A slow inhale brings an immense amount of sharp pain under your ribs. You grit your teeth.

You used to think breathing was easy.

Exhaling slowly, you find yourself trying not to cough as a scratchy throat makes it difficult.

It should have been easy to breathe.

You find yourself trying not to claw at your own throat and chest. It'd make you look crazy. You don't like looking crazy. You have enough crap to worry about.

Did anyone else have problems breathing?

Your eyes are burning, but you resolutely refuse to blink. Instead, you're staring blindly ahead. Even staring blindly, you know what's lying in front of you. It makes your breath hitch yet again into a tight ball of pain.

Remember what they promised?

Teeth are bared, hands are shaking, and your throat is emitting some low rumbling growl that must be caused by your incapacity to breathe properly.

You're wondering if you even care.

Eyes are staring at you in confusion. You don't usually get emotional. Well, at least not for anyone to see, not about important stuff. It's easier to be loud and obnoxious. It's easier to pretend the world doesn't hate you, that you carry everyone's hate because they can't carry the hurt. A fist, shaking, lifts to point accusingly at the two men before you.

"You said being a ninja would change things…" you hiss. "You lied!" Your hand whips around to point at the three people behind you. "They're useless!" you roar. You don't even care that they all flinch. The tallest tries to look nonchalant, the girl is biting her cheek not to hit you, and the black haired punk looks like you just took a dump on his dinner. "He doesn't teach us a damned thing! And he's only focusing on the stupid teme if he does!" Your hand drops to point at your shorter teammates. "They don't even like me! They hate me the most! They don't even know me!"

"Psh, what's there to know, dobe?" remarks the black haired teen. His dark eyes look disdainfully at you.

"He's right!" screeches the girl. "You're nobody! You're stupid, rude, and can't even pull off a Bunshin!"

You laugh. It sounds twisted, gnarled. The two men in front of you look worried. "And you never wondered why?!" you ask incredulously. "You're supposed to be smart!" you accuse her. You grin darkly when she looks momentarily confused. "Here, we'll make it a test. Maybe that will make it easier for you. Why can't a genin perform a proper low level Bunshin but can create a jounin level Bunshin without batting an eye?" You sneer at her lost expression. "If you can't figure it out, I guess your grades weren't very accurate."

She gapes at you. You look away, dismissing her completely. You focus on the old man again, eyes flashing as you cross your arms defiantly. "I'm serious, Jiji. You chose the worst team imaginable for me."

"Naruto, you know that your grades…"

"Dead last my ass!" you shout. "You know it was the teachers that did that! Not Iruka Sensei, but ALL of the others did it! Iruka wasn't instructed to grade ALL of my papers! Grading papers often gets delegated to others while he's teaching other classes! It easily allowed my work to get bad marks!"

The Hokage blinks. "You're serious?"

"Of course I am! Didn't you ever wonder why my grades never improved?! Even after he started teaching, nothing really changed! I studied my ass off just to keep up with everyone, and that was including dealing with the wasted time it took me to sneak books out of the library!"

"Sneak books?" interrupts the scar faced man beside the Hokage. "You mean they didn't let you in?!"

"Of course they didn't! Who the hell ever lets me in?!" You snarl at them, as if all of this should have been obvious. "Jiji, your crystal ball sucks if you haven't seen half the crap I've had to deal with!"

The Hokage looks a bit sheepish as he ducks his head. "I'm sorry, Naruto. I only get a chance once and a while to look in on you. The council and paperwork keeps me busy."

You roll your eyes. "As the Professor, I would have thought you would abuse the hell out of the Kage Bunshin."

The old man's pipe drops from his gaping jaw. You can't even find it in yourself to chuckle.

"Look Naruto," begins your old teacher. "I know it's tough, but the decision has been made. We can't change teams now. It's already too late." He tries to look apologetic.

You know he means it, but it doesn't stop the rage from building. "Then what am I supposed to do?! I won't survive my first mission with these morons! Yeah, Hatake used to be freakin' awesome! But he got lazy! Now all he does is read porn and stare at giant rocks all day!"

The silver haired man blinks, catching on to what was not said. He wonders how you know about the Stone, how you know he goes there every day for hours. You don't even care.

You wave a hand at the girl again. "She's next to useless! All she does is retain information well! She doesn't train! She doesn't stop fawning over the Uchiha! She's blind and stupid when it comes to him! She doesn't question anything she's supposed to! She just wags her tail like a well-trained dog!"

"Hey!" she yells.

You ignore her again, as well as the agreeable look duck butt has on his face as he looks at the pinkette out of the corner of his eye. He's your next target after all.

"The Uchiha is crap!" you blurt without remorse. "He is focused, but he's arrogant! He's so lost in the past he can't even screw his head on straight if you bring it up! He starts foaming at the mouth!" You notice him tense, eyes going wide before narrowing sharply. "He pretends to be top dog, but he can't handle it if someone shows him up in the slightest! Inferiority complex much?" You hear him growl. "You would think his past would help him grow, but he just lets it hinder him!" You roll your eyes disdainfully at your 'Sensei'. "He's no better than Sensei."

Now the silver haired man tenses, eye darting to you with a sharp threatening look.

Yup, you don't care.

You look expectantly at the old man.

"What exactly are you saying Naruto?" he asks. He looks tired. You feel a little bad for him, but not enough that you won't see this through. You'd wasted two weeks with this 'team'; you don't want to waste any more.

"Fix them," you say bluntly. "Either fix them or get me a new team. I'm tired of this crap. I have enough problems to deal with than stuck up jerks, fangirl idiots, and perverted sensei. I am not wasting my time training with a team that can't even train together. I want to live through my ninja career. I don't want to die young because of a stupid team arrangement that gets me killed before I can even hit puberty."

The Hokage smirks. Iruka looks horrified but conflicted. Your "team" is ready to rip your head off.

"How do you propose we fix them?" asks the Hokage.

You shrug. "Hey, I might know they need to be fixed, but I am just a genin. I don't know how to fix them. At first, when Sensei tested us, I'd hoped they'd start seeing the light. Sadly, they're only regressing further and further." You relax, feeling a bit better now that the Hokage seems to be taking you seriously. You were getting fed up there for a bit. You're glad you didn't have to argue too much. "I mean, I've been through a crap ton of horrible things too. You don't see me whining about it all the time. Yeah, okay, I can be obnoxious, but it's easier to surprise people when they think that's all you are." Your eyes drift to your Sensei. You feel a bit of resentment when he looks away quickly. "Look Jiji, I'll even be patient. I will wait until they're fixed before I start training seriously. It wouldn't be fair to train without my teammates. This is our chance to be awesome, and I am excited to be able to grow with my team." You lift your chin. "It's our way, the Leaf's way, to trust completely your teammates, for them to be our Ninja family."

When you use the word family, you look pointedly at both your Sensei and duck butt. You internally sigh when they both look confused.

"Well, it's true that your team is lacking any sort of bond… And it is true that there are some major flaws we need to get taken care of. Alright then, I will get things prepared." The Hokage nods at you. "Team Seven, excluding Naruto, you will report here tomorrow morning at zero seven hundred hours." He glares at Kakashi. "I will not tolerate tardiness." He looks at you now. "I do agree that any serious training should wait until you're all reunited, but I think you need something to keep you occupied until then. What areas are you lacking most from the Academy?"

Your eyes widen before narrowing in thought. "Well, I suppose the only real rough spots are taijutsu, basic chakra manipulation, and basic jutsu breakdowns. They were the main areas that the teachers tried the hardest to keep me 'dumb'. They never taught me the Academy taijutsu at all, unlike other civilian students."

You hear the old man and Iruka growl. You can't help the soft smile that flits across your face. You are, however, glad that your teammates are behind you and can't see it.

"Very well. I'm going to give you a tutor or two to get you up to speed. " The Hokage puffs on his regained pipe a moment. He exhales a long plume of smoke. "Yes, I think I will give you two instructors. I will move Iruka out of Mission Assignments for now, so that he can go over chakra and jutsus. He will also be quizzing you to see if you need any other areas of refinement. I would have him go over the Academy jutsu, but that would take too much time. I will send you to Team Eight. Their Sensei won't mind an extra student, and he is an expert taijutsu master. He will be able to find you a more suitable form and help you find the necessary information to continue with it once your team is brought back together."

You smile brilliantly at him, one of your rare true smiles. It makes him smile warmly back. "Thanks Jiji." You hope it's obvious how much this means to you by the emotion you fill those words with. Judging by the twinkle in his eye, you're pretty sure you managed it.

"Alright Team Seven, you're dismissed for the evening."

Everyone else turns to walk away, but you make sure to snap to attention first, drawing everyone's eyes again. Your team's eyes are huge. You feel a smug grin split your face as you calmly walk past them all as they twitch indecisively in the doorway.

A/N:

Alright, I don't usually write many Naruto fics. However, this snagged my attention and it was typed before I knew what was happening. I even ended up carrying on for another 3 chapters. This should be applauded! Anyway, I'm not making promises on how frequently this gets updated. I am a bit on a run with it, so I'll try writing a few more before I need a break from it. But, I do hope you enjoy what I've finished so far. Toodles!

Oh PS! This is written a bit differently too. I know it will be an odd read for most of you, but I like it like that so I don't plan on changing it. If it really bothers you that much, don't read it. *shrug* I hope that such a small thing really doesn't deter you, but I do know that there will be those who won't read past the first few paragraphs. To all those that do, thank you and I hope you like :3