A/N : Hope you guys like it!! We also wanna thank all our reviewers of Teardrops on My Guitar. I had so much fun writing this new story. Btw, I'm (xRosewithThornsx) totally in love with Kushina and Minato now. I just wish they hadn't died.. In this story, Kushina's 14 and Minato's 15 right now.

Inner: like ya!! I was drawing her on paint in computer class today

xXx

Kushina Uzumaki's wild, red hair flew back behind her in the breeze as she turned her head towards her two teammates, Hari and Sukai.

"Hey, guys, ya ready for that celebration at Leaf today?" Kushina asked.

"I dunno. Yeah, I guess so..." Hari answered quietly.

"But honestly," Sukai retorted, "did we have to come all the way from Whirlpool to Konoha?? It's really far away!!"

Kushina just rolled her hazel eyes at that statement. Sometimes, she really got annoyed with Sukai's attitude, but most of the time she was the one who looked to Sukai for help and advice. Sukai could be a good person if she wanted to.

"Oh, look!!" Sukai squealed. "Konoha's gates are right there!! We finally made it!!"

And, just as Sukai had said, Konoha's gates loomed over them like the sky on a cloudy day, thus enveloping them in a huge cast shadow. Their group of about 40 entered the village and was greeted by many of the local residents of the place. Kushina, being so outgoing, grinned widely and waved back.

"Wow, this place is so welcoming!!" Kushina exclaimed.

"Yes..it is..I like it..." Hari whispered in her small voice.

xXx

"Now, please, welcome these Whirpool ninja who have come to celebrate our alliance with us!!" the Hokage exclaimed.

As Kushina and the others stood on a platform in front of the entire village, there was another person watching in the background : Minato Namikaze. He was looking at the Whirlpool nin in amazement. He couldn't wait to start training with these people, as they were part of a program to stay for 3 years or so.

"These people will be taking part in a program to stay with us for 3 years, or more if they like! Each 2 Whirlpool ninja will be assigned to form a team with one Konoha ninja that will be randomly selected from this hat." Sarutobi-sama said.

There were ooh's and aah's from the crowd...

"Now, shall we begin??" the Hokage asked.

Sarutobi picked out 2 names from the Whirlpool ninja hat and 1 name from the Konoha ninja hat. It turned out to be... Hari, Kaen, who was a Whirpool ninja, too, and...Sachi, who was a medical ninja-in-training. As Hari walked over to the middle of the stage with Kaen and Sachi, she had a tint of red on her cheeks. Hari leaned back to look at Kushina, who gave her a knowing smile. Hari had always had a crush on Kaen when they were in Whirlpool.

Kushina's mind lost track for the next few minutes because she got bored of the name picking and calling..until she was called.

"Kushina Uzumaki of Whirpool!! Sukai Kofuku of Whirlpool!! And Minato Namikaze of Konoha!! Please step forward!!"

Kushina was relieved to get Sukai, her best friend, but who was this Minato guy?? Although, with his blonde hair and enchanting azure eyes, she had to admit, he was pretty cute. But, cute isn't always good, Kushina!! her inner scolded, he'll get you distracted. What if, maybe, he's not a nice guy?

Minato observed Kushina for a minute. He was immediately fascinated by her flaming auburn hair. She seemed to be deep in thought, so to wake her up, he sent her one of his award-winning smiles. Much to his surprise, she smiled back at him gently, unlike his fangirls who would just die to get a smile from him. Maybe, this whole transfer program won't be so bad, he thought.

xXx

The next day, they met their sensei, Sango (no, not Inuyasha's Sango!!), who gave them a friendly smile and explained that she wasn't really their sensei, she was just going to watch over them for a month or so, and make sure that they can cooperate with each other alright. Afterwards, she'll go back to her jounin duties, but hopefully visit them every once in a while.

"So, guys, let's begin training!! I'll spar with Sukai-chan, and Minato-kun and Kushina-chan can spar with each other."

Kushina grinned at Minato, and he grinned back. Minato's been wondering what skills this foreign girl, and she was wondering what skills he had.

"Now, don't you go easy on me...'Nato-kun!! I may be a girl, but I'm a hecka strong one at that! I'm gonna make Tsunade-hime look like an ant someday!"

"Ok, ok, now...'Shina-chan! Let's begin."

Minato made some hand gestures and disappeared. Kushina's eyes darted around, wondering where the heck that guy had gone. A kunai was thrown out of a nearby tree, by Minato (duh, people!), and it hit Kushina square in the back. Her hazel, chocolate eyes rolled back in her head as she fell down to the ground, apparently hurt.

That was kinda easy, 'Shina-chan...wait, what the--? Minato thought.

Kushina's body disappeared with a poof as the real Kushina stood by the lake nearby, making some hand signs.

"Kaiten : Mizu Doragon no Jutsu!!" she yelled, as a huge water dragon appeared out of the lake behind her.

Using her hands, Kushina directed the water straight to Minato's tree, making his eyes widen a bit in surprise, then jump out...exactly where to Kushina's shadow clone was waiting for him. The clone punched him in the shoulder and then went for a sweep kick, but Minato jumped and threw a shuriken at the real Kushina. She easily dodged it, and came behind Minato and pressed a kunai to his neck.

"It's over, Minato.." she whispered.

Minato's body also disappeared with a poof as the real him stood behind her, pressing a kunai to her neck.

"I must disagree with you, 'Shina, for you're the one that might die any minute."

"All right, 'Nato-kun.. you won!! Man, I never knew you were so strong."

Sango came over, holding Sukai who was unconscious.

"Good job, Minato-kun, Kushina-chan. You both managed to stay alive without my supervision. I gotta go take Sukai-chan to the hospital..she broke a couple bones, so you're dismissed for today."

Sango disappeared to..somewhere, leaving Kushina and Minato dumbfounded.

"Hey, 'Nato-kun, what rank are you anyways??"

"Well, I'm chuunin, but I'm hoping to become jounin in the next couple of years."

"Wow...I'm only a genin. I was gonna be promoted, but my grandfather, the leader of Whirlpool, sent me on this mission first. So, technically, I'm a chuunin, too."

There was an awkward moment of silence between them.

"So, 'Shina-chan, what do you wanna do now?? Maybe we can go eat something."

Just then, Kushina's stomach rumbled loudly. She grinned sheepishly and said,

"Well, ok, but you're paying, 'Nato-kun. Hey, know any good ramen places around here?"

"Well, of course, Kushina. Let's see...maybe we should go to Ichiraku Ramen.."

"Cool!!" Kushina cried as she went skipping off.

"Um, Kushina??" Minato said.

"Yeah, Minato?"

"The ramen shop's the other way..."

xXx

A/N : Did you like it?? This is probably gonna be a ten or eleven chapter story, and updates will occur when possible...about every 2 weeks.

Inner: please review or Rose might be sad! But you do not have to….