Me: I do not own Naruto!

Stephanotis: good luck

Pass

"I'm home!" Ria called out softly as she stepped into the house, slipping off her shoes. She turned halfway to wave goodbye to Shikamaru, who had walked her home after Asuma's test. He waved back before strolling away casually for his own house.

"Welcome home." Hanako called back, somewhere in the kitchen.

"Ria! There you are!" A yellow and purple blur sped down the stairs, the sound of a slammed door echoing behind her. Ino swept her twin up in a warm hug, smile bright and blue eyes twinkling. Her answering smile on her lips, Ria hugged her back tightly; she had missed her sister.

"Ino's been home since six," Mama said, standing in the kitchen doorway in a white apron and holding a spatula in her hand. Her brown eyes were welcoming, her smile small and proud. "We were wondering what's keeping you, Ria." It was almost eight by now.

"Ah, Asuma-sensei had us do a test." Ria explained, cringing slightly at the memory of the fight. She had panicked the entire time, torn between believing in Shika-kun's genius and Choji-kun's strength, and mentally going over the many, many, many ways Asuma-sensei could beat them into the ground.

He was a jounin, after all, and they were only genin. Barely genin, for that matter.

"Really?!" Ino exclaimed, pulling back to lead her by the hand to a seat at the table. "My lazy bum of a sensei has us taking a test tomorrow!"

"Ah." Ria blinked, curling up on her seat. "Who is your sensei anyways?"

"Hatake Kakashi." Ino rolled her eyes, tossing back her hair. "Don't ask me to tell you anything more about him, because he didn't say, just sported out a whole bunch of nonsense when we were supposed to introduce ourselves."

"So he didn't give up any information?" She reiterated hesitantly. That sounded an awful lot like what Papa repeatedly told them to do...

"I know what you're thinking, Ria, but I'm telling you, that's not it! Kami-sama, that man fell for Naruto's stupid eraser trick! Can you believe that?! He fell for a stupid genin prank! Plus, he was four hours late and read porn right in front of us!" Ino ranted, eyes glinting angrily. "Porn, Ria!"

"O-Oh." Ria's eyes went wide, her cheeks flushing a pale pink. "I see... so he's giving you a test tomorrow?" She said, quickly changing the topic before Ino could truly go on a roll.

"Yeah." She inspected her manicured nails idly before grabbing hold of Ria's hand to inspect hers. "It's going to be really early, too. Kakashi-sensei better not be late!"

"I wouldn't count on that, Ino." Hanako warned with a laugh as she moved the broccoli around her pan. "Kakashi-san is very, very well known for his tardiness."

Ino groaned, head lolling back. "Great. Just great. Well, how about you, Ria? Your sensei must be better, right?"

"I guess so." Ria responded with a small shrug. "Asuma-sensei seems nice."

"Wait, you said you had a test." Ino bolted upright, staring at her sister intently. "You passed, right? You must have passed!"

"Mm-hm." She nodded, a glimmer of pride in her eyes. "We passed."

"Well, don't leave me hanging!" Ino insisted, turning so she faced Ria. "Tell me everything that happened!"

Ria laughed softly, leaning back. "Well, first Asuma-sensei brought us to this training ground..."

Safe

Later that night, the sun long gone over the horizon, Inoichi came home. His youngest daughter was asleep on the couch, an open book on the blanket spread across her lap and legs. Hanako came to greet him at the door with a kiss to the cheek.

"She passed." She said to him quietly, smile radiant in that subtle, lovely way that Inoichi had fallen in love with.

Inoichi grinned. "I know."

"Ino -" Hanako bought up, a strain of worry crossing her face, but Inoichi shook his head, pressing a finger to her full lips.

"Ino will be fine." He assured her, moving across the room with silent steps to kneel at his daughter's side. Inoichi gently brushed a strand of pale blonde hair from Ria's face, face softening.

"Inoichi..." Hanako knelt down beside him, lines of unusual stress on her forehead. "They're genin now..."

"I know, Hanako." Inoichi said, hand clenching. "I know." Now, his beloved daughters were legally adults, officially ninja. He couldn't shield them from that bloody, cruel world anymore; they needed to navigate it on their own.

Shaking her head, Hanako said, "You'd better get Ria upstairs. Asuma-san will probably have her doing missions tomorrow."

"... Yeah." Picking her up smoothly - she was still so light in his arms, so young and innocent - Inoichi steadily made his ways up the stairs and placed in her bed. She stirred a bit when he pulled the blankets over her, but calmed when he placed a light kiss on her forehead.

"Be safe, little jasmine."

Startle

The next morning, when Ria woke up - mysteriously, in her bed, she was pretty sure she hadn't gone to sleep last night there - Ino was already gone. But then, hadn't her twin said that her training would take place very, very early in the morning...?

"I hope her sensei isn't late again..." Ria mused to her reflection, frowning at the mess of blonde curls and ringlets she was greeted with. She sighed; normally, Ino was the one who had to deal with her knotty hair, but her twin wasn't here today.

Making a face, Ria grabbed the hairbrush and forcibly dragging it through her hair, wincing and cringing. Ten long, painful minutes later, her hair was in a high ponytail, and she was running out the door, an omelet stuffed in her mouth. "Bye, Mama!"

"Bye, Ria! Have a good day, sweetheart," Hanako called back encouragingly.

Moving smoothly down the bustling streets of Konoha, Ria made her way to the training center and wondered what they were going to be doing today. Some training, perhaps? While she didn't like training, she recognized that it was necessary anyhow.

Papa had said that they would start missions soon, but even though all ninjas took missions, she hoped that they wouldn't be too hard, because what if she would did something wrong?! Someone might get hurt... or, Kami-sama, what if - !

Ria arrived onto the training grounds to find Shikamaru flat on his back on the ground, hands behind his back, eyes staring straight up at the sky. It didn't look like Choji was here, yet; at this time, he was probably finishing his massive breakfast.

"Good morning, Shika-kun." Ria exhaled heavily, sinking to her knees beside him. Despite the cool, fresh air of the early morning, the lightheadedness that blurred the world around her was similar to if she had been sprinting. Her heart pounded heavily against her chest.

Dark eyes shifted a fraction to look at her lazily. "Mornin'." A pause as she tried to regain her breath. "It's too early for you to stress, Ria."

"You know me too well." She said, smiling sheepishly.

"Course I do." Shikamaru yawned widely, a few sleepy tears springing to his eyes. "Don't tell me you're worried about the missions."

"Err..."

"Ria."

"I'm sorry! But... what if something happens...?" Her brow wrinkled in her anxiety, her hands instinctively reaching for each other and twisting restlessly.

Shikamaru gazed at her, taking in the honest concern churning dark in cornflower blue eyes, and grumbled halfheartedly, "Ria, things are always going to go wrong. What matters is how you react to it."

"I panic." She pointed out the obvious dryly.

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, but me and Choji will be there with you. So it'll be fine." So simple, so easy... but Ria couldn't deny his logic. She never really could.

Ria worried her bottom lip between her teeth. "I guess..."

Before Shikamaru could respond, a familiar voice rang through the clearing, putting their conversation on hold.

"Good morning, guys," Choji greeted as he trotted in, a wide smile on his face.

Ria lit up, a matching smile tilting her lips, "Good morning, Choji-kun. How are you?"

"Good." Choji plopped himself down on Shikamaru's other side, casting a look around their surroundings. "Where's Asuma-sensei?"

"Here," Came the unexpected answer from behind Ria, and she gasped, instinctively jumping to her feet and whirling around in surprise. Shikamaru tensed, head snapping to the side while Choji's eyes widened and he half got to his feet.

Asuma-sensei grinned at them, standing five feet away from Ria, hands tucked casually in his pockets and a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Hey, guys."

"... Asuma-sensei, you scared me." Ria scolded lightly, sinking back down with a hand over her rapidly thumping heart.

He chuckled, grabbing his cigarette between two fingers. "Sorry."

"Are we going to be doing missions today, sensei?" Choji asked, settling down as well.

"Yeah, but not yet." Asuma-sensei hunched down, breathing out a stream of smoke. "I want you all to do an exercise."

"An exercise?" Shikamaru repeated warily, ticking up an eyebrow.

"Right. You guys up for it?"

"Umm... sure?" Ria said hesitantly.

Choji shrugged. "Okay."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru groaned.

Asuma-sensei sweatdropped. "Okaaay then."

"What would you like us to do, Asuma-sensei?" Ria prompted, feeling slightly bad for the man. They probably weren't what he was expecting. At all.

"I want you to introduce your teammates to each other." He said with a sly grin.

Startled, Ria, Choji, and Shikamaru exchanged glances.

"Introduce each other... to each other?" Choji frowned, brow furrowing.

Asuma-sensei nodded. "Yeah. Good points, bad points, everything. Hmm, Shikamaru, why don't you go first?"

Introductions - Part 2

"What a drag." Making a disgruntled face, Shikamaru pushed himself up into a sitting position, gazing at his two teammates with heavy-lidded eyes. They blinked back at him, Ria uncertainly and Choji bemusedly, both seeming rather confused as to why they needed to perform this exercise.

Then, he flicked a gaze at a nonchalant Asuma and wondered if the jonin was trying to clear the air, so to speak, expose any vendettas before it had a chance to do extensive damage. If so, he was going to be disappointed. They were childhood friends, best friends; there was very little Shikamaru didn't know about Ria and Choji and vice versa.

"Fine. Ria, you're the least troublesome female I know. You don't nag, you don't scream, but you do have a bad tendency to fret and fuss. Some things you just can't control, woman, stop worrying about it." Ria smiled sheepishly, but didn't refute his conclusion, not that he ever thought she would.

He shifted his attention to his other teammate. "Choji, out of everyone, you're the kindest. Don't listen to all the morons who comment on your appearance. Careful with the eating though. Might get in the way during missions and all that." Choji nodded, positively beaming at the praise.

"Thank you, Shikamaru." Asuma said easily, a thoughtful look in his eyes. "Ria?"

Ria bit her lip, tugging at an errant blonde ringlet considerately. "U-Umm... Shika-kun, you're very smart. But you're kinda lazy, too... so most of the time you don't do anything with your brain cause it's too 'troublesome.'" Shikamaru smirked, unrepentant. It was true, after all.

"Choji-kun... you're nice. And caring. Hmm... maybe work on your self-confidence a little more?" Ria offered hesitantly, "I'm sure you'll become a great shinobi; you don't have to doubt yourself." Choji frowned considerately, but nodded, a determined set to his mouth.

"Alright, Choji?" Asuma prompted.

Choji grinned, face lighting up, "Okay! Shikamaru, you're my best friend and I think you're great! No one ever beats you at shogi. You like to give up, though. In a fight, that'd probably be a problem or something." Shikamaru sighed, but accepted the judgement as the truth.

"Ria-chan, you're really sweet. You always make pretty flower arrangements." Ria blushed bright red, but there was a pleased smile on her lips. "You should totally eat more though. By the way, Mama wants us all to come over for dinner tomorrow," Choji remembered.

"Eh, why not?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"I'll ask Papa." Ria assured him.

Choji glanced at Asuma, who pointed at himself in a 'me-too?' gesture. When he nodded enthusiastically, the jounin grinned warmly, "I'll be there, Choji. Looks like everyone's done; you guys are best friends, aren't you?" He had the tone of someone who had been told the truth, but hadn't believed it.

The three of them blinked up at him, exchanging looks. From the slight crease of Ria's forehead and Choji's frown, Shikamaru gathered that they hadn't realized that it was beyond rare for friends, much less best friends to be paired up in a single team. Three best friends altogether was the stuff of miracles, but that was the strength of the Ino-Shika-Cho combination in the first place.

In fact, if he had to guess, Shikamaru would say that that was why they had eventually decided on Ria being placed on the team instead of Ino, who was the actual Heir to the Yamanaka Clan when push came to shove. Teamwork was the bedrock of Konoha, but for Team 10, it would be most everything. He supposed he couldn't be surprised that Asuma had expected them to be at odds.

"Of course," Shikamaru said, yawning widely. Jeez, it wasn't even noon yet and he wanted to take a nap.

"Since the Academy?" Ria added shyly.

"Yeah!" Choji gave their sensei a thumbs-up.

Asuma shook his head but it wasn't in disapproval. "Well, I'm sure that'll work to our advantage later on. Now, it's time for some missions!"

"Oh..." Ria shifted, no doubt starting to worry again.

Choji grabbed a bag of chips and started to eat.

Shikamaru made a face. This was so... "Troublesome."

D-ranks

"Hey, Asuma-sensei?" Shikamaru called as he scrutinized their list with a scowl.

"Yeah?" The older man walked behind them, hand in his pocket and cigarette in his mouth.

"Does this honestly count as a mission?" Choji asked bluntly, staring blankly at the bags of groceries he carried. As it turned out, he was responsible for carrying the bags while Shikamaru made sure they had everything they needed and Ria picked out the best produce.

"It does seem a bit mundane..." Ria agreed, biting her lip lightly.

Asuma chuckled, blowing out a breath of smoke. "That's D-ranks for you. Hella boring but they have to be done."

"And we have to do them as fresh genin?" Shikamaru deadpanned, crossing off 'carrots' from his list.

"Yeah. Sucks to be you guys, I guess." He smiled when he said it though, tone sympathetic.

"Umm... does it actually do anything other than get the chores done?" Ria wanted to know.

Asuma hummed thoughtfully, "Actually... yes."

"What?" Choji scratched the back of his neck.

"The D-ranks are meant to improve your teamwork, otherwise smooth out any jinks in the team, and make your status as a genin well known in the village." He explained. "Sorta like helping you gain street cred."

"Ooh." Choji nodded in understanding.

"Radishes next." Shikamaru muttered.

"Those are on the other side of the market..." Ria said.

"What a drag."

Bells

"I'm home!" Ria called out with a sigh as she kicked off her shoes. Team 10 hadn't gotten many D-ranks done - three - but she was still tired. Maybe that meant she should work on her stamina?

"Ria!" A blonde blur zoomed out of the kitchen to collide with her. Ino grinned widely, blue eyes sparkling, "I passed, I passed!"

"Oh!" Grinning back, Ria pulled her twin into a hug, "Congratulations!"

"Thanks." Ino giggled, grabbing her hand to pull her into the kitchen where their Mama was already getting ingredients ready for dinner. "Come on, I'll tell you all about it!"

"Welcome home, Ria." Hanako greeted evenly, peeling the cucumber she held in her hands with graceful movements. "Ino's been itching to tell you about her test for two hours."

Ino stuck her tongue out childishly at her, "Mama!"

"Hai, hai, tell your story."

Ino humphed, tossing back her hair. Taking a seat at the table and patting the seat next to her until Ria sat down, too, she said, "So, we had a different test than you did."

"What was it?"

"We had to take a bell from Kakashi-sensei."

"A bell?"

"Yeah. He had two bells and to pass, we had to have a bell at hand when the timer rang." Ino's mouth twisted in dislike, "Can you believe it, Ria?! He was late! Again! And this time, it was way more than three hours!"

Ria winced. Ino was not known for her patience. "Two bells?" She prompted, hoping to change the topic before her twin could go into a full fledged rant. "But it's a three man team."

"Mm-hm." Ino nodded fiercely, a smug smile spreading across her lips. "It was a teamwork exercise. I figured it out first." And then she deflated abruptly "But Sasuke-kun wouldn't listen to me."

"Ah. U-Um... what about Naruto?" She was pretty sure the blonde was nicer than Sasuke.

"He was too busy thinking about food." Oh, but he was kind of not-smart, too... "Anyway, so we split up and then Kakashi-sensei sprung a terrible genjutsu on me, Ria!"

"Really?" It couldn't be that bad... could it? "What was it about?"

Ino shuddered, making a pained face. "It was Sasuke-kun... but he was all bloodied and shuriken and kunai were stuck all over him! And he couldn't stand and it looked like he was dying, dying, Ria! It was dreadful!"

"Oh. B-But you got out, right?" Ria didn't think she wanted to witness a genjutsu like that with Shika-kun or Choji-kun. It would probably be awful.

"Course I did!" Ino huffed, throwing her hair back. "Papa taught us how to break out of genjutsu when we were ten, remember?"

"Mm-hm." The thing was, no matter how much the Academy might preach otherwise to civilian parents, clan-born children always had an advantage. Their parents, relatives taught them about chakra, jutsu, combat since they were able to walk. Being the daughters of Inoichi meant that Ino and Ria knew how to spot the liars and deceivers, how to lie and trick others without a single telling sign.

More than that, clan-born children were, almost unnoticeably, favored by the system. It was why Ino had been chosen over Sakura for Team 7, not that the two girls knew that.

"What happened after that?" Ria asked curiously.

"Well, I dispelled the genjutsu, right? Then, Kakashi-sensei showed up again and I tried to kick him, but he jumped out of the way. Now, if I had been able to hit him with my Mind Tranfer Jutsu everything would be fine then, but nooooo, Naruto and Sasuke-kun just had to be stubborn and proud. So, Kakashi-sensei ended up trapping me in an earth jutsu." Ino pouted, crossing her arms.

"An earth jutsu?"

"Yeah. He pulled me down up to my neck into the ground." Her twin scowled in disgust, "It was disgusting! I made sure to take a shower as soon as I got home."

Ria giggled. That was Ino for you. "How did you get out?"

"I didn't." She sighed tragically. "Naruto had to dig me out after the timer rang." A heavy cloud of doom appeared over her head. "I had to get rescued by Naruto. Why couldn't it have been Sasuke-kun?!"

"A-Ah." Ria decided to ignore the Sasuke comment as she had been doing for the past few years and move on, "If you didn't get the bells, how'd you pass?"

Ino perked up, diving right back into storytelling mode, "Right?! I was surprised, too! So, after we all came back to where we started, Naruto got tied to a stump cause he was such an idiot, you know, but then Kakashi-sensei gave us these bentos and told them that we could have a second chance so long as we didn't give any to Naruto."

"It was obviously another test so I gave a bite to Naruto as soon as Sensei left. Oh, and Sasuke-kun did, too! He was so cool..." Ino obtained a dreamy look on her face, eyes staring into the far off distance.

Ria sweatdropped, raising a hand to wave back and forth before Ino's eyes. "Ino... Ino!"

She jolted, snapped out of whatever daydream she was having, "Huh?! What?! Here!"

Ria laughed, a small smile tugging at her lips, "You didn't finish your story. Did your sensei find out you were breaking his rules?"

"Oh. Yeah!" Ino nodded enthusiastically, grinning, "But it was a total scam, like I thought. And then he said something like, 'those who break the rules are scum, but those that abandon their friends are worse than scum.' It was really cool even though I already knew that!" Stars twinkled around her briefly.

Ria nodded in understanding. Even though Ino didn't end up on the Ino-Shika-Cho team, they had had teamwork beaten into their skulls since birth. It came as easy as breathing. "And then he passed you guys?"

"Mm-hm. It was great! Though Sasuke-kun didn't want to have dinner with me..."

Ria laughed warmly and hugged her sister, "Well, I'm glad that you passed, Sasuke or not. You're starting missions tomorrow?"

"Yeah! You already had some today, right?" Ino pulled away to pin her with an inquisitive look, "How did they go?"

"Hmm, well..." Ria smiled ruefully. "They were really boring actually."

"Eeh?!" Ino seemed at a lost for words before puffing out a breath. "And here I thought they would be fun."

"Yeah, no." She shook her head before turning to Hanako, who was just about done with dinner, "Mama? Choji-kun's Mama wants me over for dinner tomorrow."

"That's fine, honey." Hanako assured her, plating the food. "But make sure to let your Papa know."

"Mm-kay."

Ino grinned widely and tugged lightly at her left earring, "Well, we both passed and that's a thing to celebrate, right?"

Ria looked cautiously at the glint of mischief in her twin's eyes, "... Right?"

"Right! So we should totally have pudding for dessert tonight!" Ino turned pleading eyes their Mama's way, who laughed fondly.

"Hai, hai."

"YES!" Ino threw her hands in the air and grabbed Ria's hand, "Come on! Let's make the pudding!"

Ria smiled indulgently, "Hai, hai..."

Me: I'm very sorry, everyone, but all of my stories will be on hiatus for now. I've just lost interest in writing for the time being. Still, thank you all for sticking with me and, of course, thanks to my beta, who is awesome.