A/N: English is not my native language, and this chapter is not beta'd so I apologize for the mistakes!

Team Nine - Part 1

"Good luck today."

The comment came out of the blue. I glanced up and found my otouto studying his cup of tea intently, wilfully ignoring the baffled expression I aimed at him.

Most bystanders would probably think I was simply giving him a bored look. My Uchiha tendencies ran deep, and even to this day I wasn't one to naturally over emote. That aside, it had been sweet of him to wish me well, but pretty random.

The little comment would've been more fitting a few days before when I was in the middle of exams and stressing out. Whatever Sasuke's reasons though, today was my first official day as a Genin of Konohagakure. So perhaps it wasn't that odd to receive some well wishes.

Because of a lack of information I wasn't sure what to expect, and so approached the day as any other. I had dressed in my regular training gear, though there was one difference in the form of my shiny new forehead protector.

The graduation exam had been three days ago, which had marked the end to my steadily rising blood pressure and sugar intake. I had a thing for eating sweets while studying, a bad habit really, but I felt it helped. The downside was that this exam had at long last revealed my weakness to Sasuke, and the next morning I awoke to find he'd switched my storage of easy treats with fruits. That had been followed by a half hour lecture about unhealthy eating habits and training retrogressions.

Now that I've reached the other side of the tunnel I guess I owed him for that, though at the time I had been pretty furious he had flushed my stack of chocolate frosted cookies from the neighbourhood bakery.

I had gone in confident I would graduate - I worked and studied too hard to fail - so what had made the entire event such an exhausting experience was my refusal to place behind Neji.

I had once promised okaasan I would beat him, and as afraid as I had been of disappointing my parents when they were alive, the pressure of the dead was even greater.

It had been a hard won victory, and not as clear as I would have liked.

The title "Rookie of the Year" was a bit misleading. Some believed it went to the highest scoring student of the year, which wasn't necessarily true, instead it went to "the best student that graduated that year" – meaning all our scores since the very first day of the academy counted, and not just the final twelve months. Every tiny score we received during tests and evaluations were kept documented throughout the years, and the last tally was what decided who took the "Rookie of the Year" title.

You can just imagine how maddening the back and forth had been between me and Neji. He had regularly scored a point or two above me in taijutsu, but I did the same in ninjutsu. He beat me in strategy, I beat him in cooperation. I beat him in genjutsu, he beat me in stealth, I beat him in stamina, he beat me in strength.

And so forth and so forth.

I had started out ahead of him, but fell off after the massacre before I managed to catch up again, which meant it was a real nail biter there at the end.

It was so close Funeno-sensei was depending on the results of the final exams to figure out which of us would be the Rookie of the Year. Which again was the source of my above average sugar intake.

It was a great relief when I left the academy grounds three days ago with my new standard issue Konoha headband and the Rookie of the Year title, while a stony eyed Hyūga Neji marched home as the runner up and top shinobi.

I had proved to myself and Sasuke I could do it, but now that I had finished I was left in tense anticipation wondering what was to come.

The last few days of nothing to do had only increased my restlessness, and even spending long hours on the training ground had only helped minimally with my growing expectations. The day before I had wandered down to the administration building and filed my paperwork, and taken my ID photo for my ninja registration card, but even that had only taken an hour in total.

I knew we'd get more information at the academy today, and I was more than ready to get started.

Sasuke was another matter. His end of year scores showed that like usual he was placed comfortably at the top, and was much more relaxed in his position than I had ever been.

This would be his final year at the academy and though he was ready to begin with classes again he did not mind training on his own too. His classes wouldn't start until the next day, so he was eating a pretty late breakfast with me for a change.

"Thanks, I'll see you later, otouto." I called as I got up, grinning sheepishly when he scowled at me, though there was no heat in it.

"Hn."

I was one of the last to arrive to class, though not the latest.

For once Funeno-sensei was five minutes late, and when he finally arrived he was sweating and panting, his sweater inside out and he acted pretty stressed.

He appeared as if he'd knocked into a minor whirlwind, dragged off course and then hadn't had the time to readjust his mindset before class. So distracted he began the farewell speech only to find out halfway through he'd brought along his grocery list instead of the assignment sheet.

The man just seemed to be having a bad day all around.

Tenten had taken the open seat next to Shiho today, and I could hear her cackle as Funeno-sensei jogged back out the door to hunt down the sheet he'd misplaced.

Before sensei had hurried inside everyone had been animatedly chatted amongst ourself with nervous energy, and once he was gone again everyone broke into a renewed round of mutters. "I think sensei woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Shiho sighed and adjusted her glasses.

"Yeah, I wonder what happened to frazzle him so." Tenten agreed, leaning forwards to make eye contact with me. Her smile was sharp.

"What did he mean about an assignment sheet anyway? I thought we were done here. Can the academy still set us assignments even after we've graduated?" I asked curiously, wondering what that was about.

Shiho and Tenten both turned to me, then towards the door.

"No, I think it's probably the team assignments." Tenten replied with a shrug.

I stopped, trying to figure out what Tenten had meant by that. "Team… assignment?"

That comment had Shiho and Tenten looking at me as if I was being obtusely slow.

"Yeah." They chorused as if it should have been obvious.

"What team assignment?" I asked, because though I'm pretty sure this was the wrong thing to ask, I couldn't just not know either.

"Genin team assignments… Haven't you heard of them?" Shiho asked, her brow furrowed as she exchanged another glance with Tenten.

"Ah, it's probably because of..." Tenten trailed off, even if I wished she wouldn't. Tenten wasn't shy, so when she tried to misdirect a subject that way, I knew she was speaking about the massacre. Really, people had become very mindful about not mentioning it to me or Sasuke. It had become nearly annoying how careful people were to not mention it. Then again, if they just spoke about it to me I'd probably react badly as well, so maybe the awkward trail off was the lesser evil.

"What Tenten is referring to is the Genin team system. When a class graduates the academy they are divided into genin teams. Ideally the number of graduates adds up so teams consist of three students each under the tutelage of one jonin sensei. If the number doesn't add up a student can be assigned a pre-existing team to fill a vacant spot or enter an apprenticeship under certain conditions." Shiho rattled off, sounding as if she was reading directly from an instruction manual.

"I see… Do we get a say in these teams?" I wondered, even if I could probably guess the answer to that.

"No." Tenten replied.

"For how long?" I enquired, leaning forwards, a little stressed about the concept now.

Shiho and Tenten shared another look, before the latter answered me with a sheepish little smirk. "It varies. Some stays together for a while, perhaps a couple years? I'm not sure. I don't think there's a hard rule for it. Then there's those who remain working with their team their entire career."

"Excuse me?"

Tenten giggled at my horrified expression, while Shiho patted my shoulder consolingly. "Don't worry so much about your potential teammates, Junko." My bespectacled classmate said soothingly.

"Yeah, worry about what sensei you get instead!" Tenten agreed with what I could only describe as malicious eagerness. There was a glint in her eye she usually only wore when keeping hidden ace up her sleeve during our sparring matches.

"Why should I worry about that instead?" I asked, knowing I was playing into her hands but unable to pass over such an ominous statement.

"Apparently there's a sensei that keeps denying people onto his team." Tenten said.

"Denying people?"

Tenten was nodding eagerly, and obviously enjoying my complete lack of knowledge on this topic. Perhaps because it was usually the other way around. "Yes. I heard he's really strict and sent them back to the academy to repeat another year."

I blanched, horrified at the very idea. Repeat a year?

"I'm sure you don't have him, Junko." Shiho comforted me with an assured nod. "And no one can be forced back to the academy. You can go to the genin corp if all else fails."

I'm sure Shiho meant well, but it kind of had the opposite effect.

I tried to imagine Sasuke's face if I told him I had failed and would have to graduate with his class. I don't think I'd ever regain my otouto's respect if that happened.

I was about to demand more, because that last bit had startled me, but that was when Funeno-sensei returned, cutting off all chatter in the room once more. His cheeks were a little red, most likely from the embarrassment of mixing up his documents rather than the jog back and forth from the teachers lounge. He was an active chūnin, the stretch was hardly far enough to wind him.

"Alright, let' try this once more, eh?" He sheepishly scratched his chin, a nervous tick he fell back on whenever he had lost the trail of a lecture.

"Again; congratulation to you all for passing the graduation exam. I'm really proud of you." He gave a warm smile that had several of my classmates puffing out their chests with renewed confidence. I saw Shiho's shoulders lean back and Tenten's smile widen. I wasn't sure if I had such a tell, but I knew it was less visible than the other two girls. In fact, I glanced at Neji, who was as stone faced as ever.

I had heard several times we were pretty similar, so I probably looked a lot like that too.

"You're now recognized as protectors of Konohagakure, and as fresh graduates you'll be placed in teams of three genin under the leadership of a jōnin. The teams have been carefully put together and approved by Hokage-sama, so even if you don't agree with your placement there will be no alterations. You're seen as adults in the eyes of the village, and with that responsibility on your shoulders I expect a certain level of maturity from each of you no matter who you have to work with."

I felt a twinge in my stomach as he glanced at me at those words.

"I'll call out your placements now. Please pay attention."

Funeno-sensei looked down at the sheet and started calling out the teams immediately. "Team one will consist of..."

While sensei spoke I watched as several of the kids in class either cheered, was surprised or outright disappointed as the teams were revealed.

"Team three will consist of Iroha, Tarō and Jirō, your jōnin sensei is Hatake Kakashi." The three brothers at the back of the room grinned at one another, and I idly wondered how that would turn out. They were family but also had to work together from now on. I'm not sure I would have liked it if I had to do the same. Somehow I couldn't picture being on a team with Sasuke… Not because we couldn't collaborate, but because we already lived together. It'd be kind of overkill to have to work together as well. We'd never get rid of one another.

"Team four will consist of Shiho, Akimichi Makaro and Tenten. Your jonin sensei is Yamashiro Aoba." Funeno-sensei called out. And just like that the two people I worked best with went in one swoop. I bit my lip as both my table mates perked up and grinned at being together.

I felt a little bit cheated here.

Our sensei called a few more teams before I heard my own name. "Team nine will consist of Uchiha Junko, Hyūga Neji and Rock Lee. Your jōnin sensei is Might Gai."

To hide my scowl I folded my hands so they covered the bottom half of my face.

Fantastic. I'm not sure what I hoped for, but I'm pretty sure if given a choice of anyone in the class these two, especially together, would be the terror two to have on your team… Neji might be skilled, but it was still Neji. We had yet to hold a civil conversation about anything but shuriken projectile calculations. And that was two years ago, otherwise we existed in communal silence. While Rock Lee was… Lee.

Next to me Tenten and Shiho weren't bothering to hide their reactions and kept sending me understanding and sympathetic glances.

I was honestly suspecting someone very bored in the administration building had done one of two things when putting the three of us together. Either they'd been pulling names out of a hat at random, and considering my lot in life that was possible. Or they were so bored they put us together for the entertainment value and was now setting us loose on the village just to see how much damage we'd cause, probably for the sole reason of fighting off the tedium of their dreary desk jobs.

Funeno-sensei finished off the list and smiled widely while gathering his stuff together, preparing to leave once more. "We'll take a break for lunch where I suggest you spend time with your new teammates. Come back in forty five minutes and you'll be collected from the classroom by your new jōnin sensei. Good luck everyone."

Well, I could only hope this Might Gai was a sensible figure.

The first thing Shiho did was turn to me, a sympathetic tilt to her brow that didn't really make me feel much better. "Good luck with your new team, Junko."

"Yeah, good luck, Jun-Jun." Tenten added and stood up while our class had clattered into action. The volume had gone up abruptly as everyone had erupted into chatter and movements.

I stood up from my desk, glancing at the row behind me where Lee was smiling widely and giving me the thumbs up. "Junko! We are now teammates under the same jōnin sensei! Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey!"

I blinked.

Tenten, who had been about to leave, stopped mid step and turned back at us with the same disbelieving expression as I was trying to avoid making.

Did he just say what I think he said?

"I'm sorry? What did you say?"

Lee looked very put out that I didn't automatically catch on to what he was speaking about, but before he could answer Neji cut into our conversation. He'd made his way over from his own row to stand in front of my desk, arms folded in front of him and the typical sullen frown on his face.

"You know who our sensei will be?"

Lee nodded energetically. "Yosh! I've already met Gai-sensei! He inspired me to do my best and work hard to achieve my goals!"

I stood up to join the crowd while Lee decided to take the shortcut by jumping over the desks, down two rows and onto the floor. He was almost vibrating with energy.

"Really? I didn't know you were so well connected with the elite of the village. Do you know a lot of jōnin?" I asked, curious about this side of Lee.

I never got the impression he knew many people. He was very loud, very intense and quite a lot to deal with at a time. I had always preferred him in smaller portions, and I wasn't unique in that regard.

"Eh? No, unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to know many jōnin, Junko. Only Gai-sensei, and we met a year ago!"

I tilted my head, having partly expected that answer. "That's lucky." I said wryly. "To think that of all the jōnin in the village you'd end up with a sensei you know and admire." I mused, starting to think there was no such thing as luck involved at all.

Lee didn't seem to catch my hint. "It is!" He smiled brilliantly, missing the point entirely.

Though Neji had caught on, and I heard him give a "tsk" sound as he turned away.

We followed the crowd outside, Lee doing most of the talking by filling Neji and I in on what he knew of Gai-sensei.

From what I gathered he was a taijutsu master, "fantastically inspirational" and "very cool". They didn't know each other as well as I first suspected, as Lee claimed they had only spoken a couple of times where he had given Lee a few tips for how to improve on his taijutsu.

It actually explained a lot. Rock Lee had been dead last for a long time, mostly because without the ability to use jutsu his scores had suffered badly. His theoretical work wasn't very good either, but his taijutsu had been passable, at least in the beginning. I'd give him credit for hard work despite being born with zero talent. Even I had noticed that.

Neji remained quiet the entire meal, barely touching his lunch, leaving me to ask pointed questions.

Though I couldn't be certain, my conclusion was that Gai-sensei most likely took this team to get Lee as his student, which didn't really bode well for me and Neji. A strange turn of events which I found both insulting yet a bit amusing. After all; Neji and I were the best in class, so you'd think it would have been the other way around, wouldn't you?

Though perhaps I was judging too quickly. I'd find out soon enough what the deal with Gai-sensei was.

We returned to class and this time everyone had seated themselves according to teams. Shiho waved at me when I passed the row I normally occupied, Makaro sitting in my usual spot while Tenten was nearly bouncing in anticipation.

We slid into the row Neji usually sat at, Lee in the middle with me next to the isle, and soon after the jōnin began showing up. A purple haired woman picked up team one, a nondescript dark haired man came to get team 5, but I took extra notice as a guy with spiky black hair and sunglasses introduced himself as Yamashiro Aoba and collected team four. Tenten gave me a wobbly grin when she left, while Shiho had grown increasingly nervous and was so distracted she left without a backward glance.

The next to come in stood out from the rest. Mostly because of all the Green. And yes, the capital G was necessary.

He was tall with tanned skin and a wide mouth. His black hair was styled in a shiny bowl cut of a hairdo, his brows grew thickly and close together, but most noticeable was how he was built like a tank. All ninjas were strong, and it showed in their physiques, but this man was unusually muscular even amongst ninjas.

Then to top it off he was wearing a green unitard, orange leggings and a red belt with the Konoha headband stitched onto it.

When he entered everyone just had to take a moment to stare. The man just drew attention.

And I had a sinking feeling the moment I spotted him.

Didn't Lee say something about a Green Beast?

"I am Might Gai and I'm here to pick up team nine." He boomed in a deep, carrying voice.

Lee nearly threw himself out of his seat before he finished speaking, while Neji and I decided it would probably be best to let our third teammate lead on this one.

We followed the two out of the room to curious glances and whispers from our fellow classmates, many who seemed relieved this man had turned out to be someone else's sensei.

Gai-sensei didn't waste any time and directed us out into the hallway as another jōnin went inside to pick up their team.

He turned to us, his hands coming to rest on his hips and a kind smile broke across his face. At least he wasn't trying to intimidate us. With his size he had a fair chance of managing so. Also… the entire wardrobe choice was a bit off putting in itself.

"Hello students! Before we get to work we need to have a team meeting! I have decided that for our first talk we'll go somewhere more comfortable. Meet me at the roof of the genin lounge for a proper team talk! Let's go!"

And then he ran off.

The sheer speed of his departure from the now empty corridor was so swift I was half convinced it had been a shunshin and not just an abrupt sprint.

Lee gave a cry of "Yosh!" and sprang after him, and as that had pretty much been a direct order Neji and I were not far behind.

It wasn't a long run. The academy building was only a block away from the Genin lounge, and from there it was just a matter of finding out which building he had meant. The Genin lounge was a collection of four buildings, so there were several roofs he could have been speaking about.

Gai-sensei was extremely fast, and by the time the three of us had rounded the last corner he was already out of sight. Though after a quick overview I took an educated guess and pointed at the couple of startled Genin standing in the doorway of the next tallest building.

They certainly had the expressions of someone who had just encountered an unexpected scare, and Neji agree with me.

We ran up the staircase and out onto the roof where Gai-sensei was awaiting us with keen impatience. "You made it! Fantastic! Come, come, sit down. We have a few things to discuss."

He gestured to the seats by the roof's railing. It was a nice outdoor seating area and we had the entire thing to ourself. I wasn't sure if it was just not used much, if it had been booked or if Gai-sensei had somehow scared everyone away. I thought all three possibilities likely, and not mutually exclusive.

Lee skipped over and took a seat, while Neji found a place on the other side. That left me with the middle, and all three of us turned expectantly towards Gai-sensei once we were comfortable. I won't deny it, I was nervous about this, and I still didn't know what to expect.

Gai-sensei looked at each of us in turn, his smile still friendly and encouraging, and not just when he looked at Lee either. That had to be a good sign, right?

"My name is Might Gai and I'm very happy to have you here today. I know something about all of you already. Of course we have the hard working Rock Lee," He pointed straight at Lee. If the movement hadn't been so demonstrative and powerful I would have thought it offensive, instead it just looked… fanciful?

"Then there is the Rookie of the Year, Uchiha Junko!" He continued, his pointing finger snapping over to me, resting just long enough for him to finish his little comment, before moving to the last.

"And Neji, a genius shinobi of the Hyūga."

He finished with reforming his hand gestures from pointing rudely into a quick thumbs up and adding on a crooked smirk for effect.

"Yosh!" Lee shouted in agreement, though I wasn't sure what he was answering.

With a satisfied nod Gai-sensei folded his arms over his chest. Drawing attention to his bulging biceps. There really was no way to ignore that the unitard was quite revealing.

"From today you are Genin, but you still have a long way to go. To start off I want to take this time to hear your goals." Gai-sensei started, indicating for us to do just that and start speaking.

Neji leaned back, his arm coming to rest against the back of his seat. It was almost as if I could see the wall rise around him. The drawbridge being pulled up and the windows shutting around the boy. "I don't want to answer that."

I struggled against the urge to roll my eyes.

In contradiction Lee looked as if he wanted nothing more than to dive head-first into whatever our new sensei wished or desired. To my left Lee was sitting ram rod straight like a strung piano wire as his hand shot up in the air. "Sensei!" He called much too loudly, "I want to prove that even without mastering ninjutsu or genjutsu, one can become a great ninja! That is what I live for!"

From my right side I heard Neji scoff, and unfortunately so did Lee. He jumped to his feet and pointed at the Hyuuga angrily. "Hey, what's so funny?!"

Neji glanced at Lee as if that should be obvious. "Listen, if you can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, you can't be a ninja. What? Are you stupid?"

The words were cruel, even if I kind of got what Neji was getting at. I honestly agreed with him a little, and Lee was clearly touchy about the subject too.

I wasn't sure but Neji didn't seem to know about Lee's condition. If not he wouldn't react this way… Right?

Gai-sensei did not look as if he agreed though. Instead he winked at Lee, his grin broadening as he intervened. "No. That's not necessarily true, if one has the passion."

He shifted to face Lee. "If you spend your youth with a good rival, sparring together and honing your skills, there's no doubt you will become a fine ninja." He shifted position to give Lee yet another thumbs up. "But you will need determination."

Lee brightened, and I was certain there were actual stars in his eyes when he looked up at Gai-sensei. "Yes!"

Sensei nodded and spoke again "What about you?"

With all the dramatics it took me a moment to realize he was talking to me this time.

"Hn..." I shrugged. "Goals?" I pronounced it as if it was a foreign word.

Keep Sasuke safe? Be strong enough that I don't have to fear Itachi anymore? To make sure nothing like that ever happen again?

I could say a lot here.

Yet I didn't.

It really wasn't any of their business.

"Get better." I said vaguely.

All three males seemed to expect me to say more, but I kept silent as they waited for me to speak again. Instead I shrugged and looked up at the sky.

Gai-sensei tilted his head when the silence stretched into awkwardness. "Well, my goal is to train an excellent team!" He finished, grinning widely at each of us in turn. "However, if it'll be you is still not certain."

He switched from confident and cheery to serious very fast. I was getting whiplash from following the mood swings in this conversation.

His words seemed to have agitated Neji out of his "too elite to contribute" attitude at least. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"You may have graduated, but it's up to the individual senseis to decide if they will take on a team or not. If the genin are not satisfactory the jōnin are free to reject them. So to decide who is qualified there's another test." Gai-sensei's smile was positively wicked as he said this.

I swallowed.

I had not known that. Again I wondered how I had not heard of this before.

"What happens if we fail?" I asked nervously.

Gai-sensei shrugged. "You'll have other options, but know that if I fail you it's as much for your own sake as it is mine. It means we are not suited to work together."

"What test is this Gai-sensei?" Lee asked, sounding distressed at the idea of not being able to work with Gai.

"You will find out Lee. Meet me at training ground seventeen tomorrow at five for the test! Prepare yourself! Only those in the springtime of youth will prevail!"

Then there was a burst of smoke, and Gai-sensei was gone.

"Ah! Gai-sensei is so cool!" Lee exclaimed.

I was still a bit dazed by the entire whirlwind of a meeting.

For the first time Neji and I locked eyes and I was sure that for once we were on the exact same wavelength.

Though the meeting was eventful, it had also been pretty short and I still had most of the day left at my disposal.

Lee was so fired up he went running down the street shouting about how he would prevail and conquer all. At the same time Neji shuffled away pretending he had never met Lee in his entire life, leaving me to go off on my own as well.

I would admit I was bit worked up too. I wanted to prove to Gai-sensei I had what it took. That there was no test he could put me through that I'd fail. No way was I going back to the academy or to the Genin corp! Who did he think he was?

So instead of heading home I went training, motivated to do well and push myself, and as a result time ran away from me.

I came home after Sasuke, who for once had started making dinner without my prompting. It never failed to surprise me to realize Sasuke was a good cook when he wanted to be. After all he rarely bothered.

While he prepared the food I washed up quickly and then went to set the table. By the time we were sitting down to eat it was dark outside.

"How did it go?" Sasuke asked.

His question had me a bit stumped. "I- eh… am not sure." I replied honestly. Sasuke arched a brow and stopped eating to give me his full attention. "I didn't know that after graduation there would be team placements." I explained.

From Sasuke's blank face I gathered he had no idea what I was talking about.

Good, then it was not just me. I had been a bit worried I had missed something obvious.

I knew Konoha teams usually came in smaller formations of either three or four, one only had to walk down the street to notice the similar setup just about everywhere, but I didn't know we were assigned a specific one from the very beginning.

Thinking back I always had the impression Itachi had been floating between several divisions and squads for most of his career, and couldn't recall any mention of a "genin team" the way Shiho and Tenten had spoken about it. But Itachi had been an exception in so much, so perhaps he skipped that as well? Then again, I had been three years old when Itachi graduated, and my memory of that time was patchy at best.

"Genin teams." I clarified, pushing away Itachi's face from my mind and explained how it worked. By the end Sasuke was frowning, looking very dubious of this idea as a whole.

"So my teammates are Hyūga Neji and Rock Lee. My sensei is Might Gai…a taijutsu master and a jōnin. I'm not sure how to describe them really..." I trailed off, honestly at a loss for words. It was still early, and perhaps things would be different after the test. Maybe I'd have something more to tell Sasuke by then.

"Hyūga Neji… He's the one from your class." Of course Sasuke had heard of Neji. He was my academic rival, and I had gone off on a rant or two about how much of an intolerable arse he could be.

"Yes. And I'm a little apprehensive, because with what I've seen so far I'm starting to think he might be the normal one."

The next day I arrived at the training ground fifteen minutes early.

It was on the east side of the village, a grassy plain with forests to the side and a hilly slope towards a river on the other. It was one of the more spacious grounds with a few target posts at the edge of the grounds.

I had never used one of these before. There was too much space for just little old me, so I hadn't seen the need to apply to use one.

Lee was already present and well into his warm up routine when I got there. I wasn't sure what we would be doing, but morning stretches had never hurt my performance before, and so I joined in.

Standing with my legs straight I bent forwards until my upper body was resting against my thighs, my fingers playing with the straws of grass on the ground. Even without warming up I was flexible enough for only a small twinge to make itself known. I held for a minute and straightened up.

Next I widened my legs until I had a steady footing, and bent forwards once more. It was even easier than the previous pose, but it was a habit by now. Next I leaned to the right, my fingers clutching around my right foot, before doing the same on the other.

By the time I straightened up we had been joined by Neji, who wordlessly fell into steps with me when I started stretching my arms and back.

When I looked to my left I found Lee standing in a bridge, so he was clearly a bit ahead of me and Neji.

We continued stretching until five on the dot, when Gai-sensei appeared at the edge of the field at a fresh jog.

"My youthful students! What a lovely day we've been blessed with. If we give it our all it will be a day of willpower and endurance, where I will test the strength of your convictions."

"Youthful?" I muttered under my breath. I guess he was correct in a way. We were twelve years old - at least for a little while longer and then I'd be thirteen - but I still had no idea why he kept using words like that.

"I am ready Gai-sensei! I will prove the strength of my conviction and pass your test!" Lee declared passionately.

"What is the test, sensei?" I asked, because that was what I had been wondering about the most.

"The test is both hard and simple." Gai-sensei replied mysteriously, his arms coming to fold in front of him. The sun was rising behind him, silhouetting his form and making long shadows towards us. "You will fight me with all you got and show me your will to endure!"

"The test is to fight you?" Neji clarified, a brow arched. Probably because that sounded like any other spar.

"Yes. The three of you against me!" Gai-sensei switched pose in a flurry of upturned dust, and next he was standing at the ready. "Come!"

"GYYAAH!" Lee let off a war cry that could probably be heard to the top of the Hokage mountain, and then he was off.

In contradiction I retreated and watched as Lee engaged in a taijutsu match with Gai-sensei. Lee was punching, kicking and jumping, but sensei dodged around him fluidly.

Lee hadn't hit a single time.

I reached into my hip pouch and brought out my shuriken.

In a whirl of evasion movements Lee twirled and tried to do an axe kick. It didn't work as Gai's grip caught Lee's leg, and then he threw the boy away as if he was nothing but a stick on the ground blocking his afternoon stroll.

By then I had already acted. The shuriken was flying towards Gai-sensei as he was letting go of Lee's leg, and though they should have been in a blind spot - he was turned in the wrong direction to see them coming - he twisted around the flying projectiles smoothly. Sensei turned towards me, and so I was up next.

I activated my Sharingan.

Gai-sensei's eyes disconnected, landing somewhere on my nose.

So he was knowledgeable about the strengths of the Sharingan then. Gai-sensei ran at me.

For a split second I faltered, and though I was honestly terrified some distant corner of my mind appreciated how scary it was to have a fully grown muscle brute like Gai-sensei run at you with the intention to hurt you.

I barely had time to palm my kunai before I was forced to defend myself.

I was good in taijutsu, but from the moment I first saw Lee's punch be swept aside as if Gai had swatted away a buzzing bumblebee I'd known we were outclassed. My best option was to retreat to gain distance and attack from mid to far range.

The only problem was that Gai-sensei wasn't letting me do that.

I was dodging, flipping and slashing more than upright trying to hurt him.

He had already figured out my strategy, because no matter what I tried he kept closing the distance. I was already starting to breathe faster, and if it wasn't for my activated Sharingan I would have several more painful bruises from chops and hits.

I managed to twist under Gai-sensei's leg, rolling on the ground and jumped to my feet. My hands twisted into seals while I was still rising. Tiger - Boar – Tiger – Horse -

I was nearly there, only one seal left – ox - but then it was too late. Gai-sensei's fist made contact with my abdomen and I flew backwards, thoroughly winded and my genjutsu went up in a puff of unused chakra.

I heard sensei laugh boisterously. "You almost got it, Junko!"

I was too busy groaning and feeling sorry for myself, so I wasn't sure what happened next. Only that when I had rolled over on my side to rise once more Neji was engaging sensei, and Lee was circling the fight like a tiger about to spring.

We were completely outmatched, and it didn't get any better from there. I watched as Gai-sensei completely negated Neji's gentle fist style, making it look effortlessly not to get your tenkutsu shut down even in close combat.

Lee joined in, and then it was two on one, and I was about to help out too.

Tiger - Boar - Tiger - Horse - Ox

"Genjutsu: Flower Petal Escape."

It should be mentioned I really wanted it to work, and I thought I'd found a way to do it.

My Sharingan was active and there was a possible opening in sensei's defence. Neji was trying to gentle fist him to death on the left and Lee was coming in on sensei's right. Sensei had his hands busy, and so my attack should have connected with the tenketsu opening in sensei's ear channel. A pretty optimal opening for these types of illusions.

But at the last possible moment he somehow managed to put Neji in his own place.

My genjutsu worked alright. It just hit the wrong target.

The Hyuuga stiffened, his eyes going glassy even with the byuakugan activated. I had no idea what sort of effect that had on a genjutsu though. Did it work with a dojutsu like that?

I didn't take the time to find out. "Lee! Distract sensei!" I sprang forwards, mortified I'd hit the wrong person and in desperate need of correcting this.

When I reached Neji only a second later three things happened at once. Neji used a genjutsu reversal to break my attack. I used a genjutsu reversal on him with my own chakra to do the same, and Gai-sensei kicked Neji so he went flying.

Any one of those things would have disconnected the genjutsu on its own.

It was perhaps a bit overkill that all three happened at once. Neji barely braced himself with chakra when he crashed across the field. Looking both dazed, winded and pretty pissed off.

"This is going splendidly, isn't it?" I mused with dark amusement as I dodged sensei's kick.

I was teaming up with Lee this time, but we weren't having more luck than he had with Neji. The thing was; it was hard to coordinate when fighting with someone new. I didn't know what Lee could do, and so half my concentration when fighting in close quarters with Lee was to not be hit by friendly fire. Like Neji had.

And perhaps the worst part of the entire ordeal was that Gai-sensei wasn't even trying that hard. He was invested and pushing back, but he hadn't even started sweating yet! A frustrating and taunting fact which implied a lot.

"Retreat!" I barked at Lee.

For a moment I wasn't sure if he'd heard or would listen to me, but then Lee threw himself back to follow my instruction. I didn't fool myself into thinking Gai-sensei couldn't have stopped us from disengaging – there was no doubt he was allowing it - but his widening smile indicated he was curious about what I had planned.

After his unfortunate tumble Neji had gotten back to his feet and moved around the field. He met my eyes and I knew he was waiting for an opening from the side. Lee was to my right and sensei was within my range.

My hands formed seals much faster this time.

Snake – Ram - Monkey - Boar - Horse – Tiger

"Katon: Great Fireball Technique!"

The licking flames burst from my mouth, but instead of rotating like a circling globe, I had sent it like spewing flamethrower.

Gai-sensei was too fast, and I needed to cover a lot of ground.

As a result it sent sensei right into Neji, who took the opening for what it had been intended as.

I watched in delighted shock as Neji succeeded in closing one of Gai-sensei's tenketsu, and then Lee had joined too. For a wonderful moment I thought we'd gotten the upper hand, and so I too jumped into the fray.

"Leaf Strong Whirlwind!" Gai-sensei cried. A knee connected with my side, and I went flying across the field, Neji and Lee only blurry shapes in the corner of my eye.

That hurt. Oh kami that last one hurt.

I was gasping and shaking, my body convulsing against my wish to forcefully relax and refocus. I flushed chakra through my body, and that helped some, but I was running low. The genjutsu that hit Neji had been a chakra draining one, and so was the great fireball technique. The genjutsu reversal was also chakra wasteful, and so I was running out of options. I deactivated my Sharingan. It wasn't very draining, but I needed to conserve as much as possible if this went on for much longer.

"Yosh! Are you done yet?" Gai-sensei asked us with a widening smile. I couldn't see his face, I was still trying to raise my head from where I was tasting gravel and sand, but I could hear it as plain as day.

"Never!" Lee cried, though the voice was wobbly and sounded a bit loopy.

When I straightened Lee had charged once more, and I was honestly impressed he was already up and attacking.

There was nothing for it. I got to my feet, dried away the blood that had dripped into my eyes from a wound somewhere, and then went back in again.

The fight lasted an hour.

It was perhaps the most physically taxing hour of my life.

By the end we were three shaking messes, cross eyed and probably concussed.

"I'm in the springtime of youth at full power!" Lee exclaimed, but I wasn't sure who he was trying to fool. Himself, Gai-sensei, us, or whatever hallucination the latest hit to his head had caused.

"No wonder he's a jōnin. He dodges my taijutsu with such ease." Neji was muttering, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth while sporting several blooming bruises up his left side.

We charged again, and once more got thrown back, though somewhere in the back of my mind I registered sensei was countering a bit gentler than he'd been in the beginning.

"Giving up already?" Gai-sensei asked. If it had been anyone else I would have thought it a taunt to provoke us, but I think sensei was genuinely curious.

I pushed my sweaty bangs out of my eyes, finding Gai-sensei waving us forwards.

Lee wasn't giving up though. "My dream is to become a great shinobi through taijutsu alone! I cannot… abandon my dream!" He declared with such hopeless conviction I felt a little heartsick for him.

Then Neji had to go and be a sourpuss. Even being used as a training dummy for an hour wasn't enough to prevent his inner git from emerging. "That's ridiculous… But…. I'm not throwing in the towel either!" He looked mortally offended at being so soundly beaten. I had never seen a Hyuuga so dirty either. I was sure Neji would reconsider wearing beige for tests like this in the future.

But since the boys were being all encouraging and inspirational I threw in my own two ryō too. Like hell I was about to lose here! I could not fail this test. I didn't want to imagine what Sasuke would say if I came home a failure. I refused. And if I had planned to retreat I would have done it before I cracked the second rib fifteen minutes ago. "I'm no quitter!"

Gai-sensei looked like he would be bouncing if he wasn't so focused on the fight. It was just not fair that he hadn't even gotten ruffled yet. "Now you're talking, guys! That's how youth should be! Even if you're used up every ounce of your energy… suck it up and push through it! Hit me with all your might!"

"Let's go guys!" I barked, and together we stumbled towards sensei like Bambi on ice.

I think I blacked out for a second, because one moment we were trying to reach sensei. I'm not sure what exactly we'd do once we got there, but we were charging at least, and next Gai-sensei had us all in a choke-hold simultaneously. Some kind of grapple grip to trap or paralyse a victim.

And then his voice was right next to me, so loud my eardrums vibrated dangerously. "The three of you…." he shouted, gripping us to his chest and effectively cutting off my airways. "all pass!"

I had a moment of stark clarity. Oh… this was not a martial art grip at all.

It was a celebratory group hug.

On the other side of sensei, muffled by exhaustion and perhaps sensei's chest, Lee was sobbing. "Yes! I did it! I did it!"

"I-I can't breathe…!" I gasped, because I really couldn't, and from the middle of the hudde I heard a gurgling wheeze from Neji that probably translated to; "let me go!" or perhaps; "I'm choking on my own blood."

But we'd done it.

We passed.

"Congratulations my youthful students! We are now team nine!"

And I think our first team activity would be a trip to the hospital.

A/N: Thank you so very much for reading, and thank you for every comment, fav and follow! I truly appreciate it! You guys are wonderful.

I wanted to just take this a/n to clarify a few things. There's been a couple comments about how few changes there's been, and I just wanted to assure you that was on purpose. Junko isn't the "I have to fix the plot" type of insert character. She has no idea what is going on outside her very limited sphere of influence, most of whom were killed off. As a pre-teen academy student with no influence or power (not to mention no interest in affecting anything) that hasn't caused many - or any – ripples. Not yet. They are coming once she actually graduates and gains both access to a wider information network and gets to influence more of the original story we all know.

The previous four chapters were "the childhood part", which I treated more as a very long summary of the first thirteen years of her life. It wasn't to show how different another Uchiha made cannon - but quite the opposite. One little girl stuck in her head does nearly nothing. Next to the active instigators of the situation like Fugaku, Shisui, Itachi, Hiruzen, Danzo etc, she makes barely a splash in the water.

This story is also from Junko's perspective, who doesn't care about anything but what she thinks affects her life and her opinions. She sees what is in front of her, makes a decision about it, and if that is sometimes flawed or tinted by her background that is both the safety and disadvantage of being a child wilfully kept in the dark.

Junko isn't an; "adult in a child's body", she's a child with extra memories. There's a huge difference there, so if you continue reading please keep that in mind.