she took notice of Naruto's absence. She quirked a brow at Kakashi since asking the question would take too much effort. She was pretty sure she knew the answer anyways.

Kakashi confirmed her suspicions. The blonde was passed out from working so hard.

Tch, great Naruto, now I'm going to take the brunt of Sakura's wrath. What a drag.



Shit.

That was the only thing running through her mind when they came to the bridge, which was littered with the injured bodies of construction men.

"Sasuke, Sakura, Rokariku! Get into position," Kakashi demanded, just as a mist began to fill the area. A horribly familiar mist that seemed to smother the very air that it was infecting. Rokariku forced herself to breath calmly.

"Kakashi-sensei! Isn't this this his jutsu?" Sakura questioned. Rokariku and Sasuke remained quiet, both becoming rather aware of how loud their heart beats were.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Hatake," Zabuza's voice infiltrated the mist, "Looks like you still have those brats with you. They're still trembling."

Multiple Zabuza's appeared, one right in front of Sasuke (who was to the right of Tazuna and Rokariku). He taunted the Uchiha, who merely smirked.

"I'm trembling with... anticipation,"

"Do it, Sasuke," Kakashi smiled from his place in front of the group, right in front of Rokariku.

Zabuza attacked, only to be cut down by Sasuke. The other water clones fell as well to his kunai.

I can see.

Rokariku gave the boy a look.

I wonder...

"Ah, looks like you're not as helpless this time around," the real Zabuza stated, coming out from the mist with a hunter ninja at his side. Rokariku narrowed her eyes, that must be the one her team had told her about. The one who saved Zabuza.

"Looks like you have competition, Haku."

'"So it seems,"

Rokariku's eyes widened, her attention solely focused on the boy by his side.

A sweet smile and gentle chestnut eyes. A warm hand clutching hers, her heart stuttering the tiniest bit.

It can't be... But their builds are the same and his hair, though bound, is undeniably his and the voice.

This was going to be difficult.

Rokariku noticed how the apprentice’s eyes seemed to be trained on Sasuke, and Sasuke only.

A low, oppressive force took its nest in her belly.

"Well Rokariku, it seems our predictions were correct," Kakashi commented lightly. Rokariku raised a brow, eyes still trained on their adversaries

Zabuza seemed interested, "Predictions?"

Rokariku was aware of what her sensei spoke of. The fact that they knew the boy beside Zabuza was the same one who had saved him. He probably wasn't aware they had suspected it from the beginning.

"So that imposter is a comrade of yours," Kakashi remarked, letting Zabuza in on the fact that they knew what had transpired. "I hate kids who think they're all that."

"He fooled you Kakashi-sensei," Kakashi sent Sakura a look.

"I'll do it," Sasuke announced. He really was itching for revenge. Rokariku stayed silent, thinking ways of how this battle could go.

Unfortunately Zabuza had one thing they didn't, the element of surprise. The Nara knew nothing about Haku's fighting abilities, jutsus, or style. She controlled the shadows, and hated to be left in them.

Make it a challenge Sasuke, show me what he can do.

"Go," and Haku did. He came at Sasuke in a whirlwind.

Fast.

Sasuke could still keep track of his movements though, and was able to parry his attacks.

Rokariku still felt something wasn't right though. That boy was hiding something.

"Sakura, Rokariku, protect Tazuna! Let Sasuke handle this," Rokariku positioned herself in front of the bridge builder, eyes trained on the fighting adolescents in front of her.

"I don't want to have to kill you," Haku's words were soft, but still caught her attention. "Please give up."

Sasuke scoffed at the idea. Haku warned him, but the Uchiha refused to back down.

He can go faster? Troublesome.

Then he stated that he already made two per-emptive moves before performing seals with one hand. Rokariku felt her eyes widen again.

He's thought ahead. He's smart and talented.

This battle was going to be a drag.

When Sasuke ended up kicking Haku to his master Kakashi couldn't help but brag.

"You shouldn't go around calling my team brats. Sasuke there is Konoha's number one rookie," Sasuke smirked. "Sakura is our sharpest," the girl stuck her tongue out while inner Sakura raved about how he was frickin' right. "And Rokariku is combined of both talent and intelligence. Surely you remember her from the last fight." Rokariku squared Zabuza with a look and he returned it, his eyes held the smallest glimmer of respect.

"And the other one is the Leaf's number one hyperactive, stubborn Ninja, Naruto Uzumaki."

Rokariku cursed under her breath at the reminder of Naruto. She felt torn between wishing he would come and help out, and hoping he would sleep all day and not get butchered by Tazuna.

"Better bring out the big guns Haku,"

"Hai," Haku stood and the oppressive feeling returned again, "How unfortunate,"

It was then he formed the mirrors, leaving the Konoha ninja in a state of surprise Rokariku felt a pit form in her stomach when the talented youth melded with the mirrors.

Kakashi went to help his student, but was intercepted by Zabuza.

"I'm your opponent Kakashi,"

You're not mine.

"Sakura, guard Tazuna," Sakura didn't have a chance to question her before Rokariku was off. She quickly jumped over the distracted Jounin and missing nin and slide into the spaces between two mirrors, coming to stand beside Sasuke, who gave her a surprised look.

Without further adieu she whipped out her hand scythes and positioned them, and their connecting chain, in front of her body in a defensive position. Her eyes darted around to look at the reflections of Haku.

"This has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever done," she sent a look at Sasuke.

"Now I'll show you my true speed," Haku warned before sending some senbon flying from his mirrors. Neither genin had the chance to dodge.

"Sasuke! Rokariku!"

Rokariku dimly heard her sensei, but his voice seemed subdued by the pain in her body and the groans of her teammate. She herself let out a few sounds as the senbon tore through her flesh. Sasuke's weapon was knocked out of his hand, but Rokariku kept a firm hold on her blades.

"I didn't want to do this," Haku uttered as he continued to fire at them. Rokariku couldn't speak, but she sent a glare at one of his reflections.

Damnitt. This is wrong, there has to be some sort of trick. Think, Nara, think!

With the constant onslaught of pain, thinking was proven to be difficult.

When the barrage suddenly stopped Rokariku wince in surprise, looking up only to find the mirrors empty and Haku getting up from the ground. A cloud of smoke parted to reveal Naruto, grinning cockily.

Rokariku twitched. Why couldn't he have snuck in and been more helpful? Luckily, however, his distraction gave her time to recuperate. While he babbled on about something or another she shakily rose to her feet- when had she fallen?- and stumbled over to where Sasuke was.

"Sasuke, there's got to be a trick to his mirrors. There's no way he can be in all of them at once," she shared her thoughts while her teammate listened intently. Her brow furrowed as she thought of Haku's words.

"Now I'll show you my real speed," Why are you keeping us alive? What's your secret?

It wasn't long before Haku melded back into his mirrors, telling Naruto calmly that he would get to him later. Rokariku scanned the still empty mirrors.

So the true Haku is in the one in front, and the rest have temporarily stayed empty. The other images of him can't be reflections then, or they would have already appeared. They can't be clones because then they would all have to enter the mirrors, plus Haku has yet to do a clone jutsu.

Rokariku narrowed her eyes when Sasuke tried to attack the true Haku. Haku's voice suddenly echoed from behind them though. Rokariku's eyes glanced back to the original mirror, only to find it empty.

Brown eyes widened as the answer came to her, just as the other mirrors filled with Haku and a barrage of senbon rained down.

Naruto looked on at his teammates in their prison with worry.

Sasuke. Rokariku.

Sasuke glared at the images of Haku, unknowingly coming to the same conclusions as Rokariku though the true answer still eluded him.

Her voice caught his attention.

"Sasuke, I think I-"

"Hey, I came to save you!" Both looked with wide eyes as Naruto suddenly appeared between them. Sasuke and Naruto quickly began to argue, Sasuke because Naruto was an idiot and Naruto because Sasuke was being ungrateful of his help.

Rokariku sweat-dropped and let out a deep sigh, despite the situation. She couldn't help but glance to her right though, at one of the mirrors. Haku wasn't attacking them, even though they were battling amongst themselves. She couldn't help but feel that the youth was staring at her through his mask.

Sasuke tried to melt the mirrors with his fireball jutsu.

"It won't work with that level of power," and with that he attacked again.

"Where's he coming from?"

"It's no use trying to follow me. I can't be caught," Haku stated simply. Rokariku glared through her pain. He was right. What was the use of knowing his trick if she still couldn't catch him. She could try to set up some sort of trap, but it would only work if she knew the mirror in which he was currently residing in.

Damnitt. Shikamaru will kill me if I die because of some traitorous trickster!

When Naruto attacked with his shadow clones, Rokariku told Sasuke the trick.

"He's using the mirrors to transport himself at impossibly high speeds. Even now he's moving so fast that his after images are staying," she met Sasuke's eyes with a dead stare. "Unless you can somehow achieve the Sharingan right now, we're all going to die."

His eyes widened but another barrage kept him from saying anything.

Haku overheard his enemy.

"This teleportation jutsu is my Kekkai Genkai," he said, pausing his attacks.

"You're right Roka-chan," she glared at the nickname, "by the speed of which I'm moving it almost seems that you all are standing still."

Naruto shook from his spot on the ground, his fists closed and shaking.

"I won't die here," his voice came out as deadly calm. "I haven't achieved my dream yet. My dream to become Hokage, and have everyone recognize my strength!" By the end he was shouting in determination, fire lighting his blue eyes.

Rokariku sighed, Troublesome boy, but a sense of determination was lit in her by his speech.

She hadn't achieved her dream either. She couldn't die here. She had to protect her family.

Dark eyes took in the boys beside her.

She had to protect her friends.

A voice broke her thoughts.

"I don't want to kill you if I can avoid it, just like I don't want to die by your hands, but if I need to I will kill off my emotions and completely become a shinobi in order to achieve my dream," Rokariku gazed at him with rapt attention, though she still was formulating ways to get out of her prison. She looked away when he spoke of killing. She didn't want to kill him either.

"This bridge is what connects us to our dreams. I will fight for mine, and you will fight for yours. I will fight to protect someone precious to me, so that they may realize their dreams. That's my dream," he held up his senbon. "And I must kill you to help him achieve his dream, I will!"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Rokariku all smiled. Though the latter could already fill regret forming she pushed it down. A plan began to form.

I will realize my dream Haku, even if I have to destroy yours.

The battle continued on, though they were slowly figuring out a system. Naruto would attack and draw Haku out, allowing Sasuke to slowly start timing the boy's movements. Rokariku helped by throwing kunai at the next path she thought the boy would take.

It wasn't long before he nearly got singed by Sasuke's fire and and cut on his hand by one of Rokariku's kunai.

Haku glance at them, a sting in his hand from where the kunai had sliced it.

They're actually starting to read my movements. No, it's got to be a fluke.

Rokariku glanced at her teammates. Naruto was pretty much spent from using his Shadow Clones, and even Sasuke was starting to pant from the constant use of his Katon technique. Rokariku was the only one still full of chakra. Everything seemed to be fitting in with her plan.

When Naruto ran for the outside, she and Sasuke both timed it. Haku was able to dodge Sasuke's fire ball, however, and kicked Naruto away from the exit.

"Gotcha'," beneath his mask, Haku's eyes widened in shock at the word spoken right next to his ear. Rokariku had been able to sneak up behind him at the distractions and had wasted now time in wrapping him in her scythes' chain. She held one blade at his throat, and the other she held to the base of his neck. Either one would kill him.

She hesitated.

"Shit!" A sharp pain embedded itself into her side and her chain loosened enough for Haku to wriggle loose. He quickly grabbed her and threw her over into her teammates. He glanced at Zabuza, who had thrown the kunai sticking out of the girl's side.

"Quit playing around," he nodded before going back into the safety of his mirrors, casting another glance at the injured genin.

Naruto cursed before gently pushing Rokariku off him. All three stood shakily on their feet and Rokariku clutched at the kunai that was sunk deep into her side. Luckily her rib cage had stopped it from piercing anything vital, but it hurt like a bitch and she could already feel the tall tale signs of blood loss.

Her brow furrowed and she glared at the mirrors.

How come every time I fight I end up passing out?

With a shaking hand she grasped the kunai before wrenching it from her side. The sharp tang of blood filled her mouth and more trickled down from her wound.

I'm going to bury this kunai in that bastard's throat!

Sasuke interrupted her thoughts when he commanded that they go again. Rokariku resisted the urge to throw the kunai at him, instead she sucked it up and nodded. Surely Haku was reaching chakra exhaustion by now.

Their second attempt failed, even though they had all ran for opposite ends of the prison. Sasuke had been the first to go down, then Naruto fell to the well placed senbon.

"That won't work," Haku said, appearing in front of Rokariku. She glared in reply before tossing her scythes at him. He dodged them easily enough, sending a wave of senbon at her. Again they didn't hit anything vital.

Why aren't you finishing us off? Quit being so damn troublesome and either kill us or let us go, she thought furiously from her position beside Sasuke.

Fresh waves of pain steadily assaulted her and she was tempted to just give up and let Haku finish her off. Then she heard the sound of Sakura's screaming and knew she couldn't just leave her teammates like that. Geez, why couldn't she be as cowardly as the men in her clan?

Naruto tried to sit up, motivated by Sakura's scream, and somehow managed to stand. Rokariku saw Sasuke's eyes widen at the youth.

Why won't he stay down? The Uchiha thought in disbelief.

"Your attempts are pointless, just give up already," Haku's voice resonated from the mirrors.

Naruto ignored him and attempted again. This time when Haku's senbon threw him back he stayed down.

"I think it's time I ended this for you," senbon flew through the air and Rokariku braced herself for the pain. After a few moments she opened her eyes to witness Sasuke block all the needles with one of his own.

Her brown eyes widened in disbelief.

No way. We can't be this lucky.

"Stand up you idiots!" Sasuke shouted, making her eye twitch.

About to die and you still have to be such a drag.

Nevertheless both stood and an idea hit Rokariku, one so obvious she had to refrain from hitting herself for nothing thinking of it sooner.

This time when the senbon came, two of the genin were prepared. Sasuke effectively blocked them, covering both his teammates. When Haku appeared behind them he cursed low, and was surprised when Haku's senbon were still reflected by Rokariku.

The Nara was twirling one of her blades by the chain, subtly feeding her chakra into it so it formed a shield of some sort for the senbon to bounce off of. Haku's needles fell to the ground harmlessly.

Behind the mask chestnut eyes widened.

They aren't being lucky, they're protecting their friend.

His eyes zeroed in on the two, both deflecting his senbon and shoving Naruto out of the way. The only hits they had on them were the ones they obtained from their lapses in concentration, namely when they blocked their friend from harm.

Haku took a good look at them. The brunette was simply smart and timing his movements, linking them up so she had a good chance of guessing where he would be next. Her defense was consuming a lot of her chakra, however, and he knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer.

The boy, though, he wasn't guessing. He was following Haku's movements.

Rokariku cursed when their enemy suddenly disappeared.

"Don't faint Naruto! We can barely protect you as it is," Sasuke shouted at the blonde, who once again sat on the ground. He and Rokariku searched for Haku, even though they could barely move their bodies.

Sasuke's right, Naruto. I'm almost out of chakra. I can't keep this up.

Her blade stopped spinning, chakra spent.

"Who asked... you... to take care of me?" Naruto muttered before passing out, leaving his teammates to curse as Haku slowly began to appear around them. Rokariku stood by Sasuke, knees shaking and blades in defensive position.

When the attack came she didn't see it coming, Haku had thrown out of his usual rhythm. It was only Sasuke's arms around both her and Naruto that saved them both. He jumped back, clutching them to his sides, before setting them down.

She regarded him with wide eyes.

He saw through Haku's movements...

When Sasuke looked up again it was with the eyes of the Sharingan. Rokariku had to restrain herself from kissing him. Maybe they could make it out of this.

Haku took a look at both his opponents before his gaze shifted to Naruto. With a surge of chakra he burst through his mirror, aiming for the still unconscious blonde.

Rokariku gasped, eyes wide, frozen.

I can't make it, I can't make it, I can't make it...

The mantra ran through her head and everything passed by in slow motion. She saw the surge of chakra in Sasuke's feet as he dashed to intercept the attack. She saw Haku fly through the air.

Everything stilled, her heartbeat thudded in her ears and she choked back a cry.

Sasuke was hit. He blocked the senbon with his body.

Horror froze Rokariku, replacing her fear.

"You dobe," Sasuke uttered while Naruto cheered, before the blonde caught sight of the needles protruding from his friend and the blood pooling at his feet. "What's that look for?" The Uchiha teased.

Naruto demanded to know why he did it, both unaware of the struggling Haku, who had been knocked back by Sasuke.

I don't want to do this, he got to his knees, senbon in hand, but I have to make Zabuza's dream a reality.

Rokariku saw the attack and cried out before forcing herself to move.

"My dream is," she paused with a soft smile, "to protect my family."

The senbon never reach their target, which had again been Naruto and Sasuke. It was Rokariku's back they had struck instead, and they protruded from her chest in a gruesome way. Already she could feel the blood trickling out of them, along with the hole in her side that was still leaking quite profusely. She smiled at Naruto's shocked face, blood dribbling down the corner of her mouth.

Naruto looked at them in horror.

"W-why?!" His eyes, they were filled with so much, "Why did you protect me!" It was more of an exclamation than a question, but Rokariku saw how the boy was confused.

"How the hell should I know?" Sasuke choked. Rokariku felt her eyes water at the thought of her fallen friend, but she smiled and forced the pain and tears back.

"Because Naruto, you and Sasuke," she glanced at the boy fondly, "became my precious people."

"My dream is," she paused with a soft smile, "to protect my family."

"Dad!" Both Nara twins yelled at their father, who cackled after dousing them both with cold water.

Maybe being the blonde's friend wouldn't be too troublesome after all.

"You know you two are going to die if you keep puking, right?"

"You'll be better than the Yodaime, Naruto."

I'm sorry Naruto... Sasuke... Shikamaru... Mom... Dad... I tried.

With that she fell forward, but was caught in Naruto's arms, who turned his attention back to Sasuke. The dark haired boy looked at the fallen girl with something akin to surprise. He wondered when it was exactly he had become as precious as Naruto.

"I didn't ask for your protection!" Naruto shouted, clutching Rokariku close. "Why?" Sasuke smirked through the pain.

"I don't know. My body moved on it's own," with that Sasuke too fell, though he did so backwards. Naruto gently put Rokariku down before catching Sasuke as well, bringing him back to rest beside the brunette.

"I always thought I wouldn't die before achieving my dream," Sasuke muttered, "but you," he brought a hand up to get his point across, "don't you dare die." His hand fell limp and Rokariku choked back her tears at the thought of her friend.

I failed.

Rokariku gasped for breath, finding it harder and harder to get the oxygen her lungs so desperately craved. Naruto stood as still as stone, still clutching Sasuke's motionless body before setting it down gently. He again put Rokariku in his lap.

"Don't Rokariku," it was the first time he ever spoke her full name,"don't die like Sasuke."

She chuckled through her pain.

"You troublesome boy," she gasped for air. "I'd do it all over again," she grazed Naruto's cheek with her hand. "For once listen to Sasuke, don't die."

After that things became blurry to the Nara. She heard words being spoken, but they mixed together to become nothing but noise. A roar had filled her ears, the pumping of her heart as it slowed steadily. She blacked out.

And was awoken by a furious explosion of chakra.

How am I not dead? She blinked, but everything remained dim. My injuries... They're not vital. Haku... He saved her. The whole time he had missed her vital points, and she was willing to bet he did the same to Sasuke.

She, unlike Sasuke, wasn't suffering from chakra exhaustion. Already she felt her healing abilities automatically began to heal the most grievous of her wounds. She had to sit while it did so, the roaring still in her ears and pain wracking her body.

She called it off when she had prevented the most dire ones of bleeding. The blood still wept from the wounds on her chest and side, but they were no longer life threatening. She had to preserve as much chakra as she could. Her team needed healing.

My team..

The thought roused her and she managed to pull herself together. With nothing short of a struggle she got on her knees, looking at the scene before her.

Naruto had become consumed by rage and grief and he was taking it out on Haku. The mirrors had fallen to the blonde's wrath, and off in the distance she saw Kakashi rearing for his final attack on Zabuza.

When he made to move things seemed to slow down, though only in the brunette’s mind. She knew what was going to happen. Kakashi would attack, but Haku would find some way to intervene and most likely kill himself. Zabuza would probably go mad with grief. The wound in her side proved to her that the man cared.

None of our dreams will end on this bridge. I refuse to let it happen. I refuse to let this bridge of hope become the bridge of broken dreams because of some rat bastard business man!

Even if she had to die to prove her point.

Kakashi geared up his Chidori, eyes fastened on the trapped man before him. His dogs would move just as he attacked and this battle would be over.

Haku glanced over at the man he considered to be a father. The blood ran cold in his veins when he saw Kakashi move in for the kill. Haku moved quicker than Naruto could see, bounding across to block the attack with his own body.

Everyone froze.

...

Literally.

"Damn you all!" Everyone looked over with wide eyes at Rokariku, who stood on her trembling legs. Her body shook with the excessive strain put on it, heightened by her outward surge of chakra. It was taking a lot of it to keep everyone in her shadow hold.

Somehow she had crawled her way closer, so she was now only a few feet away from the dramatic scene. She had caught them just in time, with Kakashi's chidori centimeters away from crashing into Haku's chest, who now stood in front of a surprised Zabuza.

"Roka-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, shocked to see his friend breathing much less up and using her shadow jutsu.

"Rokariku, what's the meaning of this?" Kakashi demanded, confused and astounded by his student.

"This bridge is suppose to be one of hope for this land, and you're all turning it into a place of desolation and death!" The Nara was shouting by the end, causing her to cough up some blood. One of the senbon must have nicked something internal from her moving.

"What are you-"

"You shut the hell up!" She yelled at Zabuza, cutting him off. Sakura stood still in the background with Tazuna. She had no idea what to do. She had never seen Rokariku so furious.

"Haku is ready to give his life for you, he would have died by Kakashi's hand if I hadn't stopped him," she continued on.

His eyes widened at the severity of her words. He had almost lost the only person whom he had ever trusted, ever gave a damn about.

"Why can't we stop fighting, just put this damn thing to rest and kill the man who really deserves to die, Gato!" Rokariku was close to being delirious from pain and paused to cough. The strain on her throat was making her voice hoarse and dry.

By now the mist had lifted, clearing the bridge. Rokariku's eyes widened.

Speak of the devil and he will appear.

"Ah, so my best man has to be save by some kid," the disgusting man smirked, a large amount of fighters behind him. "And my enemies get betrayed by one of their own."

Rokariku glared at him before Naruto's voice caught her attention.

"Roka, behind you!"

"Too late," Gato sneered right before a blinding pain made itself known in the kunoichi's chest.

"Troublesome," Rokariku muttered in pain before falling to her knees. The samurai behind her chuckled and yanked his sword from her body. As he went to sever her head and kunai stopped him, right before a hand grabbed his arm and methodically broke it.

"Don't touch her," Haku growled out before killing the man. Rokariku had released them, and she was too exhausted to heal her wound. Her body made to fall forward but was stopped, this time by Naruto's strong hands.

"We got you Roka-chan," the blonde smiled through his tears while she bled out on the ground.

"Give 'em hell, troublesome boys," by now her voice was nothing but a whisper.

She knew she was going to die.

But before that.

"Ram this kunai through his throat," Haku picked up the one she gestured too, the one that Zabuza struck her with.

Wit that she blacked out and her heart slowed.

Until it beat for the final time.

It's true, what they say, that right at the moment of death a person is assaulted with memories. Flashbacks of the life now left behind.

"Geez Roka, you're such a drag," a young Shikamaru spoke up from his place in front of his sister. Said brunette merely smirked at him raising her eyes from the Shogi board in front of them.

"Ne Shika, you're a drag for being a sore loser," Rokariku quipped, victory coming off her in waves. Shikamaru narrowed in eyes in response before resetting the board. It was on now.

From his spot on the veranda their father rolled his eyes good-naturdley. Kids.

Shikamaru. Aniki.

"There ya' go Rokariku," Shikaku cheered his daughter on, smiling from his spot behind her. The child had managed to hit the dummy in quick succession with her kunai, hitting the vital points spot on; whereas before she could only hit mildly damaging spots, and even those took intense concentration.

"Bah. Pops, why do I have to do this training anyways? I'd much rather be sleeping," his daughter threw over her shoulder, throwing another kunai and hitting the center dead on. Shikaku chuckled at her attitude, so like his own and so like her brother's.

"You're becoming too relient on your chain scythes, you need to be more versatile," Rokariku sighed but didn't dispute his claim. It was true, she had already mastered her scythes, no one could beat her in battle with them. While she mastered them, though, her other, more practical weapons had gathered dust. What a drag.

"Don't worry kid! Once your brother gets done helping your mother, he'll be joining you!" Shikaku's words had the desired affect and Rokariku grinned at the thought of her brother sharing her torture. Shikaku sweatdropped, his kids were evil.

Shikaku. Dad.

"Geez Rokariku, what are you still doing in bed?! You're going to be late to the academy!" Yoshino yelled at her youngest, who was still laying in her bed. Her words evoked the emergence of a disgruntled brunette.

"Mom, I feel terrible. I'm not going," and with that she burrowed back into her covers. A groan escaped her when the covers were yanked from her form.

"Oh? And what's wrong?" Yoshina sarcastically asked, knowing her daughter was just feigning illness as an excuse to not go to class.

"My lower back really hurts, I'm feeling nauseous, and I feel bloated beyond belief. I'm not going," Rokariku stated after ticking off her symptoms. Her mother blinked as her daughter's symptoms sunk in.

"Mom! What the hell?!" Rokariku shouted once she found herself in her mother's smothering embrace. Her arms flailed about frantically while her mother pressed her face into her bosom, laying her own head atop her daughter's.

"My baby's growing up," the brunette stilled at the softly spoken words. The words were filled with both pride and sadness. Something wet hit the crown of her head.

Hesitantly she enfolded her mother in her arms, returning the embrace.

"I love you Mom."

Loving maternal arms tightened.

Yoshino. Mom.

"Eh, Roka-chan? You want to get something to eat?" Naruto asked after he was once more rejected by Sakura. They had just been on another ridiculous mission, helping some old broad weed out her garden.

Rokariku nodded, figuring the blonde would ask her. It was becoming somewhat of a ritual for them, but that didn't stop Naruto from cheering before making his way to Ichiraku. He stopped when a hand gently pulled on his wrist.

"Neh, I have a better idea than Ichiraku," Naruto turned, a look of disbelief on his face. Before he could question the kunoichi she had already pulled him away to a clove of trees which rested on the nearby hill.

"Roka-chan?" The blonde questioned when the girl seemed to pull a basket out of nowhere.

"I figured a change would be good. Plus eating Ichiraku all the time is such a drag. At least here we can look at the clouds," the kunoichi explained before opening the basket and pulling out a container of homemade ramen. Naruto grinned and hugged the girl in appreciation.

Naruto.

Dark eyes glanced to the form beside her. The fallen form of her comrade. She kept back the stinging in her eyes.

Sasuke.

Rokariku glanced over at Sakura as she relaid some tips to Naruto. Her opinion of the girl raised. Suddenly she became tolerable.

Sakura.

Rokariku glared from her spot on the ground, stomach rumbling. Her brother and Choji had been held over for more training, leaving her to wait for dinner. So she had continued to train, and now she sat drained of chakra and starving.

"Good work Rokariku," she glanced over at the voice, unsuprised to see her sensei. What did suprise her was the bento he was holding out to her. She blinked a couple of times before taking it, sending him a questioning glance. He seemed to smile beneath his mask.

"Can't have you die of starvation. That would look fairly bad in a report."

Kakashi. Sensei.

I'm so sorry.


Dying was certainly a unique experience. After the pain had ebbed away there had remained a feeling of lightness, almost as if floating in a vast state of nothingness. Even the feeling of regret, of failure, had started to fade away, leaving only elation in its place.

It wasn't altogether a bad experience. Though it did seem lonely. To do nothing but float here for all eternity.

"Silly girl. This is not the afterlife,"

Rokariku looked over from her place in the black void, still floating along lazily like the clouds she so loved to gaze at. Before her appeared a figure who appeared to be standing, though on what she had no idea. There was nothing around her, just black. A single shade of nothingness.

She halted her floating before 'standing' upright. The figure seemed to vanish. It reappeared much closer to her, though still a distance away.

"Who are you?" She blinked at her own voice. It was apathetic, but that was nothing unusual. No, it seemed to echo in the darkness. Reverberating off what, she didn't know, and wasn't to keen on figuring it out.

The figure chuckled before answering in that same haunting voice.

"I'm a part of the process you mortal's call dying," the figure removed his hood, revealing a face marked with purple and black paint that swirled in no real design.

"Dying? Don't you mean death?" The bruenette questioned, quite certain of the fact that she had died at the hands of Goto's mob.

The spirit- she supposed that was the correct term- chuckled again.

"Well, aren't you the sharp one. Yes, techinically your outside body is dead, but it has no ruling in this realm."

She quirked a brow, "This realm?"

The figure appeared closer, now only a few feet away.

"Yes," he answered, "for this is not the afterlife, but rather a place in between. I believe you mortals call it limbo."

Now her brow furrowed, "Why am I here and not resting wherever it is I am deigned to rest?"

The spirit's eyes, a startling red, gazed at her with nothing but amusement.

"Ah, isn't that the big question? Why have you been chosen to meet with me, when there have only been a few to ever have done so before?"

With his next move he was but a scant few steps away from the Nara. She felt no danger from the being, and so she remained where she was. The scarlett eyes seemed alight with something more than amusement now, something that resembled curiosity.

"It's definitely curious, how you seem to arise into something special to my superior. To meet me, you must be something special. I wonder what makes it so?" Rokariku could feel something akin to annoyance bubble in her.

"Special? How?"

The being waved off her question, ignoring it completely.

"Ah, I am to give you a choice, little human. You can rest peacefully forever in the afterlife, or you can return once more to the anguished world of the living," the being offered, much to the Nara's suprise. When she opened her mouth he interrupted before she even uttered a sound.

"Before you make your decision, think for a moment," he disappeared, only to reappear once more behind her, whispering in her ear like a snake. "In life there is anguish. The ones you love will one day leave you, leaving you behind to wither in despair before finally crumbling into death. You will have to bury your parents, your friends, your sensei, your brother. You will know pain every day."

Fear gripped Rokariku hard. The truth behind the whispered words was devastatingly accurate. One day she would lose her parents. She lived the life of a Shinobi, so she would inevitably bury her friends and comrades. She might even have to put to rest the body of her twin. She would die alone, and no one would care. It might even be years before she joined her loved ones.


As if sensing her thoughts the spirit continued.

"But in death that is all different. There you will be at peace in the afterlife. You died for a cause, you will not go unrewarded. While you await your precious people you will rest in complete and utter elation, watching clouds float by all day long," the whispers had turned gentle, coaxing the Nara to find peace in the afterlife.

The brunette hung her head, her bangs shadowing her eyes.

The spirit smirked.

"No," the smirk fell way.

"What?" Rokariku looked up through the shadows of her bangs, piercing the being with sharp brown eyes. Determination, devotion, and strength glittered in them dangerously.

"No," her voice no longer echoed. It now pierced the shadows with strength so unseen in the kunoichi.

"I will not desert my family. I will not allow my friends to mourn my loss. My father and mother will not have to bury their youngest, my brother will not grieve for his sister. Not now. Not yet," the girls speech had hardened in her determination. By the end of it she lifted her head, settling the spirit with a fierce glare.

"If Kami is giving me another chance I'm taking it," with these words the Spirit gained a new gleam in his red eyes. Respect. Probably not common for one of the undead to respect a petty mortal.

"You have chosen the right path. Though you will face pain, a lot of it, your life is important in Fate's role. I shall release your spirit from this world, so that it may once more join your earthly body."

Rokariku did not heed the first ominous words the being spoke. She didn't believe in fate or destiny, she would carve her own path in life.

"Return me to my­­­­­­ life."


Soft.

Something was soft against her... her lips?

Yes.

Heavy.

There was a heavy force on her chest, pumping it steadily.

What. What was happening?

I died.

Oh. That's right.

"Roka... Wa.. mitt!"

Somebody was talking to her. Calling her.

What's against my lips? So soft.

"Com... Wake... oka!"

Ah, that voice was so loud. It was slowly becoming clearer though. Everything was beginning to become less fuzzy. The darkness was slowly receding.

The soft pressure and pumping continued.

"You can't die Rokariku!"

Naruto? You called me by my first name.

"Please Rokariku... Please."

Sakura?

"I told you not to die, Nara."

Sasuke?

"Rokariku, I need to thank you. Please come back."

... H-Haku?

The soft pressure returned. Breath slowly filled her lungs. The world sharpened.

She was alive.

And being alive hurt like hell.

Pain erupted in her body, spreading inside her veins like some sick sort of sadistic disease. She tried to move but found herself unable to do anything other then open her eyes haltingly. With one great gasp the pressure left her body and her lungs became able to work on their own.

Her brown eyes fluttered open just in time to see a fair face retreat from her own.

"Roka-chan!" And suddenly she couldn't breathe again. Not with a certain hyper-active ninja's arms compressing her lungs as he clutched her torso to his own.

Normally she would flail about, but there was no strength left in her system. Wincing she looked up at the elated figures standing around her, silently begging for help.

"Eh, Naruto-kun, I don't believe Miss Rokariku can breathe," a gentle voice called out to the blonde, who hurriedly released his teammate while stammering out apologies. Rokariku ignored him, trying to ward off the immense pain rushing through her body.

She then looked up at the people around her.

Kakashi stood directly in front of her, his one eye semingly emotionless but she could detect the barest hint of sadness. When he noticed her gaze the sadness seemed to lift and he became visibly relieved.

Beside him sat Sakura, on her knees and looking at Rokariku in wonder and, like her sensei, with an immense amount of relief in her watery emerlad eyes. Rokariku couldn't find the energy to show her suprise, but nonetheless she was fairly shocked. So the pink haired kunoichi had been worried about her after all.

Rokariku then cast her gaze left, looking at the three figures who sat beside her weak and battered body. Sasuke sat close to her knees, an indecipherable look in his eyes. When Rokariku made contact with him he simply stared back at her, hard. If she had the energy she would have sighed, guess that's how he shows he cares.

Beside the Uchiha sat the quivering form of Inari, whose small body was trembling with the force of his sobs. Brown eyes softened before looking at the figure seated next to him, right at Rokariku's shoulder.

She didn't have the energy to turn her head, but the sight from her peripheral broke her heart all the same. Naruto's normally exuberant blue eyes were stricken with a wound that would never fully heal. He had lost a teammate today for the first time. Even though he got her back in the end, the experience would haunt him all the same.

He also seemed to have grown for however long the Nara had been unconscious. His face was more mature, but that could have simply been the stress that did that to him. Rokariku tried to lift her hand to touch him, to give him reassurance, to give him something.

She internally cursed when she could do nothing but mildly twitch her hand. Well, if she couldn't give comfort she could give them reassurance that she was back in the world of the living.

"Geez, you guys look like someone just died," she rasped out. Geez, it sounded as if she had been gargling rocks.

She took note of the looks on everyones' faces before realizing that that may have not been the wisest thing to say when one had just come back, quite literally, from the dead.

Oh well, live and learn.

"Not funny," Kakashi stated dryly. Rokariku gave him a weak grin in response. Then movement to her right caught her attention and she looked over, brown eyes widening in suprise.

Beside her sat Haku, his face holding a gentle smile on it and his hair noticably shorter (now just brushing his shoulders). Behind him stood Zabuza and Tazuna while around everyone there was a wide ring of villagers, with Rokariku being center.

Well then, the girl had never felt so important before.

Too bad she still felt like crap.

Another blinding rush of pain.

Yup. Absolute crap.

"I'm so confused," she grit out. "Frankly I don't know what happened, but I want answers..."

She promptly passed back out.


Grr, I hate blacking out. How troublesome.

Rokariku came too with a wince, the harsh sunlight already blinding her through her closed lids. The pain in her body seemed to have lessened, however, which was fantastic because the throbbing anguish had been nothing but a nuisance. She wondered if time had healed it, or if her teammates had just given her some wonderful, pain numbing medication.

Oh, the wonders of medical ninjutsu.

"Roka-chan?" Naruto's voice disrupted her thoughts. The tone of it disturbed her. What was once loud and rambunctious, full of life, had now become subtle and quiet, demure in a startling way.

The blonde stood beside his teammate's bed, blue eyes downcast and worried. Just a few minutes ago he had caught the barest of twitches from the girl's hands, the slightest fluttering of her lids. He hoped she was going to wake up soon, perferibly before he keeled over from worry.

Memories assaulted him.

"Ram this through his throat," Rokariku coughed out to Haku before falling to the ground.

Still. Lifeless. Dead.

At once rage overtook Naruto, just like it had with Sasuke. A deep, violent orange chakra whipped its way about him while he turned slitted eyes onto the samurai that surrounded him and his teammates.

And the dead girl lying in the middle of it all.

From the corner of his infuriated eyes Naruto witnessed a change overcome Haku as well. He had become still, staring at the kunai in his hand blankly before slowly curling his fingers around it. His knuckles soon turned white.

Haku looked up, leveling him with a deadly calm stare. Naruto minutely nodded in reply.

People were going to die.

"Naruto?" The hoarse question brought him back to reality and he turned his gaze to meet dark brown eyes. They looked at him curiously, with the faintest hint of underlying pain. Kakashi had admitted he wasn't that good at medical ninjutsu, he could take the pain off but only for a few hours.

It had already been four. Rokariku was going to start feeling the pain very soon.

In the meantime, though...

"Ahk!" Rokariku flailed about in the arms that were suddenly embracing her, puling her firmly against a firm chest. Wide brown eyes blinked profusely and a blush slowly crept on the Nara's cheeks.

What. The. Hell.

"I'm glad you're okay, Roka-chan," Naruto's lips brushed her ear with the whisper, and her blush slightly intensified. Then the thought caught up to her about how worried the blonde must have been. He saw one of his friends die. He deserved comfort.

Rokariku's arms quit flailing and instead came up to wrap gently around the boy, who now sat halfway on the bed. Her blush disappeared and she did the only thing she could think of.

She comforted him.

"Leaving you all would be too troublesome,"

Well, she comforted him to the best of her ability.

Her answer was a chuckle before the blonde let her go, his customary grin back in place. Good, she though, my carefree idiot is back to normal.

Naruto moved back to his seat, giving Rokariku a chance to survey her room. It turned out to be the same one she had been staying in for the time of the mission. The sunlight peaking through the window gave her the idea that it was probably around noon.

Hmm, there sure were some pretty clouds in the sky.

The brunette winced, her body was slowly becoming once more aware of the pain it was in. Most of it centered around her chest, where she had been skewered like a fish.

Just great, the numbness was wearing off.

"Hey Naruto," geez she sounded like crap, "why don't you explain what happened after I, er, passed out?" Distract me from this troublesome pain.

Something flickered through his eyes at the mention of her 'faint' but it was gone soon enough, grin back in place, his whole posture screaming exuberance.

"Well it went like this!" Naruto exclaimed, waving his hands about and reanacting the battle.

"We were surrounded by all sides!" He was in full story teller mode. "But Haku and I knew we could take them! Haku got them with his crazy speed and blah blah blah, but I used my shadow clone jutsu and took out, like, all of them! At the end Gato was begging me for mercy, praising my awesome skills as a ninja, and I was all like," the blonde continued on, oblivious to the small smile on Rokariku's lips. The Nara was once again reclining on some pillows, her dark eyes filled with amusement.

She doubted the full authenticity of Naruto's story, but humoured him nonetheless. Until something he said actually registered with her.

"Wait, did you say Haku?" Her brows furrowed in confusion. The Haku who had tried to kill them becuase of some misplaced duty to Zabuza? That Haku?

Naruto opened his mouth to say something when the door slid open and a head topped with pink peaked through.

Sakura's green eyes widened.

"Rokariku! Guys, Rokariku's awake!" She hollered back into the hallway before stepping inside the room. Immediately after she spoke a stampede sounded before a rush of bodies suddenly filled the, rather crampt, bedroom.

"Roka-nee-chan!" Rokariku 'oomphed' as a small body hurled itself into her stomach. Pain laced its way up her spine in electrifying jolts.

"Geez kid, right into the stomach wound why don't cha'? Ch, what a drag," despite her words an arm curled itself around the boy's shoulders, loosely cradling him.

She was such a sucker for kids.

"Hmph, finally awake," brown eyes glanced up to see the cool form of Sasuke leaning nonchalantly against the door frame. Kakashi was behind him, smiling beneath his mask.

"You gave us quite a scare there," the jounin commented. Rokariku sweatdropped.

"Won't happen again, boss," her commented caused a chuckle from the majority of her team. A barely there smile curled her lips.

It was good to be back.

But.... Rokariku's brow furrowed.

"What was that about Haku and Zaubza?!"

Rokariku looked at her teammates and sensei with wide, unbelieving brown eyes as they related the story to her. The story of what had happened after she 'died'. The mere thought of it sent a pang through her chest.

Oh, wait, that was probably the searing scar on her chest.

Anywho, it turned out that quite a lot had happened when she, er, lost consciousness. After her body had been so gingerly laid on the ground, all hell had broke loose. Haku and Naruto fell upon Gato's men with aveangence, both with their own reasons.

It seemed Gato had another trick up his sleeve, however, as he had hired some more ninja along with his samurai. The sheer number was a bit overwhelming, and Naruto had been caught unaware by one of the ninja. That's when Zabuza and Kakashi stepped in, both having previously been frozen in place.

Zabuza, frozen by the actions of some teen girl who had betrayed her mission in order to save the boy he looked down to as a son. Kakashi was still realing from the shock of being yelled at by his student, then seeing that student die right before his eyes. He had lost a many people in his life, many people close to him, and he hadn't wanted to add the name of one of his first students onto that lengthy list.

Needless to say, the ninja were quickly and effectively disposed of.

With the four ninja working together it was really no shock that the enemy was slaughtered in minutes. Still, it managed to be enough time for the whole village to riot together behind them. By the time the mist had fully dissipated the whole bridge was blocked off by a mass of bodies, encouraging the ninja.

Leading them was none other than Inari, who made bold proclamations against Gato. The evil man still remained defiant though, even going so far as to insult the fallen Rokariku. Before the last syllable left his mouth a senbon found its way to his neck, cutting him off and ending his life. His body tumbled off the uncompleted bridge, lost to the harsh waters below.

Fascinating story as it was, it wasn't the previously-dead genin's main concern.

"Zabuza and Haku are alive?" The Nara asked, shocked. Given how hard-headed Naruto and Kakashi were, she thought for sure that the missing-ninja would be dead or at least shackled.

Kakashi shrugged and avoided her incredulous stare. Given what Haku had done for Rokariku, he was willing to turn a blind eye to them. This time at least.

"Forget about them though Roka-chan!" Naruto shouted before once again going into some story to try and cheer his teammate up. He sat on the bed with the injured girl, careful to avoid touching her aching body.

It wasn't long before Tsunami came up and shooed them all out of Rokariku's room. They left without too much of a fuss.

....

Well.... When you define 'they'.

"Oh come ooooooooonnnnnn!" Naruto whined as he was drug out forcibly by Sasuke and Sakura, who had veins visibly pulsing in their temples while Kakashi rolled his eyes before strolling away. Rokariku couldn't help the small laugh that left her.

She regretted it immediatly as a sharp pain resonated through her whole body. Tsunami noticed and quickly demanded that she take her medicine. The Nara complied, in too much pain to refuse.

Sweet darkness enveloped her.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Deep blue eyes stared at the sleeping bruenette, who was snoring softly in her rest. The bandages around her torso barely peeked out from her blanket. She looked like a regular teenager, simply sleeping off the effects of a normal day.

Well, she would if she didn't have yellowing bruises littering her arms. The sleep she was in was a drug-induced one, and Naruto wouldn't forget that.

He almost lost his friend. His teammate. One of his precious people.

No, not just one, but two. Dear Kami, when he saw Sasuke lying so steal he was horrified. When he saw you die he just snapped. A rage like no other had over come him.

Was this the power of the Kyuubi?

A flare of chakra made him turn his head. His eyes connected with dark brown.

He grinned, though somewhat reluctantly, and gave up his silent guard.

It was someone else's turn to make sure she was okay.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Rokariku grinned as she watched the showdown between Naruto and Inari, both trying desperetly not to cry. When the 'who is toughest' contest began, she burst out laughing while her sensei smiled sheepishly to the amused townspeople; who had all gathered to send their saviors off.

Beside her stood a scowling Sasuke and a smiling Sakura took stance beside him. Probably to keep an eye out because as soon as they were cleared of the towns-people her precious Uchiha would be carrying Rokariku on his back. The bruenette was still too injured to walk, but she refused to show it in front of Inari and his family. It was a matter of pride.

The fact that Naruto would never let her hear the end of it had nothing to do with it at all.

Finally the goodbyes were done, ending with a suprised Rokariku being hugged by Inari. The look on her face had everyone laughing. Heck, even Sasuke cracked a smirk.

They all waved cheerfully as they walked away. Well, almost all. Rokariku waved painfully as she limped away with a disgruntled Uchiha by her side.

"You're going to tear your stitches and I am not going to stop the bleeding," her teammate dryly stated.

Rokariku scoffed but didn't say anything and focused instead on her breathing. Just a little bit further and no one would be able to see her hop on Sasuke's back like some invalid.

"Shuttup Sasuke, you bastard! Quit annoying Roka-chan!" Naruto yelled from her other side. Sasuke scoffed before insulting the blonde. Rokariku rolled her eyes, part of her both glad and annoyed that nothing had changed in the two's dynamics.

They'd make one hell of a fighting force if they would quit behaving like two year olds.

She sighed.

"Troublesome boys."

"They're just worried," Rokariku looked up in suprise at the soft voice. Brown eyes went wide, staring at the two figures now blocking their path. Zabuza stood tall, his sword flung over his back and his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was tough though the blood thirst was gone.

For the time being.

Haku stood beside him, his gentle smile ever in place. It almost made Rokariku shiver, knowing how much power and deadly prowess lied beneath those gentle brown eyes. To think that someone seemingly so pure was capable of such mayhem.

What a drag.

She liked that kid too.

"Shouldn't you guys be half way to the Rock Village by now?" The Nara quirked a brow, her bored tone back in place and firm on her face. Her teammates when quiet, though all had their eyes locked onto the two men.

Haku opened his mouth to answer, but Sakura interrupted.

"Hey, Rokariku! I just realized something!" The pinkette exclaimed, excitement on her face.

The bruenette slightly turned from her position (which was really awkward considering she was leaning on Sasuke for support).

"Eh?"

"You technically had your first kiss!" Ha! There's no way Sasuke will like a girl who already smooched another boy!

All eyes turned to Sakura before swiveling to Rokariku.

Who blinked.

"... Eh?" Came her oh-so-intellegient response, "And where was I during this supposed kiss?"

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"You were passed out... Duh!"

"Wait!" Naruto exclaimed, pure confusion on his face, "Are you talking about when Haku was doing that CP-whatever? That doesn't count!"

"For once I'm inclined to agree with Naruto," Rokariku deadpanned, ignoring her teammate's protests ("Hey! I have good ideas!").

Sakura pouted, but refrained from saying anything.

Dark hazel eyes turned back to Haku. So, he was the one to technically save her life? Weird.

He was giving them all an amused smile, though something mischevious glittered in his eyes. Rokariku resisted the urge to gulp, that look reminded her way too much of Naruto.

"Ignore the crazy lady," she commented, trying to divert attention back to the two. Zabuza was rolling his eyes at their behaviour, clearly only staying because of Haku. "Is there something you needed?"

Haku walked slowly torwards her, his smile still in place. The Nara finally took note of his hair, which had been cut. Instead of resting at his waist it came to just brush against the bottom of his neck.

He came to a stop in front of the genin.

"I just wanted to thank you all for what you did for both Zabuza and myself," he bowed slightly in respect. They nodded their heads in acknowledgement, Naruto once more quipping up about how it was mostly him who saved the day.

What a dork.

Rokariku rolled her eyes briefly at the blonde's antics before looking to Haku again. She nearly jumped when she noticed how much closer he had gotten to her, though still a respectful distance. It was only Sasuke's balance that kept her from falling.

"I also wanted to specifically thank you, Roka-chan," she quirked a brow at the stolen nickname. "You'll never know how grateful I am for what you did for me and Zabuza."

He paused slightly, fixing his eyes on her own chocolate orbs. His gaze was penetrating and left the Nara feeling slightly uncomfortable.

Nara's weren't known to take scrutiny very well.

"You saved us," the boy finally finished before bowing low once more. Rokariku fought off a blush.

She hated being the center of attention.

"It's fine, troublesome, but I couldn't just let you die. What kind of kunoichi would I be?" The Nara dryly remarked.

Haku let out a chuckle.

"True,"

Rokariku nodded, thinking the conversation over.

She kind of dreaded going back home.

I'm a dead woman.

A hand shook her out of her thoughts.

She was caught once more in those deep brown eyes, unable to move her head for the hand clasping her chin gently. She was barely aware of Sasuke's arm tightening around her waist, no doubt in preparation to spring into action should the Missing Nin try anything.

"Also, I feel bad making your first kiss 'not count'," Haku remarked, smile still in place. "All me to rectify the problem."

The bruenette went to say that there was no problem, like seriously, eveything is frickin' fine and dandy, when warm lips covered her's. Haku's lips briefly massaged her own before the pressure was lifted.

Rokariku felt her face heat up, quite certain that it was burning a hell-fire red.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto shouted, while everyone else was in a state of shock. Except for Zabuza, who Rokariku swore had a smirk hidden under his bandages.

Troublesome asshole.

Haku just continued to smile, Rokariku swore he was disguising his smirk, and brushed a piece of hair from her face (she needed to get her bangs cut pronto).

"Thank you," he whispered again before stepping away.

The genius blinked and both and he his companion were gone. Just like that.

She blinked again.

What the hell just happened?

She looked over to gauge her team's reactions. Sasuke and Naruto both mirrored looks of shock, Kakashi seemed to be smiling under his mask (prick), and Sakura was smiling deviously.

"Wonder what Shikamaru's gonna' say when he hears about this," the girl taunted in a sing-song voice. On the inside she was fuming.

Damnitt! I can't believe the laziest girl in Konoha got her first kiss before I did!

She turned to look to said 'laziest girl', and promptly froze at the brown glare leveled at her.

"We're not speaking about this.... Ever," and with that she pushed herself off of Sasuke and began walking down the path to the boat. She didn't care if her body was screaming in agony, she wanted to be anywhere but this place.

There were never any pretty clouds out here anyways.

The sight of her walking off knocked the boys back to their senses.

"Wait for me Roka-chan!" If I ever see Haku again, I'm going to kill him! Jumping Roka-chan when she can't even defend herself, what nerve! I was gonna- not do that!

"What did I say about ripping your stitches idiot!" She's just like a female Naruto. Except mildly smarter.

Kakashi sighed.

They were going to be the end of him

____________________________________________________________________________________

The trip to Konoha was much quicker then when they left.

Probably because they weren't on the look-out for stray ninjas trying to ice off the old man.

It seems it would take longer, however, because of one injured genin not being able to run or even walk all that well.

Thankfully, they had that covered.

"Damnitt Naruto! If you drop me I swear I'm going to stick my scythe up your-"

"Calm down Rokariku, we're here," Sasuke stated, his eyebrow subtly twitching. The genin had been swapped out between himself and Naruto halfway through their journey, and the blonde had managed to almost drop her five times. And she wasn't about to let the boy get away with it again.

The yelling was about to drive him to committ double homicide.

Make that triple, his eye blatantly twitched when Sakura once more latched onto his arm like a leech as soon as the gates opened to permit them in.

"Finally," the bruenette muttered, craving to lounge once more in her favorite spot. Which was definitely not wrapped around Naruto.

Yes wrapped, as in both her legs and arms were firmly holding the boy. Why? Because falling from the very tops of trees didn't seem pleasant, and Naruto wasn't the most graceful ninja known to mankind. The Nara wasn't taking chances.

"You can put me down, Naruto," she stated blandly as soon as they reached the now-opened gates. If anyone she knew, i.e., Shikamaru or Chouji, saw her having to rely on someone else for support she would never hear the end of it.

If she were alive to hear it, since her brother would most likely kill her for being in such a bad condition.

Naruto relaxed his arms, which had been holding her knees up, and set her down. She bit her lip as her wounds protested the action of standing. Kakashi caught her grimace and took a light hold on her arm.

Brown eyes turned to him in question.

"You're going to the hospital," the Jounin stated bluntly, his visible eye closed so Rokariku knew he was smiling.

Her eyes went wide.

"Would that mean you're going to inform my family as to why I'm in the hosptial?" Her stomach clenched at the thought.

A nod was her answer and she dropped her head, holding back crocodile tears of despair.

Shikamaru was going to kill her.

"What the hell did you get yourself into to be so badly injured?"

The question was posed in a subtly terrifying way. It was calm. It was calculated. It was deadly.

And her teammates were giving her weird looks (Probably because of the terrified expression on her face.).

"Eh heh, um, funny story about that," the youngest Nara sheepishly stuttered out to her older brother, who stood beside her hospital bed with his arms crossed and a glare leveled on his face. Dang, why had no one ever told her he could be this scary?

Probably because you're the only reason he ever freaks out, and usually you're too lazy to get into trouble. Congratulations Hero, this is what you get for being a team player.

"Guess you should let me in on the joke that lands you in a hospital bed, renders you unconscious on a supposed D Class mission, and leaves you flat lining with a hole in your chest," Shikamaru stated, his words becoming almost poisonous. Rokariku shot an accusing look at her sensei, who averted his one eye innocently.

"It's not as bad as that!" She exclaimed in an attempt to calm her anxious brother down.

Shikamaru snorted, his knuckles turning white from clenching his arms. He turned his brown eyed glare to the remainder of Team Seven.

"Leave,"

"What no!" Naruto immediately protested. Shikamaru's glare turned dangerous and the blonde gulped nervously, a bead of sweat rolling down his brow. He had never seen the lazy boy look so murderous.

"Go. Away," Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but Kakashi quickly grabbed him and shoved him out the door. Sakura and Sasuke sedately followed the former throwing one last worried glance at her teammate. Rokariku attempted a smile, but it came out more like a psychotic twitch of the lips.

She was so dead.

She gulped before opening her mouth, about to spew some nonsense on how she didn't need her brother to lecture her about her stupidity. The whole 'sword-through-the-chest' thing did that quite nicely and she learned her lesson, thank you very much.

The arms wrapped around her cut off her half-assed excuses before she could even speak them.

"Shikamaru?" Chestnut eyes went wide, but the arms around her grew tighter at the sound of her dismay-laden voice. Her eyes went soft and shakily her arms came up to pull her brother closer, even though her chest was screaming in protest at the tight embrace.

Her head now lay against her older brother's chest, one of his hands coming to cradle her head while his other arm wrapped around her back, rendering her immobile. Her own arms were wrapped around him.

They stayed wrapped together in silence.

"Shika-Nii!" Chestnut eyes rolled in exasperation.

"What?"

"Play with me! I wanna' go down to the river!" The flash of a toothy grin and wide-set chestnut eyes. Shikamaru let out a sigh from his perch on the grassy green hill, shaded by the clouds rolling lazily overhead.

"No," the seven-year old dead-panned thoughtlessly. Rokariku pouted from her seat beside her brother, tugging on his hand restlessly.

"Please!" She whined, wanting her big brother (by seven minutes) to play with her.

"No, Rokariku," Shikamaru said with a bit more force, cracking one eye to glare at his sister. Her pout just grew, as did the tugging on his sleeve. His eye twitched.

"I said no, now quit being so annoying and go away," the boy jerked his arm from her grasp forcefully. He missed the trembling of his sister's lip.

"Fine!" He rolled his eyes from beneath his lids at the girl's dramatics. He vaguely registered the sound of small feet stomping away. It was only a few minutes before his inner big brother started acting up.

All she wanted to do was play with you.

He huffed, ignoring the small voice.

You're a really bad big brother, letting her wonder off by herself when you're supposed to be watching her.

Shikamaru snapped open his eyes, staring determinedly at the slow moving clouds. He waited for the familiar relaxation to overtake him, but his muscles remained tensed.

She could be hurt. What would you do then? If your little sister got hurt because of you?

"Screw it," the child uttered before heaving himself to his feet. He would go down to the river just to shut the voice up. Besides, their mom would want them home soon for lunch anyways.

With an all too familiar sigh, the brunette began walking at a leisurely pace. The river wasn't quite that far away, and it could be a nice walk if one enjoyed walking. Which Shikamaru did not, but he could pretend he did for twelve seconds.

He ignored the inkling in the back of his mind to run and check up on Rokariku.

Absently he turned his head to the sky, hands shoved firmly in his pockets. The clouds were slowly but surely moving away, letting the sun come back out from its spot in the sky. The rays were warm against his face, bordering on hot without the shade of the clouds.

Hmmm, going for a swim didn't sound like such a bad idea after all.

You should have gone to the river with her.

"Yeah, yeah," Shikamaru muttered, still lost in the warmth so pleasantly expelled from the sun. A sense of contentment filled his person as he continued to ignore the little voice in his head.

Until a shout jarred him from his reverie.

"HELP!"

Shikamaru froze, his head snapping to woods. That sounded like-

Kami, please no!

He broke into a run, unconsciously channeling chakra into his feet to increase his pace.

"ONII-CHAN!"

"ROKARIKU!" The brunette burst through the foliage, his frantic eyes quickly locating where the distressed call was.

"Roka!"

The girl had somehow slipped into the rougher part of the river, where the rapids were unforgiving and all too eager to draw someone into their depths. Luckily she had managed to grab hold of a branch when she fell, but it was dangerously thin and Shikamaru could see its roots slowly giving way.

Both brunettes were in a panic, and Shikamaru was quite close to hyperventilation.

He raced over to where his sister was grasping the branch, and tried to reach out and grab her. But the bank sides were too steep and she was too far out for him to have a chance at grabbing her. He debated on telling her to move her way up the branch, but knew that that plan was fruitless. For one thing the twig could easily be uprooted with anymore movement, and if she tried to even adjust her grasp then the currents would wash her away.

He was completely powerless.

"HELP, SHIKAMARU!" Rokariku's eyes were watering with tears, and were being stung by the icy cold spray of the rapids. She could feel her small arms shaking and her grip was loosening bit by bit.

She didn't want to die.

She couldn't even remember what happened. She had been fuming about her brother telling her to scram, and was taking her frustration out on the river by throwing rocks into it angrily. But she had gotten too close to the bank and it had crumbled under her weight. She barely had time to grab hold of the tree before her body was submerged in icy water.

She had cried helplessly for her brother, for anyone to help her and no one had come. She continued to scream and scream, for what felt like hours before her brother had finally heard her.

And now she was looking up at him with watery brown eyes. Begging him to do something, anything.

He was her big brother after all, he could fix anything.

Shikamaru had no idea what to do. His sister was about to drown and he had no way of helping. It really left only one option, simply because if this didn't work than his sister would eventually succumb to the fatigue in her arms. And he would no doubt go after her, even if he knew he would die.

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!" He screamed out as loud as he could.

Damnitt, he had such a feeling of pure helplessness. His sister could die and he was utterly powerless to help.

He could leave to get help, but he was not going to let Rokariku out of his sight.

"DAMNITT! SOMEBODY HELP!"

"Shikamaru?!" The boy focused on his sister's face and noticed the fearful look aimed at her hands.

She was slipping.

"Don't you dare let go, Rokariku!"

She bit back a sarcastic comment because it really wasn't the moment for something like that. But if she lived through this, Shikamaru was going to get an earful.

Also, the whole 'don't let go' thing really wasn't working when the rapids seemed to becoming stronger and her grip just kept loosening.

And loosening.

And loosening.

"Sorry, Shika-Onii-chan," her grip gave way and she was drowning in the rapids.

"ROKARIKU!" Shikamaru screamed, paralyzed.

Kami, this can't be happening.

He was going to lose his sister because he was too weak to do anything.

A black blur caught his attention, along with a large splash in the water. Shikamaru held his breath while the black blur jumped from the river, coming to a crouch before him.

Brown eyes, wide with panic, looked up into eyes blacker than night. Shikamaru's attention quickly deviated to the soaking, coughing figure cradled in the other man's arms.

Without thinking, Shikamaru yanked his sister away from the ninja in front of him, cradling her close to his chest. Her brown hair was stuck to her body, along with her sopping wet clothes, and her eyes were screwed tightly shut while she hacked. Water had gotten into her lungs, pretty badly by the sound of her coughing.

His arms tightened around her, though he was careful to not impede her breathing.

"I will go tell your parents what has transpired," Shikamaru looked up at the voice, locking eyes once more with onyx orbs.

"Thank you, so much Itachi-san," the Nara male whispered, still feeling the effects of almost losing his sister. The Uchiha merely continued to level him with a hard stare.

"You need to become stronger, if you want to protect her. Today she could have died because of your weakness," Itachi commented coldly before disappearing, no doubt to go inform the Nara parents.

Shikamaru stared at where the boy had been with wide eyes. Rokariku's coughing finally subsided, the girl now rested against his chest, wrapped tightly in his arms.

The boy lowered his face, hiding it in her hair, holding her close to his heart.

Never again. I will never lose her again.

"I broke my promise to you," Shikamaru's voice brought Rokariku out of her memory. She smiled against his chest, glad to know that their twin syncing was still working. For as long as she could remember Shikamaru and she had shared one another's thoughts.

It was one of the perks of being a twin.

"You had no way of protecting me this time, Shika-onii-chan," she whispered, pulling back slightly so her brother could see her gentle smile.

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes, coming back to his senses. Rokariku would just get on his case if he continued with his 'moping.'

"Whatever. Just don't do anything stupid again, it's such a pain," the sighed out, letting go of his sister and standing up.

Rokariku just smiled cheekily.

"You love me though!"

Shikamaru didn't respond, but a smile was tugging at his lips.

Little sisters...

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye.

I won't let you get hurt again.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"FREEDOM!" Rokariku stretched her arms, a grin stretching her face. After about several days in the hospital she had finally been cleared. The doctors were surprised at how quickly she had been able to heal, especially since she had technically died.

Something told her it had to do with the creature she had met during her, er, death, but she was going to ignore it.

She did not look for trouble.

With her hands deep in her pockets, she resolved to walk around and maybe find her wayward teammates. They had been by to see her every day, surprisingly enough, and she wanted to nag Naruto for never shutting up about the easy missions they had been assigned. Geez, after their last mission she thought he would be happy for some downtime.

That's a lie. He always wants to get into something.

The youngest Nara let out a sigh.

Having a hyperactive friend was way too troublesome.

Rokariku debated on whether to find her teammates or go sleep on a nice grassy hill and watch the clouds roll by.

The second option was winning, when a two blurs passed by her. Her eyes went wide, the wind caused by the two causing her bound hair to become frizzy.

"The hell?" She mumbled before realizing that one of the blurs had been pink and the other had been, she believed, that brat Konohamaru.

He probably said something to piss her off. Ugh, that kid is too much like Naruto. What a drag.

Deciding to make sure the pink haired girl didn't commit homicide- because how awkward would that be to explain to Kakashi- Rokariku followed the blurs. Though she did so at a leisurely pace, in no rush to break up a fight.

Talking about fights, she hoped Shikamaru and Chouji would be able to catch something to eat with her without their annoying teammate. Psh, and she thought Sakura was bad. Ino was the most obnoxious girl she had ever met.

Rokariku soon became lost in her thoughts, letting her feet carry to where she could hear shouting.

She perked up when one particular scream caught her attention.

"Let him go!"

The hell? That was Naruto's voice.

Rokariku broke into a run, wondering just what her teammates had gotten themselves into this time. Soon enough she found the problem. Two sand genin were standing opposite Sakura and Naruto, and one of them, the boy with purple face paint, was holding Konohamaru up threateningly.

The brunette jumped into a tree that overshadowed the conflict, suppressing her chakra to remain unnoticed.

Naruto and Sakura were both yelling at the two, who merely sneered at them. Rokariku took the time to analyze the two.

The blonde was clearly older, and her hair was tied into four pigtails. On her back rested a giant fan, leading Rokariku to the conclusion that she was a wind mistress.

The one holding the kid was only a year or two younger, dressed in all black with purple kabuki paint covering his face in warrior designs. On his back was a large figure shielded from view by bandages. Rokariku was willing to be it housed a puppet.

A wind mistress and a puppet master?

Rokariku was debating on whether or not to intervene when something the blonde said caught her attention.

"Kankurou knock it off, you know he won't be happy," she told the male harshly.

Brown eyes narrowed. Who was he?

The confrontation was still going on, and Rokariku decided it was in her best interests to intervene. Who knows how long Naruto would nag at her when he found out he could have stopped the runt from getting his face smashed in. Plus the blonde was already making a fool of himself. To believe he would rush a ninja that he knows nothing about.

Better save him.

She raised her hands to perform her shadow technique, before thinking better of it. She didn't want these ninja to gain an advantage by knowing her jutsu.

The Nara bit her lip.

Damnitt.

The limb she was sitting on jerked slightly, causing her to avert her eyes to the figure now sitting next to her. It was Sasuke, who leveled her with an onyx stare while bouncing a pebble up and down in his hand. He quirked a brow at her and she nodded with a barely there sigh.

Yeah, yeah she knew what he had planned.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Kankurou glared at the brat in his hand, though it soon turned into a smirk. Ignoring everyone else he reared back his fast before sending it flying at the kid's face.

Stupid Konoha ninja, they couldn't even take care of their own.

Right before his fist connected a small objected projected through the air, hitting him right in the wrist. Kankurou cursed, dropping the brat in favor of grasping hold of his now bleeding wrist.

A blur shot out from the trees, catching hold of Konohamaru before he hit the ground.

Rokariku stood up, holding the kid with one arm while the other shot straight out, a kunai held firmly in her hand.

"You guys are far away from any allies, and you're severly outclassed."

Everyone turned their attention to the tree, where Sasuke sat idly throwing a pebble in the air and looking generally suave.

Rokariku twitched slightly. Why did she have to catch the troublesome brat instead of lying back in the tree.

Pain in the ass Uchiha.

"Oh great, two more brats to take care of," Kankurou commented with a sneer on his face.

Damn, how did I not notice him? And I couldn't even see the chick. He thought, casting another glance at Rokariku, who had put Konohamaru down.

The boy had rushed back to his friends and Sakura, who was gushing over Sasuke, and Naruto, who was fuming.

Sasuke glared at the other boy before crushing the pebble in his hand, reducing it to dust.

"Get lost,"

That caused more gushing and fuming, Rokariku thought she even caught sight of a small blush on the blonde kunoichi's face. She rolled her eyes, pocketing her kunai and stepping back.

"Punks like you piss me off," Kankurou started. "I'm going to squash you like a bug."

His teammate's eyes widened when he started to undo the bandages around his puppet.

"You're going to bring out Karasu?!" There was an edge of disbelief in her voice.

Rokariku narrowed her eyes before stepping forward, slowly unwinding one of her scythes. She should be able to wrap the chain around the puppet before anything could happen.

A cold voice stopped her.

"Kankurou, knock it off. You are a shame to our village."

Wide eyes turned to the tree, where the emotionless voice had come from. Hanging from a branch just on the other side of Sasuke was a boy with hair the color of blood and piercing teal eyes.

How the hell? Only high level ninja can move so smoothly. I didn't even notice him. Rokariku thought in disbelief.

"Why do you think we came to this village?" The stranger continued in a monotone voice.

"Um, but- you see- they started it really, I mean-" Kankurou cowered.

"Be quiet before I kill you," a chill shot down Rokariku's spine, and her eyes widened. She clutched the scythe in her hand. This guy scared the hell out of her, she had to fight to keep from trembling at the sheer apathy in his gaze.

He really wouldn't care if he killed his teammate, who began spewing out apologies. The redhead ignored him, turning his attention to the Uchiha.

"My apologies for any trouble he caused," Sasuke and he stared at one another, clearly sizing the other up. Rokariku froze when teal eyes turned to stare at her judgingly, and she raised her scythe into a defensive position. The boy came to another conclusion before he disappeared in a swirl of sand.

He appeared right before Rokariku, who was frozen. The boy ignored her, turning to his teammates instead.

"Let's go, we don't have time for foolishness," they began walking away and Rokariku began to breathe a little easier.

That is, before Sakura got the bright idea to start questioning them.

Who cares about the rules? Troublesome girl, just let them go.

The three turned around, though it was the blonde who answered with a smirk on her face, stating that they were there because of the chuunin exams. She held up her pass as proof, allowing Rokariku to sneak a glance at her name.

Temari, huh?

Rokariku quirked a brow, she hadn't realize that the exams were so close.

"Eh? Chuunin exams? What are those? I've never heard of them, believe it," Oh, Naruto. Your ignorance is such a drag.

"Believe that you're an idiot? Oh I do," Temari replied cockily. Rokariku resisted the urge to hit her with the Nara's scythe.

"The chunnin exams are exactly what the name implies, Naruto. Every genin has to take the exams in order to be able to advance to the rank of chuunin," Rokariku explained, not allowing her eyes to leave the genin in front of her.

Huh, their age differences are strange to be in the same team together.

The three turned to walk away again, but this time it was Sasuke who stopped them.

"Hey, what's your name?" The genin asked coolly from his place beside Rokariku.

Temari turned around with a blush.

"Who me?"

"No. The one with the gourd."

Said genin turned around, pinning the Uchiha with a teal stare.

"Sabaku no Gaara. You?"

"Uchiha, Sasuke," Sasuke replied with a smirk. Rokariku rolled her eyes at the display.

"Betcha' you're dying to know my name, right?" Naruto grinned.

"I really don't care," Gaara replied. Naruto opened his mouth, no doubt to make an angry retort, but Rokariku sent her chain flying back so it wrapped around the boy's mouth.

"Naruto, I think it's best if you just don't talk right now," the Nara informed, her nonchalance back in place. She didn't want the boy causing trouble when they just avoided it.

"You, however, do interest me," Rokariku turned to Gaara, her brows furrowed in confusion. Teal eyes immediately locked on her's, causing a shiver to caress her spine.

She debated on whether or not to say she was Sakura, but figured said girl would sell her out.

"Nara, Rokariku," she sighed out, her eyes taking on their normal bored glaze. Though she was still focused on the teal eyes of the boy in front of her.

Those eyes...

Gaara turned around, his teammates following him as he jumped away from the Konoha genin.

Rokariku turned to her teammates, and sweat dropped when she noticed the Naruto was once more picking fights with Sasuke. Sakura was becoming angered with every derogatory comment thrown the Uchiha's way, and soon Naruto was on the run from her wrath. Sasuke watched them go with emotionless eyes.

"What a drag," the brunette sighed out before following the dust trail left by her two dramatic teammates.

The three ninja standing on the tree to her left did not escape her notice, but she walked on as if she had not seen a thing.

This is going to be troublesome.

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Well, this is annoying," Rokariku glared down at the slip of paper in her hands, nominating her proudly for the Chuunin Exams. Damn Kakashi to hell! What made him think the lazy girl wanted to take this silly exam? Was it some sense of pride as a teacher because if it was, then he placed him pride in the wrong person. Rokariku was perfectly happy being a genin, it was much less stress.

And did anyone forget she's still getting over the time she died.

"Ch, what a pain," she sighed out. "At least Shikamaru will be forced to suffer with me," a decidedly devilish look entered her eyes.

Ooooh, the possibilities.

The Nara continued on her way to the usual spot, hands shoved deep in her baggy shorts. Her tan head tilted back, letting the sun's pleasantly warm rays hit her face and soak into her clothing. There weren't many clouds in the sky, but it would be perfect to sit under the shade of an oak tree and snooze next to her brother. And with Chouji's chip-addiction, she would even have some snacks whenever she woke up.

A smile lit the genin's face before it vanished completely. Her body stopped its motion and suddenly hard brown eyes opened. Her senses were on high alert, and she discretely fiddled with one of her scythes.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Shouldn't you be at home, Little Girl?" Rokariku turned sharply to face the ninja who had taunted her. His black hair was shaggy, but it didn't cover the Rain Village headband he sported.

Brown eyes narrowed, a sharp mind spinning all the possibilities.

Rain Village in Konoha? They're our allies, and he is not a missing-ninja. What the hell is going on?

Rokariku unchained her scythes, spinning it around as a distraction for the other ninja, hoping he would trip up.

"What's this? Little girls shouldn't play with weapons," his face stretched into a grin before he attacked, only to slice into a log. His eyes widened and he turned just in time to avoid the scythe aimed for his head.

Unfortunately, for him, he failed to remember the chain connecting the scythe to its handler. The small scythe doubled back and around the ninja, wrapping him firmly and rendering him paralyzed. Rokariku let a smirk steal across her face.

"Hmm, what was that about little girls playing with weapons?" She asked cheekily before glaring at the ninja.

"Release this ridiculous transformation jutsu, I know you're a Konoha ninja," said ninja's eyes widened in shock before a poof a smoke shrouded his body. When it cleared there stood a boy a couple of years older than the Nara, wearing the traditional chunnin clothing with a headband tied around his neck. His shaggy black hair brushed his ears, and bright green eyes were staring at her incredulously.

"How'd you know?" The voice changed to a slightly higher, common voice.

"Lucky guess," the brunette shrugged, not really feeling like explaining just how obvious it was.

"Just tell my sensei or whoever sent you that they're not scaring me away from the exams," she let her chain unwind and reeled it back into her hand. She graced the guy with a two finger mock salute before sauntering leisurely away.

The chuunin stared at her back side, eyebrows still raised with a smirk on his lips.

He would definitely be watching out for this newcomer.

“You kids ready?” Twin pairs of brown eyes turned, only to lock with eyes a shade darker than theirs’. Shikaku stood at their bedroom door, leaning against it lazily with a smirk on his scarred face. Rokariku grinned before engulfing her father in a hug. His deer skin vest was dirty, but it didn’t matter as strong arms came to wrap around her.

“When did you get back old man?” Shikamaru lazily inquired after his sister had let their dad go. He didn’t run to embrace Shikaku as she had, but he didn’t protest the arm his father threw over his shoulder.

“Couple of minutes ago actually; I ended up stopping for a drink before I remembered that today you two would be heading off for the first part of the exams,” Shikaku released his son, who could now smell the faint sake on his father’s breath. It caused the Nara twins to wrinkle their noses.

Ugh. And to think this old man always beats us at Shogi. Rokariku thought, still crinkling her nose. Then what he said actually computed and she heaved a large sigh.

“Troublesome exams; they’re such a drag, why do we have to do them?” She complained before strapping some more senbon into her close-toed shinobi sandals. Her baggy black shorts were secured by her kunai pouch as usual, though she had changed its positioning to in the very center of her back. Hidden in her numerous pockets were shurikan, her scythes were secured to her side, and she was mentally making sure she hadn’t left anything behind.

“Your mom wants to see you before you leave Rokariku,” Shikaku ignored her complaining, content to just knuckle her hair before leaving their room. He paused at the doorway though, throwing a comment over his shoulder before he left.

“Also, Rokariku, we’ll be discussing your hospital stay when you get back from the exams!”

Rokariku sweat dropped and Shikamaru threw her a smirk.

What a drag. As if she didn’t have enough to worry about. Her mother had already grounded her indefinitely, and Shikamaru basically refused to allow her to leave his sights whenever she was sent on some ridiculous errand. Oh no, that wasn’t enough, she had to get an earful from her dad too.

Just frickin’ fantastic.

She trudged to see her mom, just wanting to get it over with so she and Shikamaru could leave to meet their teams. She was pretty sure they were running late. Then again, she didn’t really care.


“Need me mom?” Her mother turned quickly, her wrinkled brow disappearing and a smile lit her face. Rokariku felt her eyes growing wide, and she took a hesitant step back.

Who the hell was this woman, and what had she done with her mother?

“Roka, since you’re taking the exam today there’s something you need,” her mother produced a long wrap made of deer skin from the pocket of her apron.

“And that would be for?” The genius questioned, her brow raised. Her mother rolled her eyes and heaved an irritated sigh.

Oh hey, she is my mom after all.


“It’s to tie you’re hair back so you don’t die next time it comes undone from the rat’s nest you usually keep it up in. It’s a tradition that Nara women who choose to be Shinobi wrap their hair in this to honor their heritage. Now stand still,” she grabbed Rokariku by the shoulders and turned her around.

“Owe, Mom!” Her mother was yanking the pins and tearing the bandage out of her bun. The tangled hair fell to her waist before it was harshly gripped with a brush being jerked through it.

“Be quiet,” her mother admonished, still yanking harshly at her hair. Rokariku continued to grumble under her breath, wincing with every harsh tug. Soon enough the tugging went away, and her mom removed her hands.

With a quirked brow, Rokariku threw her hair over her shoulder to see the new style. It was wrapped tightly in a long tail, so it wouldn’t catch on anything while she fought. Additionally, it would simply move with her head movements, so it would be quite difficult for enemies to grab hold of.

Simple and efficient.

“That looks so much better!” Rokariku sweat dropped.

What a drag.

I’m going to murder Shikamaru!

And who could blame her? Her troublesome brother had left her behind to deal with mother by herself. Now she had a headache, her new hairstyle felt weird, and she wouldn’t be surprised if her team thought she decided to drop out.

At least I didn’t have to listen to Dad.

The Nara sighed at that, thankful her father had already left to meet up with his old teammates before he could scold her for coming back home with a hole in her stomach. She would gladly push off that conversation for as long as possible.

Honestly, between her father and Shikamaru, it was a wonder she was even let out of the house by herself.

“Naruto! Sasuke! Wait up!” The brunette yelled, running to where she could see her teammates about to enter the academy. The two boys, plus Sakura, turned around.

“Hey Roka-chan! I knew you would come, believe it!” Naruto shouted, embracing his friend. Rokariku simply sighed and patted the boy on the back when he finally released her.

“Took you long enough Nara,” Sasuke scoffed, though inwardly he was surprised the girl had been running to catch up to them.

In fact, he was pretty certain he had never seen Rokariku run.

…. Ever.

“Yeah Rokariku, you should’ve been on time!” Sakura shouted, standing next to her beloved dark haired ninja.

Once again brown eyes rolled.

“What a drag,” she followed her troublesome teammates inside, idly looking around to examine her competition.

Hmmm, there’s an abundance of Sand, Sound, and Rain genin this year.

She stopped when Naruto did, but still didn’t pay much attention to the commotion around her. Her mind had now turned to the chances of both her brother and her winning without having to face one another.

Ah, pretty good chances, but that’s only if some of these genin manage to last long enough to stand as barriers between us. Man, this whole process is way too troublesome.

“Sakura, Rokariku, you two should have noticed first since your analyzing skills are the best in our squad,” Sasuke’s comment pulled Rokariku from her thoughts. She quirked a brow at the seemingly random comment before her eyes turned to the two chuunin currently blocking the door. Around them stood other genin, making Rokariku wonder what the holdup was.

“Oh, of course, thank you Sasuke-kun! It’s obvious that this is the second floor, not the third,” Sakura announced, confidence dripping from her words. Rokariku just sighed. Sheesh, she hadn’t even been paying attention, but they had only gone up one flight of stairs. Of course they were on the second floor.

Man, I can’t believe I have to face these dimwits. Ch, what a drag.

“Pretty good, too bad that isn’t enough,” and the chuunin rushed Sasuke, who was already prepared to defend himself. Rokariku cursed under her breath, but stayed in her spot. She wasn’t going to intervene between the two idiots.

There was a blur and some boy in green spandex, whom had previously been on the ground, was now standing between the two. His orange warmer clad arms held the two boys mid attack, stopping them from inflicting damage on one another.

Dang he’s fast, Rokariku thought to herself in dismay.

No sooner another dark haired boy came and started scolding the other. This one was a Hyuuga with dark hair bound only at the ends, and a rather severe scowl on his face.

It’s like looking at a Sasuke copycat.

The female on their team seemed to be rolling her brown eyes, her brunette hair wrapped up tightly in two buns.

The bushy browed fellow ignored his two teammates, and was transfixed on Sakura. A light blush staining his cheeks, causing the emerald eyed girl to mumble under her breath.

Rokariku quirked a brow but wisely kept any comments to herself.

Geez. She’s always going on about boys, but the one boy who pays attention to her and she insults him. Ugh, what a drag.

She switched her gaze to her blonde teammate, who was in a deep depression with the fast, spandex clad boy. Both were mumbling and muttering to themselves.

“No one ever cares about me!” Naruto wailed, causing Rokariku to roll her eyes. What a dork.

“That’s because they know they can’t beat you in a fight,” the Nara’s words dripped with sarcasm as she patted her teammate’s back. Sarcasm, apparently, that the blonde boy clearly chose to ignore as a wide grin overtook his face and he began to shake her.

“You’re totally right, Roka-chan!” Rokariku felt a bit dizzy when the blonde finally released her to join Sasuke and Sakura, but he did catch him muttering something about defeating Sasuke under his breath.

Cue another brown eye roll before Rokariku leisurely started following her teammates. They were out of her sight by now, probably deciding that they didn’t want to wait for their lazy teammate.

Eh, whatever. Wasn’t going to hurt her any.

When she finally caught up with them, however, it became a completely different story.

Geez, I leave them alone for ten minutes and Naruto gets knocked out, Sasuke is fighting Bushy Brows, and Sakura looks scarred. Ch, what a drag.

The brunette ignored the fight going on between the two boys in favor of kneeling next to Naruto and shaking the boy.

“Oi, quit playing dead,” the blonde was unresponsive. “Ugh, you’re such a pain.” The Nara got down close to the boy, her lips brushing his ear.

“FREE RAMEN!”

“It’s mine!” The blonde sat upright, drool already leaking from his mouth. Rokariku opened her mouth to make some sarcastic comment, but was cut off by a loud crash that sounded too close for comfort. She squeaked, though she’d deny it until she was blue in the face, and latched onto Naruto. The Jinchuuriki blushed at the feeling of the girl’s developed chest against his own.

“A talking tortoise? What a drag,” Rokariku mumbled after she saw that the tortoise, someone’s summoning, was the one who had thrown the shurikan no planted firmly in the wall.

“Um, Roka-chan…” Naruto’s bright red face filled the girl’s sight when she turned her head. She quirked a brow in question, and was answered by a shaking finger pointing down to their squished together bodies. The brunette rolled her eyes and let the boy go, completely ignoring and denying that slight warmth in her own cheeks.

Both of them turned to were the green spandex clad boy was getting chastised by the talking tortoise, which immediately captured Naruto’s attention. The blonde quickly jumped up and scurried over to Sasuke and Sakura, asking the two all sorts of questions.

Rokariku heaved another sigh before standing up to join her team when something peculiar caught her eye. The wrappings on the boy’s bandaged hands had become slightly unraveled, showing deep scarring covering his tan skin.

He’s worked hard for what he has, the Nara’s brown eyes narrowed in thought. He’s going to be troublesome to go up against.

She joined her team just as the tortoise announced, “Gai-sensei, you handle the rest!”

A poof of smoke shot up from the tortoise’s back.

Brown eyes locked onto the smoke, wide in terror.

“Hey Daddy, why are you hiding?” Shikaku cursed under his breath at his daughter’s innocent question. It was whispered, however, so he didn’t think his position was revealed.

Thank Kami for his child’s intuitiveness.

He turned his eyes to the child now crouching beside him behind the bushes before peeking through them again. After spotting a glimpse of neon green he ducked back down.

“Do you see that guy in green?” Her father whispered. Rokariku nodded her head. She had seen the man scouring the area outside her house when she had went searching for her father.

“Okay, well… He’s insane and wants your daddy to join him in his insanity, so I need you to be super quiet and-“

“Ah! Shikaku-san! There you are, frolicking in the bushes, huh? How great! What joy to be so connected with nature!” The man, whom Rokariku deigned insane, popped up from beside her father, who let out a rather feminine shriek of fright, and a broad grin was stretched across his face. The small girl’s eyes widened at the sight of the man’s bushy, bushy, bushy eyebrows.

She took a few steps back, hoping to leave quietly and abandon her father. She would explain everything to her mother, and then she could come save him.

Her powers of nagging could kill anyone.

Unfortunately her slight movement caught the man’s attention, and he turned his megawatt smile to her.

“Oh my, is this your little girl?! What youth she has, coming out with her father to frolic in the grass! The power of youth is igniting in her! She will join us in our laps around the village!” He pumped a fist into the air. His words inspired a sort of horror in the girl.

Laps… Around the village…. He’s insane! Sorry Pops, I’ll let Mom know where to find your body.

Without further prompting the small Nara turned tail and ran, but was scooped up in green clad arms.

“Come child! We must start now if we’re to finish all 100 laps! Feel that youth burning inside of you!” Rokariku looked over at her father, dread written across her face. His face was resigned. His daughter glared at him, but followed once he and the stranger started running.

“Dad, who is this psycho and why are we following him?” She hissed out under her breath, the two Naras were traveling as slow as possible.

“His name is Maitou Gai, and you’re mother has decided that I am out of shape,” Shikaku sighed out. “I’d rather put up with Gai’s flamboyancy than deal with your mom’s nagging.”

“But why do I have to do it?!” Brown eyes glared up at him from underneath their fringe. Shikaku smirked down at his daughter.

“Because I’m making you suffer too,”

“Next time you go missing, I’m not looking for you,” his daughter sighed out.

“Speed up, comrades! Let the power of youth burn through your veins!” Rokariku squeaked as Gai popped up from behind them. She exchanged a look with her father and they both nodded.

Ten seconds later a cloud of dust burst through the village, leaving the villagers wide eyed and wondering.

It wasn’t everyday one saw two Naras trying to escape the Green Beast of Konoha.

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“You guys! Burning with the passion of youth, aren’t you?!” Gai struck his Nice Guy Pose, his thumb firmly in the air.

Rokariku eeped in terror, plastering her body flat against the wall in hopes of escaping his attention.

Of course, nothing ever went her way.

“Hello, Lee! Ah! Is that little Rokariku I spy?!” Sparkling eyes came to rest on the cowering Nara. The brunette sighed in resignation, shoving her hands and her pockets and resolutely ignoring Naruto and Lee’s argument concerning Gai’s looks.

“Gai,” came the dry response. She tuned out the quick barrage of questions that the jounin dealt out (“How is your father?” “Still shining with the passion of youth, yes?!”), and tried her best to inch away.

Luckily Gai quickly returned his attention to his student, allowing Team 7 to quietly sneak away from the sheer craziness of the two.

“Hey Roka-chan, how do you know Bushy Brows's teacher?” Naruto questioned as they resumed their walk to their destination. Rokariku sighed out.

“He use to come around when I was a kid and make me run laps with my dad and him,” Naruto gave the girl a look but accepted the answer. Inwardly he thought to himself that the image of the other girl running laps was just odd. And made that Gai dude a little bit more intimidating. Actually, a whole lot more intimidating. Because anyone who could get Rokariku to run was someone to be feared.

Rokariku ignored the blonde's increasingly terrified expression, wondering to herself just when they would get to wherever it was they were suppose to be going. Fortunately it was only a few minutes later when the team rounded a corner, and came face-to-face with Kakashi.

“Ah, I see, Sakura came as well,” he stated rather enigmatically (in Rokariku’s opinion).

Subtly brown eyes took a quick glance at the pink haired girl, who was standing next to Sasuke rather proudly.

Ah, I see.

“You all can now officially register for the Chuunin Exam,” Kakashi stated, confirming Rokariku’s suspicions.

“What?” Sakura’s brows were furrowed in confusion. Kakashi explained to them how the exam could only be taken if all of the members of a team participated.

“But, you said we had a choice in taking the exam. Why did you lie?” The girl asked.

“Ch, cause he knows those two would have forced you to take it,” Rokariku referred to the two boys, cutting off Kakashi’s response. “I wouldn’t have cared either way, but you still would have taken it if Sasuke asked you too- Which would completely defeat the purpose of this exam.”

“Huh, Roka-chan?” Rokariku let out another sigh but answered her blonde friend.

“You guys are such a drag; do I have to spell it out for you? This whole exam is about wanting to become a Chuunin, it’s about wanting to become a leader and better yourself for your village. So, logically, if you allow yourself to be bullied or cajoled into taking it, you’re basically cheating yourself and your team because you’ll wind up being useless to them anyways. The only way to pass this thing is to actually want it bad enough, how troublesome,” her teammates blinked at her in silence.

I think that’s the longest thing she’s ever said to us, Sakura thought in amazement.

Huh, she’s more insightful than I thought, Sasuke thought absentmindedly.

Got to want it bad enough? Naruto stared at his friend with intense blue eyes, mulling the thought around.

“Nicely put, Rokariku,” Kakashi commented, his eye squinting in a smile before continuing. “The four of you came here of your own free will.”

“Naruto,” the blonde grinned widely, eyes sparkling in determination.

“Sasuke,” cool dark eyes stared at his sensei, satisfaction rolling off him in waves.

“Sakura,” she smiled, a light blush tinting her cheeks as she peeked at Sasuke from the corner of her eye.

“Rokariku,” the genius yawned widely, idly wondering how long this thing would take.

“I’m proud to call you all my team,” the smile was back. “Now go.” He moved aside, unblocking the large doors.

Sasuke and Sakura each took a door, opening it and allowing Naruto and Rokariku to step through the center.

“Wahoo! Let’s do this!” Naruto proclaimed, pumping a fist in the air. Rokariku rolled her eyes, but followed her teammate through the doors.

They closed behind them with a solid thud.

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Well, this is going to be troublesome.

Rokariku could feel a subtle eye twitch taking over her features. Before her team were dozens upon dozens of other genin. All waiting to take the exam.

Ugh.

“Sasuke-kun!” Rokariku winced at the squeal, diverting her eyes to witness a blonde blur tackled the Uchiha, who was already developing a twitch.

Pretty soon the blonde started a fight with Sakura, at which point Rokariku just rolled her eyes and quit paying them any mind. One comment, however, soon had her looking back at the group.

“Ugh, you guys are taking this stupid thing too? What a drag,” Rokariku smiled at her big brother, who had his hands shoved in his pockets and his shoulders slumped as usual.

“Hey look! It’s the idiot trio!” Naruto exclaimed, causing both Naras to twitch.

“Quit calling us that,” Shikamaru sighed out.

“Don’t call my brother an idiot,” Rokariku hissed. Naruto had the decency to look sheepish.

The brunette ignored him, and the rest of the rookies who began to join them. It wasn’t like she didn’t know them; instead, she sidled up next to her brother. Together they stared out at the glaring foreign genin.

“So, Shika, what do you think?” Shikamaru sent her a small glare.

“I think I’m going to have to make sure you don’t go home with another hole through your stomach,”

“Geez, are you ever going to get over that?” Rokariku sighed out, slouching down even further.

“Not as long as you keep being so troublesome,” Shikamaru replied, though his glare was long gone. “With my luck, I’m going to have to face you. Man, this whole thing is gonna’ be such a drag,” cue another sigh.

“Meh, I doubt it. The probability of us facing each other is slim,” Rokariku assured her brother, smiling inwardly at his worry. “Besides… We both know I would win,” she sent a cheekish look his way. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes without comment.

“We sure are attracting a lot of attention,” he said instead.

Rokariku nodded, “Wonder how long it’s going to be before someone starts a fight.” The twins shared a look and then sighed simultaneously.

“Man, what a drag.”

Both brunettes looked over when another voice caught their attention.

“Hey, you guys might want to quiet down,” identical brown eyes watched as another leaf genin approached them, though this was one was obviously a few years older. “You guys are the ten rookies, right? You guys are making a lot of noise; this isn’t a field trip you know,” the white haired teen muttered the last part under his breath.

“Yeah? And just who are you to tell us that?” Came Ino’s indignant reply.

“Name’s Kabuto Yakushi, and just look around,” the teen stated simply. Slowly the genin looked around; gulping at the harsh glares they were receiving. The Naras rolled their eyes at their teammates’ obliviousness.

Rokariku shivered and frowned, letting her eyes roam subtly. Someone was fixing a rather heated gaze on her. Just as soon as she started searching for it, it disappeared.

When she tuned back in, it was to Kabuto describing how it was his seventh time taking the exam.

“Well, I figured seventh times the charm!” Kabuto sheepishly replied to the shocked exclamations, rubbing the back of his head. Rokariku sweatdropped.

“Pretty sure the saying is third time, not seventh,” the brunette mumbled to her brother, causing him to smirk.

Not too soon after, Kabuto brought out his nifty little chakra cards. Rokariku made a mental note of them, deciding that sort of thing may be helpful in the future.

“I want you to show me Rock Lee from the Leaf and Gaara from the Sand,” Sasuke demanded. Kabuto smirked.

“Oh? You already know their names, that’s no fun,” but he proceeded to spin one of the cards around using his chakra.

“First up, Rock Lee: He’s only a year older than you guys and has completed 20 D-rank and 11 C-rank missions. His taijutsu skills have increased dramatically over the past year, but his other areas are terrible. Last year everyone called him a promising rookie, but he didn’t take the exam. His teammates are Neji Hyuuga and Tenten.”

Rokariku smirked inwardly.

So, I was right. Those scars do mean he’s probably a taijutsu master. Hmmm.

“Next is Sabaku no Gaara: He’s done eight C-rank missions and, woah, even one B-ranked! He’s from the San, plus this is his first time taking it, so I don’t have much information. However, it looks like he returned from all of his missions without a single scratch on him,” this caught Rokariku’s attention.

Wha’? He completed a B-rank mission without one single injury? Damnitt, I came back from a B-rank with a hole in my stomach! Ugh, I hope I don’t have to face him. This is such a pain.

“He did a B-rank with no injury?” Shikamaru sounded as shocked as his sister’s thoughts sounded. The twins exchanged a look. They were going to be keeping an eye on one another in this exam.

Rokariku didn’t really pay much attention to what else was said. After all, she already knew what the purpose of this exam was, and she didn’t need a reminded on how difficult passing was going to be.

She did notice how Naruto seemed to be shaking by the end of the discussion. She let a small frown come on her features and stretched out her hand, laying it on the blonde’s shoulders in comfort.

“Hey Naruto, I’m sure you’ll do-“

“My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I’m going to take ALL of you down!” Rokariku didn’t bother trying to hide her twitching. Naruto was pointing at the competition with a cocky grin painted on his face.

He is way too troublesome.

“Ow! Roka-chan!” Naruto clutched the side of his head, where Rokariku had slapped him with the hand that had previously been planted on his shoulder. He quieted when he saw her twitch.

The brunette ignored the squabbling going on between Sakura and Ino, who were screaming at each other over the blonde’s exclamation, and tried to reign in her annoyance.

“That felt good though!” Naruto bounced right back, causing a vein to pulse in Rokariku’s temple. The brunette unclipped one of her scythes and banged the handle upside his head.

“Roka-chan! Why do you keep hitting me!”

“Naruto,” he froze at the low tone, gulping nervously, “shut. Up. You have singlehandedly made everyone in here not only your enemy, but your team’s enemy. Know what that means?” The blonde shook his head no; sweat starting to cover his brow.

Rokariku yanked him close by his shirt, the dull side of her blade propping up his chin so he couldn’t avoid her intense brown eyes.

“It means that you have made us the target of every single person in this room. Do you know just how much more troublesome you have made this pain in the ass exam?” By now Rokariku was almost growling out her words. “So, for now, just. Shut. Your. Mouth. Got it?”

Naruto rapidly nodded his head, still very much aware of the scythe at his throat.

“S-sorry, Roka-chan!” The girl shoved him away and went back to her brother’s side, plopping on the ground beside him cross-legged with her elbows on her knees and her hands covering her face.

Shikamaru sighed at his sister’s misfortune. Looks like they both got dumb blondes on their teams.

“He’s so troublesome,” he commented. Rokariku’s head just dropped lower.

“This is going to be such a drag,” came the mumbled response.

Meanwhile the teams were all looking at the two Naras, though their attentions were firmly on the younger of the two. Rokariku had always been a lazy good for nothing, just like her brother. So to see her express even a glimmer of anger was… Intense, to say the least.

The other rookies decided to give her wide berth in the exam, and Kabuto eyed the brunette with a weird look.

Sheesh, since when did Shikamaru’s sister get so psychotic? Ino thought, subtly inching away from the two. She decided to distract herself, and everyone else, by picking yet another fight with Sakura about her dumb teammate’s actions.

Soon Sakura just turned her rage to Naruto, causing Rokariku’s form to slump further into itself.

“What a drag,” she sighed under her breath before pulling herself to her feet. Her brother just smirked and helped her up, wisely keeping his comments to himself.

As she opened her mouth (to tell her teammates to quiet down, troublesome idiots), a prickling on her skin distracted her. Her mouth became a tense, thin line and her eyes shot out to the crowd of genin in front of them.

Something didn’t feel right.

“What the hell?” She heard her brother shout, making her whip her head around back to where the rookies, plus Kabuto, were gathered. Three sound genin were now standing in front of them, one, with wrappings that made him a reminiscent of a mummy, was in the middle a bit forward with his arm out stretched. Kabuto was backed slightly away, having just dodged the attack with a confident smirk plastered on his face.

Well, plastered there until he started coughing up blood.

Rokariku narrowed her eyes before starting forward slightly, her hand going to her scythes.

She missed the dialogue between the genin, focused on the cracked glasses of Kabuto and the Sound genin’s strange arm. The metal covering it was riddled with holes.

The whole scene was making something nag at the back of her mind. A quick look with her brother just confirmed her suspicions, he noticed the peculiarity too.

The two Naras managed to piece it together just as the double doors at the opposite side of the room opened with a resounding BANG!.

Brunette heads swung over to look at the large, scar covered man in the middle of quite a few chuunin.

“Shut up, you punks!” The scarred jounin shouted, “I’m your examiner for the first stage of the exam, Ibiki Morino! Sorry to keep you waiting.” The ending sentence was dripping with sarcasm, a smirk on the male’s features.

Rokariku and Shikamaru exchanged glances.

What the hell kind of troublesome exam did they sign up for?