I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. All I own is my own character Koei X, and the original plot that has been inserted in.

Naruto

Number 1: Koei

Saga: Darkness is All I See

Koei (1) sighed from the corner of the room she was sitting in. Everything was still the same, no one talked to her, and she was completely ignored, shut off from the world around her.

But it didn't matter to her, she was used to it. The conversations everyone seemed to be having with each other… Were just useless to her, all the girls seemed to talk about was that one guy named Sasuke, and all the guys seemed to talk about was how they were going to beat each other up to impress the girls. It was all just irritating to her. Maybe that was why she had no friends.

Everyone would describe her as the anti-social one of the class, the outsider that only spoke when spoken to.

She shifted her glance away from the room full of Shinobi's in training, and out the window that was beside her. It wasn't long before she had to get her mind out of the scenery outside and on Master Iruka who had just walked in the room.

Iruka cleared his throat and looked around the classroom, no one seemed to have noticed he had walked in. He cleared his throat once more, the silence started but the boy Naruto and Sasuke were still arguing.

"Naruto!" Iruka yelled angrily. "Will you please keep it down? I am trying to run a class!"

"Sorry, sir," Naruto growled through clenched teeth as he stopped himself from shooting a nasty commit in Sasuke's direction. That boy sure was asking for it. Messing with the girl of his dreams… Sakura. He looked longiningly in her direction, which happed to be to his right side.

"Eww…" Sakura whined, noticing the look on Naruto's face. "Don't look at me like that you idiot!" She then whacked him on the head and was about to do it again but stopped when Iruka yelled at her. "Sorry, sir…"

"Now that we are all done… Arguing with each other," He threw a nasty look in the direction of Naruto and Sakura, who looked down at their hands sheepishly. "I would just like to announce that from this day forward, you are no longer mere students of Ninjutsu, but full-fledged Shinobi. But among the ranks of the Shinobi, you are mere novices, lowest of the low. You're greatest challenges lie ahead."

"Lovely speech," Naruto muttered to himself. "This is going to take forever…" He leaned his head on his hands and then looked at the teacher through lidded eyes.

"The next step is the assignment of official duties to you all on behalf of our village," he paused and then frowned at the half asleep Naruto. "You will now be divided into four man cells. Each of which will be mentored by a Jônin, a more senior Ninja. I have made the selections so that each cells abilities would be almost equal…"

Sounds interesting…Koei thought to herself. I wonder… Who in this class can match up to my abilities?

"The seventh cell…" Iruks paused. He was now announcing the last four-man cell of the day. "Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and… X Koei…"

The three looked at Iruka questionably when he said the name 'X, Koei'. Who was this person he was talking about? They'd never met him or her before in their lives, let alone ever heard the name mentioned.

"Who the hell is Koei?" Naruto asked aloud, looking around the room to hopefully to try and at least catch a glimpse of this person.

"Don't be rude Naruto!" Iruka shot at him. "She's right back there, in the corner."

"I…" Naruto looked at the girl with shoulder length black hair. Her Hitai-ate was over her forehead; her hair was sticking up over it. She was wearing a knee length coat that was black and was cut in the front like a triangle. On the back it had an emblem of a blue dragon, along with a black hood, and underneath the jacket was a plain black shirt. Her pants were also black and she had white tape wrapped around her legs that stopped a few inches below her knees. Wrapped around the middle of her leg above her knee was more whit tape, holding up her Shuriken holster. Her sandals were blue like everyone else's; her eyes were a melancholy blue.

"I'm Koei X," Koei said standing up so the room could get a good look at her. It looked as though this were the first time that anyone had ever laid eyes on her.

"Now that you all know who she is.." Iruka said shaking his head at everyone. "You are all dismissed till this afternoon. That is when your instructors will arrive."

"Great…" Koei muttered.

The clouds just seemed to roll by above Koei slowly. Everyone seemed to be moving so slowly today. She sighed as she leaned back against the tree that was behind her. AT least she had found something to make her time pass by quicker than it was in the room with Iruka.

"Today… Just seems so… slow?" Koei finally asked aloud, though she knew no one was around to answer her.

"Does it really?" a male voice asked as she jumped from the sudden sound of his voice. "I didn't scare you did I? Though Ninja's were supposed to be on guard at all times?"

"Sasuke right?" Koei asked rolling her eyes. "And I presume you have come here to interrogate me or something?"

"What would I do that for?" Sasuke asked looking at her amused.

"I don't know… You just seem like the type of person who wants to know everything about what he is going to be doing or working with," Koei replied shrugging. "At least that is the impression I get from you."

You could be right," Sasuke replied as a small smile appeared across his face but replaced with a blank look after a second, as if he were trying to cover up the fact that he could smile.

"So… What about the other two? What are they like?" Koei asked trying to start up a conversation, she wasn't too found of this blank stare he was giving her.

"Where did you come from all of a sudden?" Sasuke asked ignoring her questions. "I mean how did you just appear under my nose like that? I've never seen you in class before."

"No one pays attention to me really," Koei replied, shrugging her shoulders. "It's not like anyone would, considering I have no friends and everything…"

"How can… How can you have no friends?"

"I'm kind of anti-social." She laughed after she said that, and then frowned.

"Anti-social? You're talking just fine to me at the moment."

"I don't know then… I don't really talk unless I am spoken to. It's just the way I was raised… When I was younger and everything… I… I think I'm going to go now. I need to get something done…"

Koei got up from where she was sitting and then begun to walk away from Sasuke.

"Why are you running away?"

Koei stopped walking and stood still.

"Why are you running away?" he repeated. "I know you're hiding something. I can tell by the look in your eyes. If you don't want to talk about it you don't have too, but running away isn't going to solve any of your problems. All it shows is just how weak of a character you have."

"You don't know what you're talking about! You don't even know me! How can you say that I have a weak character?" She spun around, facing him with an angry glare.

"You get mad too easily. I am just stating the obvious. If I don't tell you then someone else will someday. Its better to find out now than later on down the road, at least now you can try and fix the problem."

"I don't have a problem."

Sasuke just sighed. This was going to be touch, how would she ever get stronger if she didn't admit she had flaws? Even he had some flaws of his own, but then again why did he really care if she screwed up later on down the road and got killed?

He shock his head to clear himself of the thoughts that were running through it and sighed once more. "It doesn't matter… If you can't see your flaws then there is no reason for me to save you from a mistake you are going to make in the future."

Koei just looked at Sasuke as he turned around and begun to walk away.

What if he was right? What if I do have flaws that I just can't find? But I would have found them already! Right…? Maybe, I do have flaws, flaws that I can't even find…

"Cut it out Naruto!" Sakura yelled at him as he stuck his head out the door for the fifth time in that second.

"Why is it that we are the only cell who doesn't have their teacher yet?" Naruto asked as he pulled his head out of the hallway and closed the door. "Everyone else has already gone off with this or her teachers, even Master Iruka…"

"Maybe he's just running late?" Koei asked, shrugging her shoulders. This was the first time she had talked to any of them since she had entered the room. She was already sick of Sakura and Naruto arguing with each other so often.

"But why would he be running late? I thought teachers were supposed to arrive right on time to give out a good impression, Mater Iruka was always on time..." Sakura said trailing off as she went into thought.

"What are you doing?" Koei noticed Naruto standing on top of a chair while he stuck an eraser between the two sliding doors.

"Nothing," Naruto replied with a big grin on his face as he jumped down from the chair.

"You don't actually think a superior Shinobi would be caught in such a simple bobby trap like that do you?" Sasuke asked as he leaned on his fists. "It's to simple…"

"Ah…" Koei begun as she noticed the sliding door was opening in front of her. The teacher stepped in and the eraser fell right on his head, then fell to his feet.

"I got you good!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed the nearest desk to stop himself from falling over from laughing.

Koei looked at the teacher, then shifted her attention to Sakura who was apologizing to the teacher and telling him she played no part in what had just happened. She sure was putting on a good act.

"How shall I put this? Based on my first impression… I hate you!" he screamed out at the four of them.

"What did I do…?" Koei asked staring back at him, insulted.

"Now, I'd like you to tell us a little about yourselves," the teacher said as he watched all four of his students to sit down on the cement bellow them.

"Like what?" Sakura asked looking at him.

"You know. The usual. Your favorite thing, what you hate most. Dreams, ambitions, hobbies. Things like that," he replied shrugging his shoulders.

"Help us out here… You go first," Naruto replied.

"That's right. To us you are a complete stranger, a complete mystery," Sakura added in.

"Oh… Me? My name is Hatake Kakashi. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like talking about his likes and dislikes! My dreams for the future are none of your business… But I have lots of hobbies…" Kakashi said looking down at the four kids that sat in front of him.

"He sure said a lot…" Koei said looking at him, dumbfounded.

"Now it's your turn, starting with you on the right…" Kakashi said, looking at Naruto.

"Me, right! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! What I like is instant cup ramen! What I like even better is when Master Iruka treats me to ramen at the Ichiraku Noodle Bar! What I hate is the three-minute wait after I pour in the boiling water. My dream is to one day be a better Shinobi then Lord Hokage!" Naruto stated proudly. "And then all the villagers will have to acknowledge my existence a last!"

Well… Hasn't this turned out interesting? He stared at Naruto and then turned his attention over to Sasuke. "Next!"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are plenty of things I hate, but I don't see that it matters, considering there is almost nothing I do like. It seems pointless to talk about 'dreams'… That's just a word… But what I do have is determination. I play to restore my clan. And there is someone I have sword…" Sasuke paused to let everything sink in. "To kill…"

Kakashi just blinked at Sasuke while everyone besides Koei looked at him blankly. "And now on to one of the young ladies…"

"I am Haruno Sakura. My favorite thing is… Well it's not a thing, it's a person. A boy… And that boy is… Uh… Let's move on to my dream," Sakura begun and then blushed and stopped just as she was going to begin to say her dream. "I hate… Naruto! My hobbies are-"

"Enough," Kakashi said shaking his head. "Last is you!"

"My name is X Koei," Koei begun, she saw Kakashi's eyes get a little big as she mentioned her name. "I don't really have a favorite thing unless you would include it as a weapon… I don't want to talk about my dream and what I hate, considering it's nothing of your concerns. But I do have one hobby, and that would include training, I must become stranger."

"So that would mean your father was…" Kakashi begun but stopped himself from saying the name.

"Yes," Koei replied starring up at him with a frown on her face. "I would prefer if you didn't talk about him."

"Fine. I believe we all understand one another. Formal training begins tomorrow." Kakashi said.

"Yes! And what will our duties be?" Naruto asked, excited at the prospect of starting.

"Our first project involves only the members of this cell…"

"What is it?" Koei said look at him.

"Survival exercises…"

"What? Why? Our school days were full of survival training!" Sakura yelled looking at him.

"But you will have to survive against me. It won't be your typical practice…" Kakashi explained with the rest of them just gave him blank looks.

"Well then, what kind of practice will it be?" Sasuke asked.

Kakashi begun to laugh.

"What are you laughing about…" Koei asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that… If I told you, you'd chicken out," Kakashi replied as he tried to stifle down his laughter.

"Chicken out! Why would we do that?" Naruto shot back at him.

"Of the twenty seven members of your graduations class, only nine will be accepted as junior level Shinobi. The other eighteen must go back for more training. The test we are about to take has a sixty-six percent rate of failure," Kakashi said leaning back against the rails.

"Yeah right…" Koei said under her breath, as she looked at the other three. They all seemed to be concentrating on Master Kakashi's face, as if they believed he was telling them all a bad lie.

"See! You're chickening out already!" Kakashi said almost breaking into another fit of laughter.

"What about or graduation test then?" Naruto screamed at him.

"Oh! We wanted to eliminate all the hopeless cases from your ranks. The ones who are left are the only students who show true potential," Kakashi explained.

"What!" Sakura yelled.

"In any event, we'll meet tomorrow morning on the practice field so that I can evaluate each of your skills and weaknesses. Bring all of your ninja tools and weapons," Kakashi started and then continued as he let everything he was saying get into their minds. "And don't have breakfast before-hand… unless you enjoy throwing up."

"What ever," Koei replied waving her hand in front of her as she stood up. "I don't' believe this."

"Believe what you want," Kakashi replied. "But here is the details of your assignment of this handout. Memorize it… and don't be late!"

"This is all… Just a waste of my time," Koei said frowning as she begun to walk away from the others.

(1): Lonely