AN: PLEASE READ! If you have not already read my short fanfiction "Beginning", please read it before you continue. It will save you from a lot of confusion.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters or settings. I can't quite remember who to give credit to, but the only thing that I made up is Karinami Iruzika and everything having to do with her, including Roka and her lineage. For some reason, I made it so that the characters are 15-16 years old but…they're still Genin. NO they aren't dumb. I just made it that way—Dattebayo! Also, some of the people may be a little out of character. I am not an expert on Naruto. The end.

Rinnnnnnnnng! The ever-annoying bell-like chime of my alarm clock blared loudly as the sun peeked over the treetops. Another day. Joy. It would just be the same old routine of trial and error try-to-beat-the-crap-out-of-your-sensei. We never won, even though it's always an uneven fight of 1 to 4. So, whoever said that thing about how numbers win wars, you just got served a large slice of humble pie. Yummy, yummy.

Remembering my next-apartment-over neighbor and cousin Kiba's uncanny way of sleeping through his wake-up call, I rapped on my right wall. I continued, unceasing, until I heard Kiba-kun fall off his couch-like bed and Akamaru started pawing at the wall we shared. Most people say that they felt so bad about me having to wake up my neighbor, but I politely reply that it is completely fine. After all, poor Shino is the one who has to make sure that Mr. Genius Shikamaru gets up every morning. What a drag, as he would say!

Bracing myself for the light, I shoved my window curtains all the way open and immediately regretted it—it was far too sunny for my tastes. Like, if there had been snow on the ground, anyone who looked outside would be blinded. Groaning, I fell back onto my palate with a dull thud. Nobody would care if I fell back asleep, would they? After all, Kakashi was always late. I could rest for another hour or two and I'd still get there in time. And, that way, I wouldn't have to put up with usually annoying Naruto for near as long!

"Karinaaaaaaaaaaaaami!" Sakura's aggravating whine sounded from outside my door, disturbing my fantasies. "Are you ready yet? I don't wanna have to put up with the annoying blonde midget on my own! He is such a pain!"

And you're dragging me into it why? I wondered mentally.

"Ka-riiiiii!" Sakura screeched again. "Hurry up already! I wanna go and see Sasuke! If we wait much longer, Ino might be there and steal him! Come on! You're taking too long!"

"Sakura, chill out! I'm going already! Don't have a cow! We're not gunna be late! And Ino never gets there early—she spends too much time brushing her hair in the morning!" I insisted snappishly, pulling my black outer dress over my leggings and undershirt/ belly shirt-tube top. I then, in an attempt to find my giant purple waist-ribbon with my symbol on it, tripped over one of Akamaru's stray dog bones. The hard floor rushed up to greet me as I fell flat on my face.

"Ohemgee, Karinami are you okay?" Sakura gushed, hearing me fall.

"I think so—ouch!" I moaned as I felt a bruise already beginning to form.

Outside my room I heard another voice that was definitely better than hearing Sakura's again.

"Why the heck are you standing outside the door of my very distant cousin?"

"Gaara-sama? What in the world? I thought Temari, Kankuro, and you were going on some important mission today!"

"No, Team Guy's heading off on a mission today and will be back in a few days, and Team 10's gunna be on some long journey three weeks from tomorrow but we're not going anywhere for awhile," he answered.

"Oh, okay, I guess I heard wrong."

"Karinami?" Gaara questioned. "You still in there? Or have you escaped out the window yet?"

"Nope, I'm still here!" I managed, hopping around as I laced my shoe-ribbons around my legs. "Hold on just a second! I'll be out in a minu—ahhhhh!" I screamed like a little girl as I tripped over Akamaru's toy again.

"Kari, are you okay?" Gaara rushed, sounded very unlike his normal self.

"Stupid dog toy! Gosh Dangit, I need to have Kiba get these out of here!" I groaned, picking myself off the floor yet again. Yay, more bruises!

I heard Gaara chuckle hauntingly, then Temari called him from down the hall and I was stuck with an impatient Sakura again.

"Come on Karinami! You're soooooooooooooooooo slow!" She urged.

"I'll be out in just a second!" I replied, making sure that my Shiraseru-Omamori (telling-charm) was on was on my neck.

"You'd better be!"

I ran around my room frantically, pulling my hair up into non-girly, low-set pigtails and leaping over all the crud on my floor. Anger and frustration sent a wave of heat up my cheeks and I stubbornly tried to resist my Funayūreiinabikari (Yuribikari for short) as best I could.

Lastly, I began to tug on my arm gauntlets, carefully stepping over the last bone that was in my way. I yanked open the door and there stood Sakura, arms folded across her chest and her foot tapping.

"Okay, I'm set," I affirmed, "as long as we don't need our kunais and shurikens today. Iie? Then let's go."

"About time!" She squealed, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me ferociously down the hall. I almost protested, but then decided not to waste my breath. There was no way that Sakura would listen to me.

By the time we reached the hollow where Kakashi-sensei always met us, Sasuke and Naruto had already arrived but, as I predicted, Ino wasn't quite stupid enough to come all the way out here to flirt. It wasn't worth getting busted.

"Oh, hey, Karinami," Naruto greeted enthusiastically. "Hi, Sakura," he added in a candied tone. It was no secret that he liked her.

She ignored him and went straight to Sasuke. "Sorry we're late," I apologized. "It was my bad. I only tripped over about 50 of Akamaru's toys this morning."

Naruto burst out laughing but managed to tell me, "I thought you looked a little bruised up today."

"Gee, thanks, Naruto."

"Anytime, Kari."

Sakura, who had temporarily given up throwing starry-eyed looks at Sasuke, glanced around blandly. "Ugh, Kakashi's late—again. Is he ever on time? I think he's even late to meetings with the Hokage!"

Bored as heck, I sat down, holding my knees to my chest. Criss-cross had been ruled out as a sitting style for me by Roka way back when I was about six. That would be the occasion when some traveling, 14-year-old, inappropriate Chunin that was visiting our town noticed I was wearing a dress while sitting down. Let's just say, that, since he could control the wind especially well, I was really glad that I was wearing leggings. Don't look too surprised—I said he was inappropriate.

Sakura followed my example, still peeking at Sasuke about once per second. He looked both bored and peeved with all the attention, but I knew that somewhere deep inside himself he enjoyed it. His entourage plus most girls' adoration had made him pretty arrogant and stuck-up holier-than-thou. Why Sakura fawned over him, I can't even begin to comprehend. Sure, he may be kind of cute, but he was such a cocky jerk! It doesn't matter that he's "hot" or whatever, I LOATHE him.

It was only a relatively short period of time before Naruto's stomach began to growl loudly.

"I'm hungry," he complained. "I could really use some Ramen right about now."

"Suck it up, baka," Sakura sneered. "We're all hungry."

"Actually—" I began, but Sakura cut me off.

"Iie, Karinami—you are hungry, you just haven't realized it yet."

There was no use arguing with her. I almost replied, Hai, mochiron, Sakura, and you're always right. Tadashii? but stopped myself.

I rolled my eyes at her and dropped the subject. We all lapsed into silence for uncounted hours without any sign of Kakashi. Where was he? He was never quite this late. It had to be near lunchtime already! There wasn't even a trace of any other Teams. Where had they all vanished to?

As if called by my wondering, Yuhi Kurenai appeared with her eyes watchful. She surveyed the four of us intently. "Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Iruzika Karinami. What are you all here for? Aren't you supposed to be out training with Kakashi or something?"

"Technically, yeah," I admitted.

"So why am I standing here talking to four Genin Shinobi?" Kurenai pressed.

"We've been waiting for Kakashi-sensei, but he hasn't showed up yet." Sasuke said evenly, speaking for the first time that day. I couldn't help but notice he had brought along his kunais and was toying with one. Creepy.

"Really?" Kurenai looked surprised. "He hasn't shown up at all?"

"Nope," Sakura affirmed.

"Hmm. How about this—I've got to go and look after my cell and Asuma's since he isn't feeling very well today, but you all head back to Konohagakure and, if Kakashi's not there, go and report to Asuma. He'll just be around town since he's not feeling his best, so you'll be able to find him fairly easily. He'll most likely come up with something for you four to do. But, just in case, I'll definitely keep my eyes open and tell you if I see Kakashi around. Sound good?"

"Yes, sensei," I chimed obediently, but worried about having to report to Asuma. Kurenai and I had become friends quickly, as was the same with Kakashi, but Asuma kind of scared me. He was friendly enough to his cell, especially Shikamaru, but sometimes he looked at me like he wanted to bite my head off.

Ever the complainer, Naruto began to whine. "Awwwwwwwwwwww, do we have to get a mission from Asuma? Why can't we just get a free day?"

"You get free days after every long mission and sometimes more, Naruto! Do you really need another one?" Kurenai hissed impatiently.

"Yeah, I do—Believe it!" He insisted. "Nobody can live without off days!"

"Erm…Naruto?" I began shyly.

"Mmmmm?"

"Before I began training with Kakashi, the only 'off days' Roka gave me were when I was seriously sick or injured."

"Say WHAT?"

Kurenai laughed. "Well, that settles things. Now off you go! And you might as well practice using your chakra on your way back." She pointed up at the trees. "Remember—no hands, only feet!" Naruto groaned. We all hated the tree-climbing exercise. It was bad enough that all the Chunin and Jonin Shinobi could do stuff like this for hours on end without hardly any effort at all, but we had to practice—all the time. Not that I really needed it. All of my training with Roka had been individual stuff, so I'd gotten pretty good at controlling and concentrating my chakra. I don't mean to brag, but even Sakura's amazing chakra-tree-climbing abilities couldn't top mine by far. Ha. Sakura may be cute, but she's pretty dumb—a perfect Foxymoron.

While Naruto and Sakura complained, I obediently nodded to Kurenai and began climbing. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and started to ascend as well. Not because he enjoyed it or because he respected Kurenai over Kakashi, but because he just had to keep training so he could kill Itachi.

I gritted my teeth. Don't think you're the only one who has the right to murder Itachi, Sasuke, I thought, knowing he couldn't hear me. He ruined my life, too.

Just as I had accomplished my desired altitude in the tree, Kurenai turned and left as Naruto and Sakura finally started climbing.

"Hey, Kari-chan!" Naruto's call surprised me and I had to correct my balance before I could reply.

"Yeah?"

"After we're done today, you wanna go practice?"

Ah. He needed help again. That would explain why he asked me instead of risking it with Sakura. "Uh," I racked my brains for an answer. "I think I can—aw, shoot, I told Temari that I'd practice with her. Unless the three of us could all—"

"Oh, okay," he interrupted. "We'll all just have to practice together then!"

"Shouldn't we ask Temari-chan if she's okay with that…?"

"Nah, she won't mind—Believe it!"

Sakura, annoyed, changed the subject. "Man, I can't believe Kakashi-sensei didn't show up at all. It's so frustrating! And if he tries to use that dumb black cat excuse again I'm gunna scream."

Inwardly, I almost had to agree—it was annoying how we were ready on time nearly every day but our own sensei was late. Nevertheless, I wasn't about to voice any concerns. He was a Jonin and we were only Genin, so he could get away with making belated entrances.

"Hey, look, we're almost there!" Naruto panted, running across a branch upside-down. Sure enough, I could see the top of some buildings through a slight gap in the canopy of leaves.

Thank goodness, I thought in relief. It'll all be easy from here on out—

"NOT SO FAST, FIENDS!" A small but angry voice emanated from the trees. I nearly fell in astonishment. Naruto just groaned as the "Honored Grandson" of the Hokage sprinted towards us—and tripped over his own foot.

"You really need to work on surprise attacks if you're gunna beat me to be the next Hokage, Konohamaru," Naruto addressed the figure on the ground.

Konohamaru raised his fist weakly and mumbled through the grass and dirt, "I'll…I'll get you one day…Naruto Uzumaki. Just…just you wait…!"

Sakura, perched on a thin branch, couldn't help but laugh. "No offence, Honorable Grandson but I, for once, agree with the midget baka over there."

"Midget baka?" Naruto raved. "I'm not that short and I'm not an idiot! Sasuke's just taller than me 'cause of his dumb duck-butt hairstyle!"

Knowing it was useless to try and stifle my amusement, I flat-out started cracking up. By the time I could breathe again, Konohamaru had skulked off and Sakura had beaten the poop out of Naruto for insulting "her Sasuke". Said member of the Uchiha looked peeved, but I couldn't tell if it was because of Naruto, Sakura, or my none-too-polite laughter.

Ah, go boil your head, pretty boy, I smirked, sticking my tongue out at him just because I could.

"Oh, crap!" Sakura gasped. "We're totally wasting time! We need to get back to Kakashi—or Asuma—or whoever's waiting. Maybe Iruka-sensei or Roka-sensei will know where we can find Kakashi!"

"S…sure," Naruto agreed, carefully dabbing his black-and-blue eye.

We resumed our tree-hopping, eager to be within the safe confines of the tall wall and busy buildings.

"Where d'you think we'll find Asuma-sensei?" I asked as soon as we were in the city, none too excited about it.

"In his room, I'd guess," a new voice said, "but why in the world would you need to find Sarutobi Asuma?"

Sakura whirled around. "Kakashi-sensei!" She squealed.

Kakashi, for it was indeed him, raised an eyebrow. "Yes, who else? You all are very late, by the way," he added as an afterthought.

"We're late?" Naruto yelled. "No, you're late! We've been waiting for hours!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes and slapped himself on the forehead. "Naruto, I told you yesterday to tell everyone that we were meeting here today. I've been waiting for hours! I knew I should've told somebody else instead of you…" Naruto cringed.

"You Baka!" Sakura screeched. "Idiot! We just wasted half of a day on your stupidity! Ugh, Naruto, you are such a pain! You said that we were training today, not that we were going on a mission! BAKA!"

"Hn," Sasuke huffed, his eyes nearly throwing kunais at Naruto.

Naruto looked confused, then his blue eyes lit up and he laughed nervously. "Oh yeah, I remember now! Heh, my bad."

Kakashi sighed. "I guess you'll just have to be content with a quick, easy, D-level mission today, then. We don't have time for another one."

I groaned, annoyed. "Another cat-catching one?"

"Unfortunately for you, yes," Kakashi-sensei admitted with amusement. "And I believe it's the same cat from the other two times. That lady can't keep track of her own 'darling' pet!"

"Well, let's just get it over with," Sakura seethed. "It shouldn't be hard."

And hard it was not. At first Sakura was so ticked off that she tried trapping the cat by threatening it with a kunai, but that just made the animal skittish. Since we'd chased after said kitty several times before, I had just had to sit on the ground and call its name encouragingly a couple of times and it came right to me.

"Good job, you four," Kakashi praised us even though we didn't need it. "Now, tomorrow, I will expect you in front of the Academy at 6 a.m. sharp. We have another C/B-mission, and it should be a good experience for all of you. Other than that you're free to go now."

"Great!" Naruto punched a fist in the air. "C'mon, Kari, you promised we'd go train when we were done."

"I'll go and find Temari, okay?" I reasoned, hoping she wouldn't kill me for letting him join us.

"Okay, I'll be at the training area. You guys—er, girls—are no match for my skills. Believe it!" He dashed off.

"Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara should be over that way," my sensei offered, pointing in the general direction he was referring to.

"Thanks, Kakashi-sensei!" I called over my shoulder as I started off west. "See ya' tomorrow, Sakura and Sasuke!" I considered leaving Sasuke off the end for being such a self-absorbed, arrogant, stuck-up, jerky, butthead, but reconsidered. He was in my cell, after all.

Just like Kakashi suggested, I ran into the Sand Siblings almost immediately after branching off. "Hey, you guys!" I waved cheerily. "You ready to rock, Tem-chan? I hope you don't mind Naruto joining us; he insisted."

"Oh, Baka Uzumaki?" She confirmed. "Fine. I'd prefer to not have to put up with him, but I'll live."

"Yeah, same here. Let's go. Keep wearing your kitty hat, Kankuro!"

"Will do, Kari-chan!" He answered, laughing. Gaara just waved good-bye. I waved back, grinning, and began to walk away with Temari.

"Don't get creamed, Shinseki!" Kankuro added, laughing.

"Like that could ever happen, suna-kuroneko!" I returned, teasing him by calling him a black sand cat.

"Yamete, Bijin Ooarashi!" (Translation: "Stop it, Beautiful Tempest!" Beautiful Tempest was Karinami's unofficial nickname according to Kankuro since she was regarded as very pretty but hot-headed.)

I ignored him. By the time Temari and I reached the practice grounds, Naruto looked impatient. "What took you guys so long?" He demanded.

"Naruto, I was gone for less than five minutes!" I protested.

"Well, yeah, but I wanna get this over with so I can eat some Ramen! I had close to nothing for lunch."

"Yeah, right!" I muttered sarcastically. "You ate two whole bento boxes!"

"And…?"

"Forget it, Naruto, you're hopeless. Let's just train and go home, 'k?"

"Rodger that," Temari winked and whipped out her giant fan.

"You both are toast—Believe it!"

"In your dreams, Naruto, you're going down! Say your prayers!"

We all fought ferociously. Temari and I were both bruised and slightly bleeding from some small scratches when we were done, but Naruto looked the most beat up—not that that was a shock or anything. He blamed it on his 'meager' lunch ("I'll get you next time when I'm not half starved—Believe it!").

Temari smirked. "I'll 'Believe it' when I see it, Baka Uzumaki. But for now—I'm goin' to bed. Will I see you tomorrow, Karinami-Shinseki?"

I frowned. "No, probably not. Kakashi-sensei's sending us on a C/B-mission tomorrow, and they're usually pretty difficult."

"Ooh, C/B-mission. Where're you going?"

"We didn't get a chance to find out."

"That's totally crappy. I mean, I'd totally want to know where I'm going so that I could like prepare and stuff. I can't believe that Kakashi would just leave you hanging like that…it's kind of rude…no offence to him or anything."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, good luck, you two."

"Thanks—"

"Ah, it'll be a piece of cake! Believe it! Whatever's wrong, it's no match for me or Team 7!" Naruto gave us a cheeky grin and a thumbs-up. "But, if you ladies don't mind, I'm going to grab some chow and hit the hay. Big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, you're right," I confessed. "I should do the same. See you in a few days or something, Tem-chan. Tell Kankuro and Gaara that I said bye. Oh—could you tell Kiba-kun and Akamaru, too? He's related to me as well; I keep forgetting. I don't know how I forget since he looks a heck of a lot like Roka-sensei, but I just can't seem to keep the thought in my head. I'll stop by Roka's myself, though…he'll want me to tell him where I'm going. Fatherly instincts and all…"

"'Course I'll do that for you, Kari. Hang in there!" I was off to Roka's before she could give me some mushy, bone-breaking good-bye hugs.

Luckily, my adopted dad/adopted brother/first sensei was still up. "Hey, Kari, why are you here so late?" He greeted, hugging me.

"My cell's going on a C/B-mission early tomorrow and we might not get back for awhile. I came to say good-bye."

He grinned. "Kakashi said something about that. It should be really fun for you and your cell…heh, especially if…" he stopped and chuckled. "Be good out there and kick some butt, you hear me?"

I nodded.

"That's my girl, Moeteimasu -Tsubame, that's my girl." (Moeteimasu-Tsubame, or Fire-Swallow, is another of Kari's nicknames because she is one of few people that can use her chakra to create a tiny swallow used for messages and spying.)

Morning. I was still aching from practice yesterday and felt half-dead as I pulled on my tadashiirui and gathered my arsenal of weapons. Kunais—check. Shurikens—check. Fists—check. Heeled shoes—check. Chakra—still too tired to work with it, but check. I met my cell at the Academy—6 a.m., right on the nose.

There was no idle chitchat between the four of us, even with Sakura and Naruto there. Kakashi, usually hours late, showed up at 6:15.

"Ready to go?" He asked. We nodded with differing levels of enthusiasm. "Good. This mission will be a very new concept from the others, so listen up: a few days ago, two separate two-man teams from the Akatsuki were seen in different parts of Hi no Kuni. Though they made no effort to be stealthy or cover their escape route, they both got away without anyone being able to directly identify them. Both parties made off with hefty amounts of money. Your job is to get to where they stole the money and follow their obvious route of egress. You must be very careful, as it could be a trap. Find out where they are or what they're planning if possible. If the situation gets too dangerous, pull out and we'll up the mission rank so that some advanced Chunin or Jonin can take over. I'm amazed that the Hokage is even allowing you to take on this mission without me."

"You're not going?" Naruto sounded excited.

"Nope. You guys are on your own on this one. Huh, kooun."

"Oh, yeah!" He grinned. "Let's go, guys—!"

"Not so fast," Kakashi cut in. "Doko ni ikimasu ka? You don't even know where you're going. Besides, I said two different Akatsuki teams in two different areas of the Land of Fire."

"So?" Sakura quipped, fiddling with a shuriken. "We'll track both of 'em down, one after the other!"

Kakashi shook his head. "Iie, iie, you're not thinking. The trail of broken sticks and bruised plants won't be around long. I'm splitting you all into groups of two. I said that this mission would be a very new concept."

My heart dropped. Teams of two? Suddenly, I couldn't breathe. Oh, no. What if I got stuck with cocky Sasuke? I'd rather die!

"So," our sensei went on, "the teams will be—"

Not Sasuke and I, Kakashi-sensei, please. I'll die. I'll commit suicide. Kunai to the heart—boom. Please, sensei, don't pair me with Duck-Butt—

"—Naruto and Sakura going north and Sasuke and Karinami going east." CRUD!

Sakura's cries of protest were lost on me. Sasuke—and me? For a few days, if not longer? D***. I'm gunna die. …D***, Kakashi, I'm gunna die and you're to blame. Tell Roka, the Sand Siblings, Kiba, and Akamaru that I love them, 'cause I'm gunna die.

AN: Like? Dislike? Your opinion would be great, I'm always looking for ways to improve! Any questions? Fire away! Thanks so muchness for your time, reviews, and questions! The end.

Mini dictionary:

Hai: yes

Iie: no

Baka: stupid, idiot

Mochiron: of course, naturally, sure

Tadashii: right, true

Shinseki: cousin

Suna-kuroneko: "black sand cat"

Yamete: stop

Hi no Kuni: Land of Fire

Kooun: good fortune or good luck

Doko ni ikimasu ka: where are you going