Naruto Uzumaki had ideals with deceptively destructive abilities up his sleeve, and now he was replaced by a girl named Naruko? Well, at least she's an outgoing, strong person with a future ahead, and old enemies just get in the way of that. How will Naruko's lower, more stable chakra levels let her flop the graduation test? Did something strike a nerve?

Disclaimer: I own nothing, you copyright bastards. I'm watching the skies for black helicopters right now.

Note to Viewers:

First, don't read my author notes if your impatient, because I won't know to be pissed off. What's the point if you just want to read a good story? I win either way.

And second? Well continue this note to the bottom of the page.

Anyway, read before, after, or not at all.

…

The day for the graduation exam was here. If I could be more nervous, the suspense would have killed me. Iruka-sensei called the names randomly unlike homeroom rollcall, but one thing was still the same… in homeroom my name was one of the last to be called.

"Sasuke Uchiha. You are next."

"Hey that's Naruko to you, okay?!" I said, wondering why Iruka called me Sasuke, but I realized that it wasn't my name that was called.

I must have zoned out. Um, oops! Now everyone, even some of the boys were laughing. I scratched the side of my head coyly and smiled, letting out a nervous laugh. People think that others who are loud have problems being heard, or even worse, that they liked being the center of attention. Not this girl. I liked being both. Hell yes, I was nervous, but I was still outgoing and lively as ever.

But this guy… yeah, the one they were calling, the one with raven locks, the charming good looks, and the attitude problem. HE was my rival. Just look at him! He screams good looking and Sasuke was no joke at lessons either. I knew some of the boys did like me, probably because I wasn't pushing myself on them, but Sasuke would just get on my nerves and never quit assaulting me with words.

"Whatever…" said Sasuke. Grr, that bastard was just in my way! But maybe I spoke too soon—he pulled a fast one and said, "Right, how about you go first. You're not scared are you, scardy cat?"

"Um… excuse me? I'm totally confident I can get this."

I started I notice, though, I wasn't all there by my quietness.

I stood there, zoning out again. My ears were not dead, but my vision, completely staring at space. I heard some girls talking.

"—Yeah, totally. She might wet her pants."

ME? WET MY PANTS? HOW ABSURD—

"—She's listening, look at her shake, let's hope she has a mop."

Somehow, my perceived idea on this was that I was shaking, and not because I really had to pee… not because of the girls making fun of me… but maybe because I didn't have it all together. I thought back to yesterday. I was a prodigy, ready to storm the world with my abilities and intellect, but the only thing holding me back as a kunoichi was the council. But did I have it all here today? I may have wanted too much from myself—to not be nervous—I mean it was only my entire life riding on this chance! But I didn't think anything counted me out. I just wanted a chance to prove myself.

And then, there was Sasuke. I remember from when we were young—we played, we mock-battled, and then, I thought maybe at one day we'd die old together. It was obvious to me that the two best students would like, be with each other—I mean—at one time me and Sasuke were friends. Something I thought I would never have again… friendship. It was all because his parents found out. I got a message from Itachi to stay away from Sasuke, and he treated it like a threat.

Now that Sasuke was my rival, he'd do anything to bury our old friendship. Hell, I would too—but Sasuke could see every single time that I feared our old friendship cropping up. I just needed to give up on him and continue with my life! Everything told me to keep myself from slipping on the ice—but I was already walking on its thin surface, ready to break at the heel of my next step. It was this weird feeling that Sasuke knew I was going to fail, and it was all because of my confidence dipping too low. Confidence effects each Shinobi and Kunoichi, too, just like bloodshed and battle. I mean, even the loudest, outgoing people hated to feel small and insignificant, and that was my fear. I tried not to think of this one chance being just a "Try again next year" thing.

I walked down the hall into the room where my teachers' Iruka and Mizuki were waiting. By the time I entered, Iruka babbling out, "Hey, Naruko, you can't take Sasuke's tur—"

I looked up, half-expecting for him to see my wide, doe-like eyes and feeling like I was. I looked down.

"Naruko, is there something the matter?" said Mizuki, I looked up to him, too, and there seemed to be a look of mixture of concern, and delight. I mean, Mizuki was just like the rest of the sensei, but why those two emotions? Something wasn't right.

"Naruko… are you… alright?" said Iruka, "I'm very concerned that you would just walk in here looking like… that."

"N-No, um, just nervous. Um, yeah. Just nervous."

This was more than just nervousness. This was incompetence.

My only thoughts were, "Sasuke, where are you now in your life that you didn't need me? I know you, I know I'm always useless when I'm around you... is this why this wall is too steep for me to climb?"

I cast my jutsu half-heartedly, and by the end of the last hand seal, I looked to my left. A failure to make a single clone. Not even a dummy clone.

"Naruko… I thought you had mastered this jutsu. Alright, I'm sorry, but I can't pass you." Iruka said.

My face tightened as if a nerve had been struck. I hated it, but it was my own fear of failure that brought me down.

"Sasuke, you know me too well." I thought sadly. "But one day I will forget you— you wanted nothing to do with your old friend."

…

This is end of the first chapter. Please proceed to number two if there is one, but If you wanted to read that big note I talked about, well… you might as well. But don't get excited— I think it's boring… anyway!

Um, If you're reading this story for the first time… congrats. You're reading the first rendition of many of my story… meaning I may or may not rewrite it from complete scratch later under a new name. Yeah, I'm the jerk like that you may be reading a completely different story in 2 years.

I don't expect this story to get over 50-100 views on the first chapter because I'm not writing this for you guys. I'm just selfish and like my writing all the same because I could be a part of it, not because everyone else is. Still, what goes on the internet stays on the internet, so for now, I regret nothing.

But if you noticed, I needed a beta to keep everything consistent. If anyone knows of one who's not going through a spell of depression from taking on more than one project than she can handle, please, let me know. I need an experienced beta who likes Naruto, which is hard to find.

I'm new to the grammar, usage, and editing thing by the way. Usually, I come back later and fix it, thus making it more-or-so right or even completely wrong.

But most importantly—my fans can tell me if somethings off— and that's your job— to critique fairly and tell me my mistakes. Also, I appreciate flames, not because they're awful and poorly executed, because they usually are never written by people who have never written themselves, so they give me a laugh when they try give me the middle finger. I won't however respond to them, reject them, or reason for more like and idiot, staying completely neutral and not mentioning them at any time.

Since the Naruto community looks rather dead on Adventure fanfics, and I wanted to bring a new spin on a Fem!Naru story. What is that? That's actually finishing one with a strong female lead. Given that's just a starting point, as you can see, I did manage to write a decent beginning that I'm proud of. It's a shame if no one reads it, but I can live without that pain for just a tiny bit more. For right now, I'm just writing out the first part of the story as a set-up with as much Fem!Naru ass-kicking as I can.