The Blue Flame raised her sword bravely, ready to strike the evil monster that lay defenseless in front of her. The monster begged for it's life to be put to an end. It could not stand the Blue Flame's power any longer. The battle they had endured, drained every last drop of energy from their bodies. The distance the Blue Flame had traveled was an adventure to never be forgotten. All for this moment where the evil soul lay begging to have its life ended. The Blue Flame smirked. The sword came down and the black soul was ceased.

Then she went on more awesome and exciting adventures, occasionally allowed to spend time at her beautiful beach resort with soft, fluffy beds and…

"Hinote! Hinote, wake up!" A delicate hand shook Hinote. "Hmm…." The lady raised her pale hand and swiftly sent it down, giving Hinote a jolt across the face.

"Waaa! Mom, what was that for!"

"You're a very deep sleeper, Hinote…" She smiled innocently.

"Well, did you have to do it so rudely!"

"But Hinote, it's 12:00."

Hinote jerked up and jumped. "12:00! I'm half an hour late!"

Suddenly her mother began making muffled sounds through her nose when she burst out laughing. She laughed so hard tears came out from the edges of her normally calm brown eyes. She fell back, holding her stomach.

Hinote growled. "Ukata, you little twerp!"

A poof of smoke appeared from the illusion of her mother and a messy black haired, mischievous boy appeared, still laughing his heart out. "You're so gullible, Hinote!"

"That wasn't funny!"

"Yeah it was!"

Hinote lifted up the boy by his shirt and looking him in the eye. "Ukata, you'd better tell me what time it is or I'm--"

"It's 12:30."

Hinote dropped him and froze. Then she growled again and ran off. "I'll get you for this Ukata Kunekuto!"

The kunoichi disappeared in a blur of red, her heart beating quickly and her legs moving as fast as she could carry them.

Suddenly she slid to a halt when she came to a large dojo. She looked left and right before putting her hand on the wooden doorknob and opening the back door. She entered the room backwards, trying to keep her eyes on any signs of motion outside. The girl felt a huge relief and she let out a sigh, this sensation of relief only lasted a few moments, for when she turned around, there was her worst nightmare.

"Hinote!"

"EEEEEEEEEEKKKK!" Hinote screeched and as she backed away tumbled out the door, landing on her back with a groan.

"Hmph. You're late!" Grandmother Emiko said disapprovingly, looking at Hinote as if she was some type of annoying bug.

"Er…." She rubbed her head, still recovering from the fall. Crazy witch! What the hell!

"And what did I tell you about that hideous piece of cloth! I hate seeing it at all, but how dare you even think of wearing it inside my dojo!" Grandma Emiko glared at Hinote even harder as she stared at the black bandana tied over Hinote's forehead.

"Huh? Oh…yeah." Hinote untied the bandana and some of her dark red wavy hair went into her face. Must...glare...back...Hinote twitched from the resistance to flash Grandmother Emiko her angriest glare.

"Not much of an improvement, but it saves me from seeing that black piece of trash!" Grandma Emiko said annoyingly.

Hinote resisted growling out loud. "Yes…Grandmother Emiko." She bowed slightly. "Sorry."

Grandma Emiko didn't look approving as she glared down at Hinote. "You are excused…." She said in a disgusted voice. Hinote ran past Emiko without a word or lifting her head. A few moments after Hinote had left, Emiko stared at the empty spot she had left. "Stupid child."

Hinote ran through the dojo hallways as she tied her bandana back on. Finally she skidded to a stop and bowed in the doorway quickly before taking off her shoes and walking into the room. It was a dimmed room and it was quite cold. Hinote could feel the spirits in the air.

"You're late again, Hinote…." Master Watanabe opened one eye to look at Hinote. Maybe merely glancing with only one eye would be considered a small and uncaring gesture, but inside Master Watanabe was filled with worries and concerns for Hinote.

"Sorry…." Hinote whispered as she sat down. "Sensei…what time is it?"

"11:05. We started 5 minutes ago."

5 MINUTES! Hinote screamed in her mind, but forced herself anyway to get into position and concentrated on bringing her insides out. In other words, summoning her Seishou Hanryo (spirit partner).

Her spirit responded.

Hinote opened her eyes and found herself in a black nothingness, only a bright light shined in a small spot that she and her spirit took. "Kaiyou-chan." Hinote got up from her cross-legged position and stood across Kaiyou.

Kaiyou was very beautiful, but looked 8 years older than Hinote and was a foot taller. She had very long silver hair with a few blue streaks and a very serene face with calm light blue eyes that would remind you of the ocean.

Who would have thought that I would be paired up with a legend…the Kaiyou Kunekuto, the person who alone defeated half an enemy army but sacrificing herself in the process….

Hinote put one palm above Kaiyou's and the other below. She could feel Kaiyou's power flowing through her. The point of this daily exercise was to concentrate your chakra into making an aura above your body. Although her form in the spirit world was different than the one on earth; the one sitting with crossed legs with a huge red aura above her that made her other classmates' aura's look like a wisp of rather colorful air.

"Uh…?" Master Watanabi said in surprise to Hinote's large aura she was emanating.

Because I have such a great and powerful spirit…who happens to be my Great Great Grandmother, to most people I'm a beautiful, fantastic and perfect shinobi-shaman. And I'm not saying I'm not beautiful or fantastic, but, hey, nobody's perfect! Hinote slightly opened one of her eyes to look at Kaiyou. But some people can come really close! Like me!

"Hinote…Kaiyou…." Master Watanabe's Seishu Hanryo, a 200-year old large samurai interrupted their aura summoning in the spirit world. "You are dismissed." Then he disappeared to aware the other students that class was over.

Hinote walked slowly back to the mansion of her house. Or, to be more truthful, her Grandmother's mansion. It was a beautiful home with a gigantic Japanese garden and pond surrounding the estate, making it the most beautiful piece of land in the entire country. Damn Ukata! Hinote thought as she trudged into the house. Inside she found her mother sewing quietly.

"Good afternoon Hinote."

"Hey Mom."

"Master Watanabe told me you were late for class again."

"It's no biggie. Just 5 minutes."

"But Hinote, 5 minutes plus the 15 minutes and the 10 minutes and the other times you have been late for class add up. You have even skipped entire classes before!"

"Ukata is always half an hour late for class or doesn't come at all and he doesn't get busted by his Mom or Dad! His Dad is a high level shinobi and does special training with him!"

"Well, Ukata has a shinobi family member!" Nakaru stopped sewing and looked Hinote straight in the eye.

"Ukata has a Father!" Hinote shouted back, her fists shaking.

"Look, Hinote. What Ukata does isn't concerning you." She stood up. "You need to learn responsibility Hinote! You can't go around your whole life breaking your promises and neglecting your duties! You promised me a week ago that you wouldn't be late for anymore of your classes!"

"What's so special about responsibility anyway! Why should I care! I'm going to be a number one ninja anyway; I don't need to worry about some stupid schedule!"

"If you become a shinobi, or even a Chuunin, you will have responsibility of other people's lives! You'll need to make difficult decisions, and sometimes it won't be the right decision but you won't have a choice!"

She paused for a few moments to calm down. Nakaru watched Hinote's calm but angered face glaring at her. "Simple things like the promises you make reflect on your responsibility and decision making. For example, you were late for class and didn't keep track of time because you chose to sleep the time away instead."

"I--"

"There are no excuses Hinote! You're always talking about how you wish to be a leader of a ninja squad and go on life threatening, dangerous missions but you can't even take care of yourself, much less another person's life!" If it was possible, Nakaru's face grew darker. "Which is why I've decided to withdraw you from the Ninja Academy!"