"Her behavior is inexcusable! Not only has she disrespected my daughter, but me as well and this is not the first time either Hokage-sama!"

"This is true." the girl standing accused admitted when given a pointed look from the elderly man sitting behind his desk and smoking on his pipe as he observed the duo in front of him. One of the two people standing in his office was a middle aged shop owner, with nothing much remarkable about him. The other however, was not so easy to forget. Umeko Obinara. Twelve years old, lightly tanned skin, long rich green hair, rose pink eyes and was infamous for her love hate relationships with the villagers of Konoha.

"She speaks of things she has no idea about!" her accuser continued on. "That is also true." Umeko nodded unashamedly. Luckily for her, Umeko had her hand in the pockets of all the shinobi clans thanks to her being friends with the children of the clan heads and therefore was more or less put under their protection. No one could essentially harm the girl without bringing the wrath of a clan down upon them. "She has no respect for anyone except herself!" the shop owner complainer finished red in the face but Umeko merely rolled her eyes tiredly. Now that wasn't true. She had respect for those who earned it.

"The fact that you are still talking amazes me." she muttered dryly causing the man to turn his head so fast the young teen was sure he had to have suffered from some form of whiplash. "Just who the hell do you think you are?!" the apron clad man demanded, red in the face. The green haired girl merely smirked in apparent amusement, " Pretty sure my birth certificate says Umeko on it." she retorted, uncaring of the headache she was currently contributing to the hokage.

The shop keeper opened his mouth to retort but soon stopped at a hand slamming down on the desk in front of them," That's enough!" the elderly leader barked sternly, to the duo. Umeko glanced at their leader with an unhappy look of her own before sitting down in a chair having been tired of standing. However, unlike the unhappy teen, the male shopkeeper actually had enough sense to look ashamed at the reprimanding.

The third hokage sighed once more before leveling the man who had essentially started this whole thing with a stern glare, " This is beginning to get old Oyama-san, you and Umeko must visit my office at least three times a month, and without failing it is for the same reason." he stated unamused. Oyama grimaced and opened his mouth to reply, "But Hokage-sama..." he protested weakly but quickly shut his mouth when Hiruzen slammed a closed fist down on his desk in anger.

"But nothing Oyama! I'm growing tired of this! I may not have met your daughter before but I have heard well enough to know that she is not one to control her tongue, especially around Umeko. If I see you coming into my office with the same complaint again, you and your daughter will be the ones who are punished. Am I understood?!" he asked angrily. After gaining a jerked nod in response, Hiruzen dismissed the frightened but still upset shopkeeper with a flick of his wrist, rolling his eyes as he caught the young teen all too happily waving goodbye to her tormentor as he shut the door with a small slam.

"Well he's going to be just a bucket of sunshine when he gets home." she noted with a smirk. The Third took a deep breath and leveled the teen with an unhappy stare, but did not say anything. The young Obinara turned around with her smirk still intact but when she seen that her savior was not as amused as she was, she pouted and lowered her deep pink eyes to the wooden floor of the room as she played with a handful of her floor length hair guiltily.

"I won't be able to protect you forever child, one of these days you are going to have to face the consequences of your actions." The Third Hokage informed gravely as he folded his fingers together and rested his chin on them. The young girl narrowed her exotic eyes down at the floor in frustration, " I know you can't always protect me and you dont have to. I can take care of myself, I'm old enough. Besides, I'm supposed to be the one doing the protecting anyways aren't I? Isn't that what Konoha is all about? Sheltering those who fall in our shadow with the Will of Fire?" she retorted without missing a beat, causing a sad frown to stretch across the man's face.

"And from what I understand, is that had I not be the person I am, then I'd be punished for protecting a fellow class mate who can hardly protect himself from bullies and grown men and women who have nothing better to do than to pick on someone half their size? Seems hardly fair." she grumbled lowly. Hiruzen frowned slightly, "You'd be punished for the lengths you go to, to protect Naruto. In my office alone, I know you were tempted to bash Oyama's head in with a chair and do not tell me you weren't. Kami knows what you do outside my office in your fits of rage." he said slightly exasperated.

Okay fair enough, she'd be lying if she said the thought hadn't crossed her mind. But still, she'd be damned if she let some crotchety old man and his daughter pick on her friend for no good reason outside of breathing.

Umeko looked up from the floor at this point, "I'd like you to know that you wouldn't have missed that chair at all even if I had gone through with the thought." she noted as a matter of factly, before standing up and pacing around in the spacious office, "Besides, the complaints you get about me are exaggerated. I bet you half the stuff you heard about my ' fits of rage' aren't true." Hiruzen quirked a brow, " So you didn't send Neji Hyuga through a wall two weeks ago? Did you not also rip Kiba Inuzuka's front door off its' hinges and beat him with it a few days ago?" he asked knowingly.

The solitary Obinara's stroll staggered a bit at the accusation and found herself stopping in front of the elder's desk once more. " In my defense," she began, tapping the tips of her sandals on the floor, " Kiba made a rather bold and inappropriate pass on me and Neji is Neji. He has no filter and says what comes to mind and i cannot be responsible for any injuries sustained in response to what he says. Weren't we were talking about civilians here?! Not shinobi" she protested after a moment's thought.

The aged hokage sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation, "Nonetheless child, you have to get a hold of that temper of yours before it gets you in trouble….even more so than it already has. Consider yourself lucky Tsume found it rather funny that you beat her boy into submission and that Hiashi was willing to look past it considering it happened during a sparring match and cannot precisely nail you with a for sure accusation." he warned.

The green haired girl sighed but nodded anyways, "Okay, okay. I'll work on it, promise." she assured the wrinkled man, holding her hands behind her back. Hiruzen quirked a brow, "And apologize to the two kids you throttled within the past two weeks." he added expectantly. The girl raised her own brow at that and looked at him as if he had lost his mind, "That's asking a bit much-"

"Umeko!"

"Okay, okay I'll do it! Keep your robe on." she grumbled unhappily. The hokage sighed in relief and nodded his head to her," Good. Now run along and find something to entertain you for the rest of the day." he said with a dismissive wave of his hand, " Perhaps going back to the academy, where you're supposed to be? The team placement announcement is today, don't you want to know who you're going to be paired with?" the elder asked questionably with a quirked brow.

However the young teen simply waved off the question with a smirk, " I know it is." she replied easily, " but even if I did miss the announcement I'm sure you would have my team come for me anyways. You can't afford to keep me locked up in the village as a civilian" she said knowingly, causing the man to sigh heavily and rub his forehead in exasperation.

"Unfortunately not. However I can afford to kick you out of my office, now be gone with you child. Go bother someone else and cause more mischief if you must but I better not hear of anymore complaints today!" he added as she turned and made her way towards the door. The young girl stopped and turned her head to look at the hokage with an amused smirk, "No promises." she said dismissively before doing as he said and shut the door behind her with a soft 'click'.

Hiruzen took a relaxing breath as he slowly rose to his feet and walked the short distance to the window behind his desk, hands held behind his back as he glanced at the numerous people under his care, milling about peacefully. Within a few moments the all too familiar frame of Umeko soon entered his sight as she exited the building and integrated herself into the crowd with ease.

He watched as she shoved her hands into the sleeves of her kimono and strolled along casually, occasionally flashing smiles and nods of greetings to those who called out to her. The girl had a violent temperament more often than not and was well known for it amongst the people of the Leaf, but she truly was a good girl with a big heart. Hiruzen watched her as long as he could until she had soon disappeared around the corner at the end of the street. Once she was well and gone, he returned to his desk and sat back down to continue his work before he was interrupted.

'Umeko Obinara, you really are a mystery. What will become of you is something that I cannot wait to see.'

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

It had been much more peaceful than the kimonoed girl had expected... birds chirping, children laughing and adults chattering with one another in the streets. A small grimace marred her face, it was too peaceful. Grossly so even, and as she got closer to the academy it only got worse. "Jeez does anything bother these people? Maybe they should take a page outta Oyama's book" Umeko muttered under her breath as she joined the straggling group of kids entering the academy at the end of recess.

By the time Umeko had walked into class, she found that Iruka-sensei was not there at all. A small frown worked its way across her face as she took note of this,

"How annoying, I could have gotten food before coming" she commented a frown, deep pink eyes taking in the chaotic classroom. "Finally decide to come to school, Obinara?" a familiar lazy drawl called over the noise being created by a bunch of prepubescent teens , causing a small smile to automatically grace the girl's lips. Umeko turned her head and seen Shikamaru and Choji sitting not too far away from where she was standing with smiles on their faces, one more warmer than the other.

"Maa. I figured I may as well drop in for the second half." she admitted, " Did you miss me?" she asked playfully as she climbed up a few steps and took a seat on the corner of the table closest to the Nara, crossing one toned leg over the other and leaning back on one hand. "Absolutely, it was torture having to sit through class without you here with us." Chouji joked around his mouthful of chips as he offered her the bag to grab a few to snack on along with him.

The young teen giggled lightly as she popped one of the crispy chips into her mouth with a grateful nod, " Well I'll be sure not to do that again to spare you guys of any unnecessary pain." she conceded. Shikamaru snorted lightly with a small smirk, "How kind of you." he mused as he rested his head into the palm of his hand,

" Why are you so late anyways? You're usually on time." he pointed out.

A small frown graced the girls features as she recalled the earlier events that nearly cause her to miss the team sorting, "In all seriousness I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I got into some trouble with a shopkeeper and his daughter and ended up going to the hokage for it for awhile." she explained simply. The two boys brows furrowed in slight concern, " What did you do that got you sent there? You never get sent to the hokage after you cause trouble." Chouji asked curiously.

Umeko huffed and smiled a bit, " The shopkeeper was Oyama." she informed the two boys who both had a look of understanding flash across their faces once they processed the name.

"Ahhh, well that makes sense then. What did you do this time?" Chouji questioned with humor in his voice. "Well I seen the daughter picking on Naruto not too long ago, kicked her ass for it two days ago and only just now got hauled off to the hokage for it" she said with a shrug of her shoulders. The two boys and the few people around them who had managed to hear the blatant honesty of her story burst into laughter, which Chouji barely managed to do since he had been eating when she told the story. "How much trouble did you get in?" Shikamaru mused as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Mmmmmm, not a lot. None really, the old man just told me to keep a lid on my temper basically, after he got done telling Oyama that him and his daughter need to leave me alone unless they're the ones who want to get punished." she smirked, which the two boys mirrored, amused with how their friend managed to get out of trouble time and time again.

"You know Ume, eventually your luck with the hokage will run out. You won't be able to run from your consequences forever." Chouji pointed out as a matter of factly to his exotic friend. The green haired girl snorted from her perch and dismissed his warning with a lazy flick of the wrist, "And it will be a sad day in my life when that happens, but I'll get over it." she shrugged, "But that's what I have you guys for. The moment my favor runs out with the hokage, which I doubt will happen, I go running to one of you guys and you two can protect me."

Rubbing her eye carefully, Umeko carried on," Any how, that little female dog had it coming." she sniffed. Shikamaru huffed a laugh from his seat, " If anyone so much as looks at you funny, you claim that they have it coming to them." he noted playfully as he gave her a pointed look, " To be completely honest with you, I have no idea how you manage to keep yourself within the good graces of the hokage himself and eighty percent of the villagers, despite what trouble you cause." Shikamaru admitted with a pointed look.

Umeko smirked at the Nara and leaned forward, invading the young man's personal space, "And where are you at in terms of how you feel about me, my dearest Nara? Are you apart of that eighty percent?" she asked knowingly, taking glee in the light pink dusting his cheeks. Shikamaru let a sly smile work its way across his face at the question and picked his head up from his hand before moving into her personal space as well, but before he could reply, he was cut off.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing that close to my woman Shikamaru?" a familiar gruff voice sounded, along with the sound of two barks belonging to a puppy. "Well now look at what you did." The Obinara managed to tease under her breath before she was yanked away from the shadow user, and into the jacketed side of Kiba Inuzuka.

Kiba had been a long time fan of Umeko. She was cute, fun, liked dogs, loved to laugh, didn't take much crap from anyone, smart, could fight and was a natural leader if their academy survival exercises were anything to go by. Everything Kiba would like to have in a woman, oh yes, he had has his eyes on her for a while. It was common knowledge as well, the Inuzuka had no qualms in making it clear that he fancied the Obinara to the other boys and few girls in the classroom. He had no problem telling it to the girl herself every time they spoke, though his advances were either returned half heartedly or brushed off. This never deterred him though and Umeko found that if Kiba was anything, it was determined.

Shikamaru turned his head and glared annoyed at the arm wrapped around his female friend, "I don't know if you're suffering from some minor amnesia Kiba, but what you're doing now is exactly why Umeko beat the crap out of you in the first place." Shikamaru said darkly as his eyes narrowed on to the feral boy.

Undeterred however, the Inuzuka merely grinned wickedly, his sharp canine teeth on display for the now aggravated Nara to see, "And those were the best moments of my life….how are you by the way, beautiful? I missed you today, where have you been?" he asked as he began to, in her opinion, start to do his weird dog stuff on her when he pressed his nose into her hair and took a long sniff.

The ensnared teen grimaced at this and attempted to dislodge herself from the boy's side, "Not anywhere, where I would be getting sniffed that's for sure. Now let go Kiba." she instructed with a light laugh after she initially failed. However the burlier male simply ignored her request and tightened his grip on her if anything, "You know my mom wants to meet you right?" Kiba suddenly asked, causing her to stiffen and look at him in confusion, " What, why?" she asked.

"To talk about our marriage after all." the Inuzuka explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world but he was hardly able to get that sentence out before he suddenly felt the pink eyed girl freeing herself from his grasp and knocked him back a few steps after a good push to the chest. "Like hell we're getting married." Umeko looked at him as if the Inuzuka lost his mind.

"Why not?" Kiba returned equally perturbed. A huff of laughter escaped passed her lips in amused exasperation, "Well for one, how do you know I'm interested? What if I have my eye on someone else?" Now it was Kiba's turn to look at Umeko as if she had lost her mind. "The hell you do, who could you possibly like in here? Can't be Shino, you two have never carried a conversation that's lasted longer than five minutes." Fair enough, his bugs creeped her out too much to be in his presence for too long.

"Can't be Chouji here, you too are more like brother and sister." That was true too. "Can't be Sasuke or Naruto. Sasuke would be too much trouble to deal with because of his fan girls and the fact that his vocabulary consists of one word being 'Hn' and Naruto would rather marry a bowl of ramen than take a romantic interest in a living breathing person." Brutal but not a lie.

"And it most certainly can't be Shikamaru here either! You may as well marry a scratching post." Well then, that was a little rude. "I'm the only boy left, and how can't you be interested in me?" He certainly was full of self confidence, that was for sure, Umeko couldn't deny that. Kiba also sure did know how to ignore a death glare when receiving one because the Inuzuka should have dropped dead by now if Shikamaru's stare could manifest and have a physical effect on his fellow classmate.

"What if I'm not interested in guys?"

"Sounds like more fun for me in the bed room on our wedding day."

"Kiba." Umeko couldn't help but honestly laugh at the blunt comment, causing a grin to work its way across the wild teen's face as well. "Would you throw this guy a bone already so he will leave?" Shikamaru grumbled, aura dark and annoyed. "Yeah Umeko, would you throw me a bone already?"

Shikamaru glared daggers at the grinning feral boy and the solitary female had a feeling that if Sakura and Ino hadn't sudden barged in screaming about being first for something, Shikamaru would have said something that would have surely started a fight between the two considering it has happened before. Umeko sighed heavily before looking up at Kiba with a tired look on her face.

" If I promise to go on a date with you, will you please go sit down?" she asked. Kiba thought about it for a moment before nodding, "Deal, but you still have to go talk to my mom." he added before planting a swift kiss to her cheek and went to go sit down at his desk with Akamaru at his heels. Umeko sighed heavily before turning to her two friends and shared a look with the duo before they all shook their heads simultaneously.

"No wonder you sleep all the time, it's so you don't have to deal with this type of crap all day long. " Umeko said to Shikamaru as she finally able to move past Chouji and sat down. "Basically." he agreed with a nod of his head before the young teen launched the two boys into a new conversation, unknowing of the multiple sets of eyes that had been watching the encounter since the very beginning.

" Man I really need to go to the pet store and buy Bob a new tank," Umeko tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully, " he needs more space than just a regular fish bowl to swim in….and then he's going to need some decorations too. Maybe sand can go at the bottom, put some plants in there, a little cave for him to hide in, a filter too maybe." she said more to herself than to the two boys on each side of her.

"It's a fish Umeko, I don't think he's really gonna care what his tank looks like or what size it is." Shikamaru said with a roll of his eyes. "But he's my fish, Shikamaru." his female companion replied without missing a beat, "He deserves a nice tank to swim around in and have places to hide out in. Now are you going to help me pick one out for him or not?" she asked with a small pout.

The young Nara sighed heavily, "I don't know why you even bother asking when we both know that I really don't have much of a choice." he said in resignation, causing the corners of Umeko's lips to twitch upwards, " Glad to see you're learning." she laughed lightly before poking her long nailed finger into his cheek. Shikamaru glowered lightly at the digit and brushed it away with a mutter of ' troublesome' .

Before the girl could reply though, she, along with everyone else in the classroom, was suddenly distracted by a collective gasp from Sasuke's fan-girl club down in the front of the class and Umeko could understand why. Down below - the night and day duo, aka Sasuke and Naruto, had been frozen in place as they lip locked with each other.

The silence that enveloped the room seemed to last for eternity but really only lasted for a few seconds courtesy of Umeko, "I always knew their sexual orientation was a mystery but I never thought they'd fall for each other...I guess opposites really do attract." she commented innocently as her head tilted to the side.

Almost immediately after the comment, Naruto and Sasuke separated in a blink of an eye and began coughing and hacking up a storm. "Naruto I am going to kill you!" the young Uchiha threatened as he threw a glare over his shoulder to the blonde he had unfortunately lost his first kiss to. "My mouth is going to rot!" Naruto coughed, grasping at his throat for a few moments before suddenly freezing.

"I sense danger." the blonde whispered to himself as a shiver worked up his spine and shakily looked over his shoulder, flinching when he said the massive collection of angry girls growling and glaring at the young boy for his actions moments before. "Naruto..." Sakura snarled, cracking her knuckles but before she could do anything, Umeko popped up besides the blonde with an easy going grin and threw an arm around his shoulders. The outraged cries of Kiba yelling at the Obinara to get away from the short blonde faded in the background as she did this.

"What the-" Ino started in confusion before remembering her anger, "Out of the way Umeko!" she raged with a clenched fist. "Now, now ladies." the kimonoed kunoichi began pacifyingly, "If this is how you all are going to act over one little kiss, then Kami have mercy on whoever sleeps with the Uchiha first." Umeko finished with a small smirk that grew to twice its original size when the fan girl club had then begun another screeching match over who would pop the brooding boy's cherry when the time would come.

"You're welcome by the way, Blue eyes." Umeko quirked a brow, her arm retreating from the shorter boy now that the mob had turned on its self. Sweat dropping, Naruto rubbed the back of his head with a nervous laugh. "Thanks a bunch, Ume-chan, I owe you one!" he faced his companion. "How about you take me out to dinner sometime and we call it even?" the girl offered, once again ignoring a certain Inuzuka's cry of "Like hell!" from his seat. "Sounds good, dattebayo!" Naruto grinned, oblivious to the protest, "I know the best place to eat. Name a time and place and we'll go."

"Over my dead body!" the classroom's feral boy protested.

"Mmmm...how about tomorrow? Does that sound good to you?" the duo continued on the conversation.

"Sure! We can meet by Granny Yori's dango shop around seven and walk to the restaurant from there. Have you ever had ramen before?"

"Yeah."

"Not just any ramen, Ume-chan, I mean Ichiraku's ramen."

"Then no."

"Whaaaa-?! Well now we really have to go, dattebayo! Tomorrow at seven!"

"It's a date then." Umeko winked flirtatiously before turning and climbing the stairs to reach her seat, leaving a blushing Naruto and a pissed off Kiba in her wake who had quickly descended upon the blonde like a bat out of hell to demand the whiskered boy to cancel the date with his woman.

"Troublesome" Shikamaru grumbled as she approached ," as if they need another reason to fight over him and you got Kiba and Naruto going too." He complained, putting his head down and rested his arms on both sides of his head in attempt to block out the yelling and ranting of the girls and males alike. However it wasn't a fate the Nara had to suffer for long until he was saved.

"Alright class! Settle down and go back to your seats! I have the list of team placements right here." Iruka-sensei said as he strolled into the class with a clipboard. The chatter died down as everyone returned to their normal seats, Sakura managing to snag the seat next to Sasuke and Naruto sitting on the other side of her, and waited patiently to find out who would be placed with who on teams.

"Team Ten," Iruka began, "Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi."

"Team Eight, Kiba Inuzuka, Hinata Hyuuga and Shino Aburame."

"Team Seven, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki and Umeko Obinara." The pencil in the young female teen's grasp split in half from the abrupt abuse it came under when its owner heard the announcement. Chouji looked down at the broken utensil in worry before carefully taking the broken pieces from her.

Umeko had not been the only one disturbed about this arrangement, Naruto had been too from the way he slammed his hand down on top of his desk, but not for the same reason she had been. "Iruka-sensei, how come an awesome shinobi have to be put on a team with a guy like him?!" the blonde pointed to the Uchiha.

"Why do I have to be on a team with either of them?" Umeko muttered under her breath, causing Shikamaru and Chouji to smirk in a mixture of amusement and pity. "Because Naruto," Iruka said tiredly, "Sasuke has the best written scores, while you have the worst. Sasuke and Umeko actually tied for the best physical scores, while you were in last. They both will balance the team out." he explained before turning back to the rest of the class.

"You're teacher's will arrive in a few minutes to come and get you, so just wait here...and congratulations to all of you!" the young teacher smiled genuinely before leaving the classroom. After the young man had left Umeko sighed tiredly and pinched the bridge of her nose. Of all the people she had to end up on a team with, it had to be with the two most dysfunctional ones of their entire generation.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.o0.o0..0oo0.o0.o0.o0o0o0o0.o0.o0.

Okay, okay she could do this. Everyone had their differences that could be worked around, like Kiba and Shikamaru. The two boys generally got along fine in the academy, often ditching class and getting into detention with each other formed a bond of friendship between the two despite their polar opposite personalities they held.

It wasn't until Umeko popped up into the picture, did the two butt heads with each other on who she should spend more time with. But as long as there was a buffer, aka her or Chouji, to de escalate situations, things were fine. So Sasuke and Naruto would be no different. That's what she had kept telling herself anyways.

"It's not fair!"

Umeko released a heavy sigh at the exclamation. "Life isn't fair, pick a different complaint" the solitary female mumbled tiredly, her head rested between her arms and eyes closed. The only reason he was upset like herself and undoubtedly Sasuke was because...

"Everyone's gone somewhere with their sensei. Iruka-sensei even went home, so how come our sensei has to be the late one? THREE HOURS LATE,DATTEBAYO!"

Yes,that right there. Umeko sighed again, peeking an eye open to observe her hyperactive teammate only to see him wedging a chalk board eraser into the door. "Naruto, you are going to fall and hurt yourself." she commented, referring to the way the boy was balancing precariously on one leg of the chair on his tiptoes. "Don't worry about me Ume-chan I got this. Besides this is what he gets for being late," Naruto snickered, jumping down from his chair.

"Hn. Our sensei is an elite Jounin," Sasuke spoke out, drawing attention to himself. "There's no way he'd fall for something as juvenile as that." he snorted. "Well I don't know about that, anything's possible really. Didn't Naruto get the jump on you, hogtie you up and transform into you to go take care of his own business during lunch?" the kunoichi asked with a smirk that was met with a heated glare. But before Sasuke could say anything else, the door opened.

THUNK.

Naruto immediately started rolling around on the floor, laughing his little orange butt off. "He fell for it, he fell for it! Can ya believe it! I told ya he'd fall for it!" The green haired girl turned towards the brooding boy with a knowing look on her face, "Told you" she said smugly. Although she had been hoping the guy wouldn't had actually fell for one of the oldest tricks of the book.

The man picked up the eraser and held it in his hand, staring at it as if deep in thought. Umeko noticed then that he had grey lopsided hair, and his ninja headband covered one side of his face while his mask covered the rest. Massive damage done to his face possibly?

"My first impression of this group," he said in a nonchalant voice. "How can I put this? You're all idiots." Well that wasn't very nice, Umeko and Sasuke didn't even have anything to do with the prank.

How rude.

Before she could voice her opinion though, the man spoke up. "Meet me on the roof in five minutes." he instructed before poofing away in a cloud of smoke. Umeko voiced her dislike through a moan but got up anyways, making her way to the door and giving Naruto who was still seated in the floor a few taps to his thigh with her foot to encourage him to his feet.

"Come on Naruto, sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go home." she promised him before moving on but only to stop when she and Sasuke nearly collided into each other when going for the door. The two kids stalled at the entrance, rose pink vs onyx black waiting to see who would go first. Umeko stepped away, beckoning him to go first.

However the Uchiha had been raised as a gentleman and knew better than to put himself before a woman, so he merely stepped away further and let her go first. The kunoichi nodded in thanks and exited the class with Sasuke on her heels and Naruto following shortly behind.

"All righty then." The silver haired Jonin began once the trio had finally made their way to the roof and took their seats on some steps in front of him. "Why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves?" he requested. However the group of fresh genin merely remained silent and looked at him expectantly, causing the jounin to sweat drop. " You know... your name, for one. Likes, dislikes. Hobbies. Dreams, even." He suggested.

"So why don't you go first, sensei," Naruto suggested causing the older man to shrug, "If you say so. My name is Kakashi Hatake . My likes and dislikes don't concern you. And my dream…I have a few hobbies." he finished. 'Hmm, so far we have learned…nothing. Great first impression.' Umeko deadpanned in her thoughts. "Well, enough about me," Kakashi waved a hand, "Why don't we start with…you. The orange one." He pointed at Naruto.

Naruto grinned like the idiot he was, playing with his headband. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like…" Umeko ended up tuning him out as he went on and on about his specific preferences when it came to ramen. It wasn't like he hadn't talked about it everyday in class. "And my dream is to be Hokage," Umeko came to at the conclusion, "The best of the best! Then everybody will respect me!"

Kakashi nodded satisfied, " Alright, next. How about our kunoichi?" The only female felt a spike of anxiety fill her before it was washed away. "My name's Umeko Obinara. I like listening to music, taking care of my pets, training, eating and sleeping. Dislikes? Mmmm bugs and insects unless it's a butterfly, doing dishes, when it gets too hot outside and dealing with little kids. My hobbies are basically what my likes are. Dreams for the future? To become accomplished and not a disappointment." she finished

Kakashi nodded. "Okay…Now how about the dark brooding one." The Uchiha didn't move, seemingly lost in thought. Umeko huffed and shoved his head to the side with the end of her finger tips, " Tall, dark and brooding, he's waiting on you." she called out to him. Sasuke grunted and glared at his female teammate, grabbing her hand in his with intentions of sending the girl tumbling down the trio if stairs for touching him.

However before he could, Umeko took her foot and placed it on the pale boys ribs and gave him a shove to relinquish his grip on her wrist. The shove sent him rolling down the set of three stairs they sat upon, much to her and Naruto's amusement. Sasuke sat up and glared heatedly at the duo before getting up and took a seat on the first step as far away from them as possible.

" Sasuke Uchiha." he finally began, " I hate everything," he added, shooting a glare at his assailant , "and there's nothing I like. I have no dreams…only a goal that I will achieve...to restore my clan…and to kill a certain someone…" he trailed off darkly. 'Well, he's just a bucket of sunshine isn't he? He must take lessons from Oyama.' Umeko thought.

"Okay" Kakashi said finally, holding up his hands in surrender. "You all clearly have very…different personalities but I like it. Spices things up a bit. We're starting our first mission today." he declared, causing three pairs of eyes to widen in surprise. "What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked eagerly on the edge of his seat.

"It's a task that the four of us are going to do together." Kakashi-sensei replied. "Which is?"Umeko asked expectantly. "Survival training." the Hatake answered simply. "Survival training?!" Naruto parroted back with a whine. "This is no ordinary training." Kakashi-sensei stated, reassuring the trio that they were not repeating anything they did in the academy. "Then what kind of training is it?" Naruto questioned.

Kakashi let out a small chuckle. "What's so funny?" Sasuke asked, frowning slightly. "Well, if I say this, I'm sure you three are going to be surprised!" he said. His face became serious again. "Out of the 28 graduates only 9 are going to become Genins. The others will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy. In other words, this is a make-it-or-break-it – pass/fail test."

"Well then." Umeko voiced for her fellow teammates as their faces dropped. "See? You three are surprised!" Kakashi said happily. "No way!" Naruto shouted. "I went through so much trouble to be here!" he argued. "Then what was the point of the graduation exam?" Sasuke asked, irritation clear in his voice. "That?" Kakashi-sensei asked. "It just picks out those who are qualified to become a Genin."

"WHAT?!"

"Anyway, I'm going to determine whether you pass or fail. Right now. None of you ate before you came right?" he asked but all three shook their heads much to his pleasure. "Oh good! There will be nothing to throw up, come on then. Try to keep up" and with that the silver haired ninja jumped off the roof and onto another near by before continuing on, the distance between him and his students growing with every second.

The trio exchanged looks before scrambling to follow the agile senior ninja. "Survival training already? None of us have gear, it's going to be a short test."Umeko noted as she and her new teammates traveled side by side via rooftops a bit clumsily.

"Maybe we're being put in a hypothetical situation, dattebayo. "Naruto offered. "Behind enemy lines, no gear, enemy shinobi all around you." Sasuke added on after a moment. "He'd be putting us in a situation that left us with no choice but to work together." Umeko noted to herself thoughtfully before continuing on at a slightly faster pace when she noticed she had slowed down and was lagging behind her new teammates.

"I call dibs on team leader for this training exercise!" she suddenly exclaimed, drawing the two boys to a stop on a roof. "Aww why do you get to be leader?" Naruto whined while Sasuke merely narrowed his eyes on the girl. "Because." she grabbed the blonde by his head and began to squeeze like she was trying to pop a pimple, "my team always came in first place during academy exercises. I'm team leader!" she repeated with a twitching brow.

"Alright, alright, alright! You're team leader, dattebayo!" Naruto relented, sighing in relief when his head was freed from her grasp. Turning to regard the Uchiha, Umeko found him glaring at her in defiance. "You can sit there and glare all you want, Uchiha, but the point still stands that I'm team leader. Now you can either make peace with that and listen to what I have to say or we can throw down right here and now to determine team leader." she closed the distance between them until they stood toe to toe.

"And while Iruka-sensei said that you and I tied for best physical scores I think we both really know who's the better fighter here considering the past handful of years during academy spars...So are you going to play nice and listen to me or are you going to be huffy about this?" Umeko asked with finality.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

".."

".."

".."

".."

"...Hn."

Umeko grinned and punched his shoulder playfully, "Glad to see you have some sense in you." she cheered as Sasuke frowned, rubbing his throbbing shoulder. Playful punch or not, Umeko's hits still hurt something fierce. "No matter what happens in this survival exercise, we have to work together. We may have our differences," a look was given to the night and day duo, " but we're in this together now. How can we be expected to survive in the field if we don't know how to cooperate?" she asked knowingly and watched as the duo nod grudgingly.

"Since you're so sure of everything, All Knowing One," Sasuke suddenly snipped, "What do you think the exercise will entail?" he asked. "Most likely than not we're either going to have to either bring Kakashi-sensei down or take something from him. It would make sense." Umeko shrugged. "So how do you propose we take down a jounin?" the Uchiha quirked a brow and was thrown off when Umeko suddenly grinned brightly, wrapped an arm around each boy and brought them in close.

"Here's what we're going to do."

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"Oh, looks like you guys finally decided to show up." Kakashi mused without looking up from his little orange book he had been reading when the new genin finally appeared before him and slightly out of breath. "Well, let's move on." he walked towards a log and set an alarm clock on it, unbothered by their current state.

"This alarm is set to go off at two o clock. Its one o clock now." Then he pulled out two small silver bells on red string. "Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it. If you can't get them by two then you go without a lunch…" he trailed off, pulling out four bento boxes from behind his back.

And que synchronized stomach growls. "…and on top of that you'll be tied that log and watch me eat in front of you."

Their mouths dropped. "But wait…why only two bells?" Umeko asked. "Well that way only one of you gets tied to a post and disqualified for not completing the assignment." Kakashi-sensei said. "That person will go back to the Academy. Then again, all three of you could flunk out too. You can use any weapons I have provided." he motioned to a pile of said weapons with his foot. "You won't be able to get the bells unless you have the will to kill me." he said simply.

"Use real weapons? YEAH RIGHT! You couldn't even dodge an eraser!" Naruto said, laughing from the memory as he and his teammates took the opportunity to stock up. "Class clowns are usually the weakest links." Kakashi said coolly, "Just ignore the guy with the lowest score." Umeko barely managed to hide her laugh with a snort at the petty comment as Naruto openly glared at him. "We're going to start after I say 'go'." he calmly explained as if he were talking to a little child.

Naruto's eyes suddenly turned white in anger like a bull seeing the color red, snatched a kunai up and charged at the lax sensei. In a smooth motion though, Kakashi appeared behind Naruto with one hand holding his head and another holding the kunai against his neck. "Don't get too hasty." the one eyed man said playfully. "I didn't say 'go' yet." He released Naruto, silently queing everyone to take steps backwards without taking their eyes off him.

"But it looks like you have the will to kill me now so..." Kakashi-sensei said before chuckling, "...how can I say this? I think I'm actually starting to like you guys….Hold steady now… aannndd...Go!" All three of them jumped away with Kakashi-sensei taking his place by the river bank, " A ninja must know how to conceal their movements and hide effectively…" he narrated to the children he knew were lurking by.

Umeko peeked through the branches of the tree she was in, Sasuke was in a tree next to hers and Naruto- her eyes widened at the sight. 'What the hell does he think he's doing?' she inwardly questioned. "Let's have a match fair and square!" Naruto shouted, standing right in front of Kakashi-sensei. The one eyed sensei stared at Naruto with a sweat drop on his head, "Hey, aren't you a little weird compared to the others?" He asked. "The only thing weird here is your hairstyle!" Naruto snapped back angrily.

The blonde boy then ran towards Kakashi-sensei, but stopped when the jounin began speaking, "Ninja technique number 1: Taijutsu. I'll teach you that first, that is, if you can keep up anyways." The Uzumaki clenched his fists and charged at Kakashi with a cry. He tried to punch him in the shoulder, but it was blocked easily without a miniscule glance towards him. Naruto tried a kick, but Kakashi-sensei bent down and avoided it with frustrating ease. The blond ninja went to punch him again but then realized Kakashi wasn't even there anymore.

"Huh?" He asked dumbly. "A ninja should not let the enemy get behind him. It's how you get your throat cut open." Kakashi-sensei said, appearing behind Naruto and forming a quick hand sign familiar to Sasuke and Umeko. The seal of the tiger, the sign associated to fire style jutsus. "Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu!" Kakashi-sensei yelled as he pulled back and took effective aim.

Naruto's face widened in horror at what was about to come. Kakashi rammed his fingers into his behind with great force, "A Thousand Years of Death!" the man finished. The force of the ninjutsu sent Naruto flying clear into river with a deafening splash.

"Is weird butt stuff even legal to do on a minor?" Umeko asked herself with a cross between a smile and grimace on her face but decided to help her poor violated teammate nonetheless. After taking that kind of blow to the butt, anyone would be out of commision for a bit.

"Well technically you guys become adults in the eyes of the village once you graduate from the academy. Young adults, but adults either way." the solitary girl gasped wholeheartedly, throwing herself away from the silver haired man that had suddenly appeared behind her in her tree. Landing in the clearing she had just departed, Umeko looked between the two Kakashis that now stood next together, warily.

Which was the clone? She couldn't tell, usually there was a tell. You could tell a clone from the original by the chakra signatures, the original would have a boatload of it and the clone would have a fraction. But they were both the same, why were they the same? It didn't make any sense!

"Hm?" one questioned, returning to his book, "What's the matter? You won't get any lunch if you don't get a bell by two." he pointed out. Then unexpectedly, two shuriken were thrown from the water in the Kakashi's direction but the second one caught the two shuriken with ease as Naruto got out of the river, completely soaked, coughing up a little water.

"We already know!" Naruto yelled angrily, shaking water from his feet and coming to Umeko's side, much to her ire. Spinning around, Umeko grabbed the blonde by his collar and shook him like a rag doll. "Did you listen to a word I said before we got here?!" she raged over the Uzumaki's distressed wails. "Are you touched in the head or something? What the hell do you think you're doing?! This wasn't what we discussed!"

Kakashi sweat dropped at the sight of such a innocent looking girl shaking the life out of her teammate. 'Looks can be deceiving I suppose' he thought with an inward nervous chuckle, dismissing his clone.

"Follow the plan!" Umeko yelled once more as she stopped shaking Naruto. "Find Sasuke!" she slapped him once on each cheek before reeling her arm back and launching the abused boy into the cover of the trees. Taking a deep breath in and out, Umeko tore her eyes away from the vegetation her teammates were in and onto the lax jounin in front of her.

"You got yourself a temper on you, don't you?" Kakashi asked good naturedly. "Maybe just a little." Umeko grinned, cracking her neck with a tilt of her head. "Now, are you ready sensei?" causing a confused hum to escape from the veteran. "Ready?" Kakashi echoed, not reading her underlying meaning. "Hai!" Umeko chirped with an innocent smile and launched forward with a burst of chakra, closing the distance between teacher and student greatly.

"Maaa,maaa. Quick on your feet aren't you?" the Copy cat intoned, a hand reaching into his weapons pouch and watching the kunoichi lazily. Though what happened next certainly caught the jounin off guard. "Chaaannndaaaaraaaa!" Umeko yelled and thrust a closed fist forward, a yard wide chakra blast errupting from her fist causing Kakashi's one visible eye to widen in disbelief as the blast of destructive chakra raced towards him. 'That's impossible! No genin could have this much chakra!'

Tensing in his hiding spot in the tree, a bead of sweat rolled down the side of Sasuke's face at the destruction emmitted from a solitary punch of the kunoichi. 'What power' he thought in awe, his fingers gripping the tree branch with white knuckles as dirt, rock and remaints of tree branches rained down on the battlefield. ' But I don't see Kakashi-sensei anywhere. Did he dodge it?' Sasuke wondered. Having been inhabiting the same branch as the Uchiha, Naruto was in equal awe and shock. 'Y-you gotta be kidding me. I knew Umeko was strong physically but to be able to do that?!' Naruto paled, shivering in his sandals.

Standing in the middle of the field, Umeko's eyes scanned for a sign of the jounin with the bells. 'He's not behind me, nor to the right, left or above. So where…' Umeko thought but suddenly tensed and blasted the earth beneath her feet with another blast, causing her to go soaring into the air from the recoil. 'Below! He had to be below me.' she thought with narrowed eyes, waiting for the dust to clear as she fell to the ground. "You certainly aren't like any other shinobi in the village, are you?" a deep voice mused from directly behind her. Gasping, Umeko turned her head and seen the one eyed man himself behind her.

"You're in your own little category." feeling a spike of fear build up from inside her, Umeko began to charge a hand with chakra to blast him but was stopped midway when the veteran ninja's own hand clamped down on her wrist. Spinning through the air, Kakashi completed a full 360 rotation before slamming the girl down to the ground - a crater indentation forming from the force of the impact.

'Damn it' Umeko's body twitched as she slowly started to pick herself up after a few moments, but was only slammed back down deeper into the earth when Kakashi landed straight on her back purposefully. "Perhaps you should not have sent Naruto away so soon. You seem to be in a bit of a sticky situation" he said innocently. Umeko gritted her teeth as her head and hand turned over to regard the shinobi stepping on her.

"Get the hell off me" she muttered with a glare and unleashed a chakra blast. With the pressure released from her back, the kunoichi was able to stumble her way to her feet and out of the crater. "Ouch." the kimonoed girl winced at the ailing of her back. Umeko didn't know her jounin sensei had iron bricks for feet.

"Maybe you should get that checked out." Umeko was really starting to hate this particular ninja and his tendencies to get behind her. Spinning around, Umeko unleashed a chakra blast right on time to eat a knee to the chin that sent her flying backwards and skidding into the ground, not stopping until she finally hit a tree.

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!"

'So one's finally decided to come out of hiding' Kakashi thought before putting his attention on the Uchiha who had revealed himself. With Kakashi distracted with Sasuke, Naruto jumped out of his hiding spot and ran to his downed teammate. "Umeko-chan, Umeko-chan!" Naruto shook her lightly by the shoulders, "Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

Fluttering her eyes open against the harsh sunlight, Umeko was greeted with the sight of Naruto's worried face and the taste of blood in her mouth. Spitting to the side, Umeko brushed at her mouth and indeed see blood on her hand. "Tell me the truth Naruto," she began. "How bad is my face messed up? Too badly to go out for dinner tomorrow?" Umeko quirked a brow. "No, no Umeko-chan, it's perfect. Even with your scrapped face and busted lip"

"Scrapped up face and busted lip?!"

"Uhhh..."

"Help me up" Umeko ordered, grunting as she slowly rolled to her feet with the blonde's help. "Let's go Naruto!...Now I'm pissed." the kunoichi glared daggers at the jounin entertaining the Uchiha in a battle and charged forwards herself, pain in her frame be damned. "Move Sasuke!" Umeko yelled with a fist cocked backwards. Risking a quick glance backwards, Sasuke made to kick away from the grey haired man but gasped when he felt his wrist get grabbed in a strong grip.

With the Uchiha in hand, Kakashi swatted the Obinara into the ground and then proceeded to throw him towards Naruto who was in the middle of preforming hand signs. "Shadow clone jut-!" Naruto started but was cut off when Sasuke's body collided with his and the duo went tumbling to the ground. "Damn it teme!" Naruto yelled agitated to the roughed up Uchiha, pushing his way out from under the taller boy. "Shut it, dobe. Why don't you go one on one with him already?!" Sasuke glared getting to his feet but soon froze when he noticed something about the jounin.

"The bells." he whispered, eyes locked on the spot where the bells were supposed to be attached to the jounin. "Yeah, yeah I know we have to get the bells." Naruto grumped, squwaking when the dark haired boy fisted a hand in his jumper and brought him in close. "No you idiot, look." Sasuke pointed to the jounin and their female teammate duking it out in a taijutsu battle, with occasional chakra blasts from the latter. With a frown, both boys noticed that the green haired girl was lacking as much spirit as she had before and her chakra blasts weren't as powerful as they used to be.

"The bells aren't at his hip anymore, they must have fallen off during one of our fights...Umeko won't last much longer. The range, width and power of her blasts are getting smaller by the minute and she relying on tai jutsu, you have to get Kakashi off her back while I find the bells. Use your shadow clones, as many as possible without being too obvious that you're covering for me" Sasuke muttered as a last minute thought before racing off to scour the field and tree lines.

"Tch teme, telling me how many shadow clones….I know how many shadow clones to make!" Naruto yelled making the familiar hand sign and summoning fifteen of them to his side. "Don't worry Umeko, here I come, dattebayo!" The sudden onslaught of Naruto clones took Umeko by surprise but was welcomed had been the longest hour she had ever experienced.

The kunoichi's body was beginning to fill with exhaustion, and her chakra channels were beginning to get fried along with...'Damn it, why didn't I take my medicine today?!' Umeko cursed herself. "The teme's looking for the bells." Naruto suddenly popped up beside her as his companions battled the jounin. "What?" Umeko asked through ragged breathing.

"The bells were knocked off, dattebayo. They aren't on Kakashi-sensei's hip anymore. Sasuke's looking for them but we have to buy him time…." the blonde trailed off as he got a good look at the Obinara's limbs. 'Umeko's arms, they're-they're.' Naruto though horrified but before he could get out a word, him and Umeko were abruptly greeted with the sight of Kakashi before them. All of Naruto's clones had been popped.

"Yo."

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"Well I have to say, I'm impressed." Kakashi mused good naturedly, in much better form than his beaten and battered students sprawled out on the ground at his feet. "You lot certainly are different from the other students that I've had before, perhaps there's some hope for you after all. However, none of you got a bell." multiple eyes narrowed in agitation at the taunt.

"Do you even know where the bells are?" Umeko quirked a brow with her hands tucked into her sleeves, "Because they're not at your hip anymore." she nodded pointedly. "Hm?" Kakashi looked down and seen the girl had been right. They weren't there. "So it seems, let me ask you a question then that will determine if I'll give you a pass for not getting the bells." Kakashi continued undeterred, "What was the purpose or goal of this test?" he asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"I thought it was to get a bell, dattebayo…."

"..."

"..."

"Get a bell using cooperation and team work?" Umeko added on unsurely at the older ninja's silence. A few more tense moments passed with the jounin just staring down at the trio blankly, making them shift uneasily under his gaze. "...You pass, congradulations." Kakashi finally spoke, giving a closed eye smile. "Wait, what?" Umeko tilted her head to the side.

"You pass." Kakashi repeated easily, "Of all the teams that have come to me, none have realized the true meaning of this test. They always ended up turning on each other during the exercise and if you can't trust your comrads during a simple test then how can you expect to trust them in a real life situation?" hearing this, Umeko turned to Sasuke with a smug grin that he returned with a glare. "Ha." she stuck her tongue out.

"Oh? Have I missed something?" Kakashi asked seeing the interaction. "Ume-chan took lead and pulled together a randevouz before coming here and basically said the same thing, dattebayo." Naruto informed his sensei.

"The kunoichi taking the lead? Haven't had that in awhile." Kakashi noted thoughtfully. Huffing, Sasuke turned his head away pointedly. "Yes well when one is faced with the option to either take a freight train head on or jump off a cliff into the river below in hopes of survival, the choice isn't that hard." the ravenette drolled. A moment of silence passed as the kunoichi processed what her teammate had said.

"FREIGHT TRAIN? ARE YOU CALLING ME FAT?!" Umeko yelled, turning red in the face with steam rolling off her in waves. "Oh dear." Kakashi sweat dropped, rubbing the back of his head. "She really does have a temper, doesn't she?" he asked Naruto who had made it a point to put distance between him and the Uchiha. "Ume-chan was never one to take much from anyone." Naruto chuckled nervously.

"Hn...take it as you will."

" You got something to say to me Uchiha?! Because we can throw down academy style, I don't need my chakra to take you on!" she clenched a fist into the Uchiha's shirt and brought them face to face. "That'd be fine by me, Obinara." the boy glared into pink eyes, eyes darting to preceive the cocked back fist the kunoichi subconsciously brought out.

"Your hand…" he muttered, causing Umeko to look at him confused before glancing back and seeing what he was talking about. Her hand and whole arm from what he could see had been burned as if she stuck it in a fire. In fact both of her apendages were like that. 'Could it be from the chakra blasts?' Sasuke wondered. Smacking her lips, Umeko released her grip on the boy before standing up and stuffing her hands into her sleeves in one smooth motion.

" Are we done sensei? Because I'm going home." she walked past Naruto and the jounin without making eye contact but didn't get far until she felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder. "I think you mean hospital, my little chakra monster" Kakashi intoned, dragging her back a few steps and carefully grabbing her arm for inspection. "These burns are pretty bad, your body can't handle putting out so much chakra like it did today without repercussions, can it?" he asked knowingly.

" No it can't." Umeko gently pulled her arm out of his grasp, "But it's fine, these burns are nothing new." Umeko backed away from her team that had now been regarding her carefully. " If I go to the hospital, I'll only be wasting their time. They've given me medicine to treat the burns before, I still have some at home." she assured.

'Despite the decreasing size of the blasts she had been putting out the longer the fight went on, she still has an abundance of chakra left - even now. Is it a question of endurance or something more? I never heard of chakra burning its own user like this.' Kakashi mused as he watched the little kunoichi for several moments longer before sighing in defeat.

"Alright, fine. But don't bother showing up tommorrow if your arms aren't treated with that medicine. We'll be doing our first official mission and a kunoichi is hardly anything with out her arms. We're done for the day, I'm going to the hokage to sign off on the papers that confirm your genin status. See you tommorrow at eight." the Hatake waved before telporting away in a flurry of leaves.

Sighing in relief Umeko was thankful to be out from under the jounin's scrutiny. "Thank you, for cooperating with me today." Umeko looked to the duo, "I really appreciate it, this test could have gone a lot more messier if we were working on our own." she smiled weakly.

"It was no problem, Ume-chan!" Naruto grinned wrapping an arm around her shoulder before they started to walk, Sasuke bringing up the rear. "We really had Kakashi-sensei on the ropes, I bet if the bells hadn't been lost we could have snagged them for sure, dattebayo!...Are you sure your arms and hands are okay?" he then asked, tone more somber as his concern for his friend shone through.

"It's fine Naruto," Umeko smiled gently and flexed her hands for him to see, " It's a lot more scarier to look at than the pain that follows it. Promise." the Obinara vowed.

0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.0o.

"You'll have to keep an eye on her Kakashi," Hiruzen warned, after the jounin's report on the Obinara's condition after the test. "Thank you, Ami," he added to his assistant that filed the confirmed genin paperwork away into one of his cabinets before returning to the Hatake.

"While Umeko may brush it off as nothing, it is far from it." he laced his fingers together. "The Obinara are not native to this side of the world, and while they may be a mystery to us - they are legend to others across the sea. They say that those with Obinara blood coursing through their veins have enough chakra to keep them going for days without rest and while others may see it as a blessing, the users themselves see it as a curse. Their bodies are under continous strain to keep their chakra under control so it won't flare out from their chakra pathways and burn anyone in a close enough radius or themselves."

"So she lost control and that's why she got burned?" Ami couldn't help but ask, enthralled with what the shinobi had been discussing. "Not necessarily," the third shook his head, "You told me the longer she fought, the smaller the blasts became. It wasn't a matter of lack of control that resulted in the burns, usually Obinara wear hidden seals to help contain the chakra ontop of their own body's capability. Sometimes they come in the form of a tattoo, necklace, bracelet, clothing article or even earring. In this particular case, it was a matter of being physically tired and still using chakra." Hiruzen frowned.

"So her body was too tired to contain the chakra she directed through her arms and fists but the seal she wears still kept it from flaring out too much and stopped it from making the burns even worse." Kakashi summarized understandingly. "Sounds complicated." Ami frowned. " It is." Hiruzen chuckled lightly. "Focus endurance training with her, Kakashi, I want updates on her progression from time to time but if you become stuck, take her to the Hyuga clan and have them observe her for awhile."

"Hai, hokage-sama."

0o.o0.0o.0o.0o00o.0o.o0.

This is my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic, let me know how I do :D