Coco: I apologize ahead of time for all the typos. I'll try to proof read better next time XD Anyway, I hope you like the beginning of my new Naruto Story. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue this one without becoming unpleased with it like all the others. Let's keep our fingers crossed, okay? And please, feel free to leave a review. All reviews are welcomed expect flames. There's no reason to be rude.

Edit: I think I fixed all the typos...I'm kind of going through all the chapters and fixing them XD So, hopefully they'll be easier to read. I promise I try to edit these babies, but I miss way more mistakes than I like to admit.

Oh! And I did change a bit of the dialogue in this chapter and few other things, but mostly it's just grammar/word mistakes that were changed.

There was once a small nation known as the Land of Spring. It was a beautiful land covered in flowers of brilliant colors and radiant beauty. It was a place where it always seemed to be spring. The people there loved their lives and felt protected by the ninja village there known as Hanagakure or the Village Hidden in the Flowers. The village wasn't headed by a Kage like the one of the Five Great Ninja Nations, but by the Taikanhana Clan who have been royalty within the land for generations. The people of Hanagakure and the Land of Spring respected and revered the Taikanhana Clan, and no one ever thought the clan might ever come to a day where it ended.

However, one night the Taikanhana Clan Estate was turned crimson by rising flames that engulfed whatever they touched. The sounds of people screaming and shouting tainted the air, and blood stained the beautiful flowers on the ground as ninja of Hanagakure fought ninja from Kirigakure who were slaughtering citizens as well the shinobi. And witnessing it all was the young princess of the clan—Taikanhana Tsubaki. She stood in the field of white camellia blossoms, which she was named after with tears running down her face.

"Tsubaki-sama!"

Tsubaki turned her head seeing her personal guard—Himura Ichigo—running towards her. The older girl hurried to Tsubaki's side to kneel in front of her.

"Tsubaki-sama, are you injured?" Ichigo asked placing her hands on Tsubaki's shoulders.

Tsubaki shook her head unable to talk since all she could do was cry as she wiped away the tears.

"I'm sorry, Tsubaki-sama, but we must move now." Ichigo said. "We will most likely be safe once we cross into the Land of Fire."

Tsubaki went to protest since she wanted to be with her father and mother, but Ichigo didn't give her the choice. Ichigo scooped her up before running away from the burning estate. Tsubaki begged her to stop and go back for her parents even if the young girl knew it was too late for the both of them, but Ichigo just kept running.

"Tōsan! Okasan!" Tsubaki screamed.

Tsubaki gasped sitting up quickly in bed as a bit of sweat rolled down the side of her face. She took in a few huffing breaths as she looked around to see she was in her room in Konoha. Tsubaki let out a sigh as she realized it was just a dream. She then heard a knock on her door, so she turned towards it as a young woman poked her head in. This woman, who looked to be in her early twenties, had red locks that almost resembled the color of strawberries. Her eyes were a pale blue color framed by dark lashes, which stuck out against her pale skin. She had a heart-shaped face with a kind smile on her face as she looked to Tsubaki.

The woman wore a tightfitting, sleeveless black muscle shirt with a green flak jacket over it that most of the ninja wore in Konoha. She left her jacket unzipped, and she had gotten it customized, so it cropped to stop below her bosom. She then had on black fingerless gloves that went up past her elbows, almost to her shoulders. She wore black hakama like pants that tightened above her ankles then white bandages that went under white socks, and on her feet were black slippers. Around her hips was her hitai-ate that she was using like a belt. Finally she had her weapon holsters on her left thigh, and a sword short attached to her waist horizontally in the back.

"It's time to get up, Tsubaki-sama." The woman, who was the woman from Tsubaki's dream, said as she continued to smile. "You do not wish to be late for the Academy, do you? I believe today is the day you are placed with your team and meet your sensei."

Tsubaki sighed wishing she could just crawl back under her covers, but she knew that wasn't the case. She worked too hard to get to this day to just be late because she wanted a few more minutes of sleep.

"Yes, it's time to get up, isn't it?" Tsubaki murmured. "Thank-you, Ichigo, for waking me. I'll get ready immediately."

Ichigo nodded her head then ducked out of Tsubaki's room, so Tsubaki could get ready for school. Tsubaki let out another sigh before getting out of bed. It was time to get ready for another day in Konohagakure. The place that has been her home since she was six, and she had immediately been placed into the Academy upon arrival since she was of age. She hasn't made a lot of close friends since she tended to stay to herself. The only people she really spoke to in her class were Hyūga Hinata since she was such a nice girl even if shy and Nara Shikamaru since he was usually a calm natured guy…mostly due to the fact he's lazy.

Then there was Uzumaki Naruto…Tsubaki doesn't really have a friendly relationship with the troublemaker of her class. However, she doesn't hate him like so many others seem to do. In fact, if Tsubaki was just more sociable in general, she might have tried to befriend the boy, but having two close acquaintances—Hinata and Shikamaru—was her limit. She was busy with training most of the time anyway, so she didn't have time to socialize anyway. Though she sometimes feels as if she should make time to try and be nice to Naruto since he always seems lonely. She'll sit with him at lunch or speak to him in a pass by, but that was about it.

She then has somewhat of a respect for Uchiha Sasuke since he's such a good student, but the two tend not to speak to each other. Mostly because Tsubaki isn't going to fight through his fangirls to talk him, and she feels as if he sees her as a rival since he's the highest scored male in the class why she's the highest scored female. She's been giving it her all in all her classes since she wanted to be a strong kunoichi to protect all those who have protected her or shown her kindness like Ichigo, Sarutobi Hiruzen—the Sandaime Hokage—, and all those in Konoha who welcomed her to the village with open arms. She would become a great Kunoichi that will protect this village with her own hands.

Tsubaki walked out of her bathroom ready to head out, but she paused in front of her mirror to give herself a once over. The girl who looked back at her was a young preteen girl with long white hair that she had in a right side bun that was woven to almost resemble the white camellia flower she was named after. Her bangs swept to the left side of her face to partially cover her left eye. Her eyes were a pale yellow that resembled the center of a flower. They were framed by lashes that were as white as her hair, which was an unusual trait to see on anyone. Her skin was pale as well, and looked almost too delicate and fragile to belong to a young kunoichi.

She wore a pale pink, sleeveless kimono dress that was short and stopped mid-thigh. The bottom of the kimono was also loose, so it was easy to move in. She did have long flowing sleeves that partially covered her hands that were unattached from the main outfit, and held to her arms just under her shoulders by light purple ribbons. The sleeves and ribbons were accented with light purple blossoms, and around the middle of the kimono was a black sash that covered from under her small bosom then most of her torso. It was tied into a bow in the back, and in the front the metal plate to her hitai-ate was sewn in. She then had on black leggings that went to her ankles and up to the edge of her thighs. Finally her weapon pouches were on her left right held there by a bandage.

She smoothed out the skirt of her dress then finally left her room. After passing through the living room, she walked into the kitchen to see that Ichigo was finishing breakfast. Ichigo smiled at Tsubaki as the young kunoichi sat down in her usual chair at their small kitchen table. Ichigo and Tsubaki had a fairly large apartment to themselves, and it has been there home ever since coming to Konohagakure. It was decorated in a style similar to how homes were decorated in the Land of Spring. It was a soft and elegant style that the Land of Spring was known for.

"Are you ready to start your genin training, Tsubaki-sama?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes." Tsubaki said confident. "I worked hard to get this far, and I am going to keep going farther on my path of becoming a ninja."

Ichigo nodded her head while expecting no less from Tsubaki since she was an excellent kunoichi. She's worked hard since the first day they had arrived here. In fact, Tsubaki trained so much that Ichigo would worry about her often since Tsubaki would sometimes come up home late looking as if she battled with a small group of ninja or pack of wild animals. Sometimes she wouldn't come home on her own, and Ichigo would find her little mistress lying in a field exhausted and unable to move from using too much chakra.

"Even though I know you don't need it, I'd like to say good luck." Ichigo said as she placed Tsubaki's breakfast in front of her.

Tsubaki thanked Ichigo for the breakfast and for wishing her good luck before digging in. Ichigo then looked at the clock seeing it was time to get to work.

"Well, I better get going." Ichigo said. "Have a good day, Tsubaki-sama."

She waved to Tsubaki then left, which left Tsubaki to her own thoughts. Tsubaki ate in silence while not even worried about today. She would work hard as a genin, and then she would start her true path down to becoming a jōnin level kunoichi of Konohagakure.

Tsubaki arrived to the Shinobi Academy while walking into her classroom to see almost everyone else, who also graduated, had already arrived. Tsubaki has never been late to class before, but she wasn't exactly an early student either. She tended to arrive at the very last second, which was fine by her since that still meant she arrived on time.

"Oh, good-morning, Tsubaki-chan." Hinata greeted shyly as Tsubaki took her usual seat beside her.

"Good-morning, Hinata-san." Tsubaki said in reply. "Are you doing well this morning?"

Hinata nodded her head while fiddling with her fingers, which she only does when she's nervous or embarrassed…so often. However, since she was fiddling with her fingers, Tsubaki could tell something was bothering the true Hyūga Heiress. However, she didn't push it since it wasn't her place to. Tsubaki then heard a familiar loudmouth, so she turned her head seeing Uzumaki Naruto in the class speaking to Shikamaru. She thought he didn't pass…or was she mistaken? Her attention was brought off the blonde when the door burst open to show that two people actually arrived later than her. Those people were Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura.

Personally Tsubaki tried to stay away from the two of them since she was afraid their fangirliness would rub off on her. She didn't even understand why the two of them or why most of the girls in their class were here to become ninja since they mostly worried about how they looked and boys…or rather boy since most of them were "in love" with Sasuke. Girls like them are the reason why there are more male ninja than female, and also why that most kunoichi are looked at as weaker than shinobi. Tsubaki was here because she's serious about becoming a ninja. Yes, she did dress in a "girly" manner, but she didn't care if her clothes were ripped or dirtied since she knew that would happen often on missions and during training.

"What team do you think you will be placed on, Tsubaki-chan?" Hinata said. "My Oto-sama told me all genin were placed on three-man teams under the tutelage of a sensei."

Yes, Tsubaki heard of this from Ichigo, and she has seen one of these three men teams running around the village before. They were being led by an odd man with bushy brows and wearing green spandex. He also had been screaming something about youth, and there had been a mini him doing the same as the other two students just looked embarrassed to be seen in public with them.

"Honestly, I don't care who I am placed with." Tsubaki said. "Whoever my teammates are I will try my best to work with them and fight alongside them as any Konoha ninja should do. However, I supposed being on a team with you, Hinata-san, would be more preferable since we are…friends."

Hinata smiled when Tsubaki said they were friends since she didn't have many of those.

"I bet you would like to be placed on the same team as Naruto-san." Tsubaki said nonchalantly.

Though Tsubaki said this casually, Hinata turned beet red, and started stuttering a bit as she looked away shyly. Tsubaki lightly chuckled since Hinata was quite humorous when she got like this, but Tsubaki wasn't laughing at her to be mean or anything. She just found Hinata amusingly adorable when she got this shy. Things then became loud in class as the Sasuke fangirls started fighting over who would sit beside their idle.

"Once again those airheads disrupt the peace in class." Tsubaki said with a sigh. "If their only concern is fawning over a boy, they don't need to be here."

She didn't say this quietly, and all those girls turned to glare at her. She only blinked at them in reply not looking concerned at all.

"You're just jealous!" Most of them shouted.

"Of what?" Tsubaki retorted. "None of you have anything that interests me enough to be jealous over. Also, for girls who love Sasuke-san none of you seem to notice that your crush wants nothing to do with any of you."

This really pissed those girls off, and they looked ready to start a fight. However, Tsubaki didn't feel concerned since she was confident most of them didn't have the courage to actually start a fight against her. Sasuke glanced over at Tsubaki almost feeling grateful that she took those other girls' attention off of him. Sasuke's attention was then brought to Naruto when the blonde crouched in front of him on the desk to glare at him.

The fangirls noticed this, and completely forgot about Tsubaki, so to jump to Sasuke's defense to get Naruto away from him. However, instead of getting away from Sasuke, Naruto got very close after being pushed into Sasuke by a kid in the row in front of theirs. Tsubaki blinked a bit in surprise as the two boys accidentally kissed.

"You do not see that every day." Tsubaki commented casually as the fangirls reacted violently by attacking poor Naruto who looked sickened by the accidental kiss.

Hinata looked at her crush in worry, but was too shy to try and stop those girls. After the beating, Iruka chose that moment to show up to start class. Tsubaki bet Naruto wished their sensei had shown up earlier to protect him from the raging fangirls.

"Now, as of today, you are all ninjas." Iruka said after things settled down. "To get here today, you faced difficult trials and hardships, but that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only genin—first level ninjas. All the genin will be grouped into three man teams. Each team will be led by a jōnin—an elite ninja."

Some of the students seemed surprised to hear this since they hadn't known there would be teams. Tsubaki thought it was common fact that genin started in three man teams. It's been like that for all of the ninja villages for generations, so Tsubaki would think everyone would know how the teams worked for genin.

"We want each team to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up." Iruka said. "However, since we had one late graduate there will be one team with four genin instead of three."

Everyone looked at Naruto when Iruka said this, and the blonde actually blushed a bit at all the attention.

"I will now announce the teams." Iruka said.

He started with team one, and since Tsubaki wasn't hearing her name, she partially tuned Iruka out. However, she did keep up with the numbers he was saying. She didn't tune back in until Iruka reached Team Seven.

"Team Seven: Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka said. "Haruno Sakura."

Naruto cheered when hearing he was with his crush as Sakura looked completely defeated. However, their moods were reversed when Iruka muttered the next name.

"…Uchiha Sasuke…" Iruka announced.

Sakura cheered loudly as Naruto pouted with his head hung low. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"And the fourth member is Taikanhana Tsubaki." Iruka finished for Team Seven.

Tsubaki blinked as some looked surprised to hear Sasuke and Tsubaki would be on the same team. Sasuke even opened one of his eyes to glance back at the white-haired girl who didn't seem to care who the members of her team were.

"Next, Team Eight: Hyūga Hinata." Iruka said.

Hinata jumped slightly since she had been thinking it was sad she hadn't been placed with Naruto.

"Yes, sir." She said meekly.

She now had to worry just who was on her team since the last two positions definitely wouldn't be held by her crush—Naruto—or her friend—Tsubaki—which had her feeling nervous as well.

"Inuzuka Kiba." Iruka continued. "And Aburame Shino."

He then called out Team Nine who Tsubaki didn't try to remember as she wondered how things would turn out with her team. She was placed with the top student of the academy, the prankster, and the fangirl. She knew she said she'd fight alongside whoever was placed on her team, but she wasn't sure if they'd return the favor. She sighed actually starting to feel a bit worried. Iruka then finally called out the last team, which was Team Ten, and it consisted of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chōji.

"Those are all the teams." Iruka said.

"Iruka-sensei, why does a great ninja like me have to be in the same group as a slug like Sasuke?" Naruto demanded.

Sakura glared at him for insulting her crush as Iruka gave an exasperated sigh.

"Sasuke had the best scores of all the graduating students." Iruka said. "Naruto, you had the worst scores. In fact, sadly they were so low that I had to place Tsubaki, who scored second highest in the class, on your team to balance your team."

Naruto blushed in embarrassment when hearing this as some of the students laughed at him.

"Just make sure you don't get in my way, Loser." Sasuke said.

Naruto growled in aggravation as he glared over at Sasuke who didn't even spare him a glance.

"Hey, what'd you say?!" Naruto demanded.

"Hard of hearing?" Sasuke retorted.

Naruto went to say something else, but Sakura started beating him up since she didn't want her precious Sasuke bothered. Tsubaki shook her head knowing teamwork wasn't going to come easy with her new team. Iruka then instructed them to have lunch, and when they came back that their instructors would arrive to pick them up. Everyone stood to leave, and Tsubaki was going to approach her team to ask if they wanted to have lunch together. However, Sasuke vanished, Sakura ran off to try and find him, and Naruto ran after her. This had her sighing. Already off to a great start it seems.

"Um, Tsubaki-chan, I'm sure Kiba and Shino won't mind if you join us for lunch." Hinata said as she stood with her new teammates.

"Yeah, we won't mind." Kiba said grinning.

Tsubaki let out another soft sigh as she turned to look at Hinata, Kiba, and Shino. And Akamaru as well, of course.

"No, thank-you." Tsubaki said. "I need to try and get to know my new team. However, thank-you for the invitation."

Tsubaki bowed politely to them then left the classroom to try and catch up to her classmates. After finally making it outside, she saw Sakura leaving behind a crushed Naruto. Tsubaki walked up to the blonde as he looked down at the ground.

"Naruto-san, would you like to have lunch together?" Tsubaki asked.

Naruto lifted his head to look at Tsubaki as she stood there with her hands folded in front of her.

"Oh, Tsubaki, it's you." Naruto said. "Actually…I think I'll eat alone. I don't feel like company."

Naruto walked away with Tsubaki lightly frowning. Whatever Sakura said to him must have really hurt his feelings. She then wondered if she should even try to ask Sakura to have lunch together, or try to find Sasuke to ask him as well.

"I suppose I will be eating alone." Tsubaki said to herself.

Ichigo stood in the Hokage's office with a frown on her face as she stood in front of said man and beside her charge's new sensei.

"Sandaime-sama, I am not sure how I feel about the sensei you chose for Tsubaki-sama." Ichigo said as she glanced over at Hatake Kakashi.

"I know you would rather look after Tsubaki yourself, but you aren't an instructor yet." Hiruzen said. "You were just made jōnin after all. Kakashi has many years' experience and due to his Sharingan Eye he has copied the ancient arts of the Taikanhana Clan, which means he is the perfect choice to be Tsubaki's sensei."

Ichigo frowned even more though knew those things were true. However, she wasn't a fan of Kakashi. Or rather he had wronged her, and she was still holding a grudge. But it was more that she was worried Kakashi wouldn't look after Tsubaki as she believed he should.

"If I become the official sensei for Team Seven, I will look out for all my students." Kakashi said to Ichigo. "But I will not give special treatment to Taikanhana Tsubaki just because of her history or status. Besides, if she wishes to be a kunoichi, she can't be babied forever."

Ichigo was about to tell Kakashi to watch his mouth, but Hiruzen cleared his throat to bring both Kakashi and Ichigo's attention to him.

"I have made my final decision, and if Tsubaki and her teammates pass Kakashi's test, they will become his students." Hiruzen said. "And Kakashi does have a point, Ichigo. Tsubaki cannot be babied forever by you, and you know that she doesn't wish to be either."

Ichigo looked to the side knowing this, but she had sworn to look after Tsubaki since the moment the girl was born. The thought of the girl she partially raised being harmed in anyway…made her a tad sick.

"Very well, Sandaime-sama." Ichigo said dipping her head. "If that is what you wish."

She then turned to leave without waiting to be dismissed. Hiruzen nodded to Kakashi to let him know he could leave if he wished. Kakashi followed after Ichigo, and the two adults walked down the hall in silence.

"So, Ichigo, how have you been?" Kakashi asked.

"None of your business." Ichigo replied shortly. "Now if you excuse me, I have duties to see to, Hatake."

She walked on as Kakashi stopped with a sigh leaving his lips. He can't really blame the woman for being hostile towards him, but he was hoping they moved past what happened over a year ago. Obviously, she hasn't though. He then blinked when noticing that Ichigo paused for a moment. She seemed to take a deep breath before looking back at him.

"I know for a fact that Tsubaki-sama will pass your little test." Ichigo said. "So don't write her or her teammates off so quickly like I know you have. But if you don't want to listen to me then prepared to be surprised."

She then continued on her way as Kakashi tilted his head. She thought her ward had what it took to pass his test, huh? He was interested to see if she was right.