Why, hello, everybody! This is PeinSaku speaking! :) Together, me and AIBOUGiRL are writing this. Keep in mind, this is the prologue, so it's gonna be a lot shorter than a normal chapter. Mmkay? Yes? Yes. Good. :D

Please read and review!


"WHAT?"

Hatake Kakashi beamed brightly at his homeroom class, thoroughly enjoying the torment he was putting them through.

"Yes," he replied much too eagerly. "You heard me right. There's going to be a sports festival in three days, and all of the universities in the country will be participating."

It was deathly silent in the classroom for a long moment. Then, it all went to hell in a hand basket. Some of the students were screaming in horror, while others were shouting victoriously.

"Are you crazy?" one student, Inuzuka Kiba, demanded. "Kiri University is a school specially for athletes! We're gonna have our asses handed to us on a sushi platter!"

Kakashi shrugged indifferently, smile never leaving his face.

"Not my problem," he said cooly, whipping out his handy dandy Itcha Itcha book. "The sign-up sheet is here on my desk, and all of you are required to participate in at least three events. Have fun."

He kicked back in his chair, propping up his legs on his desk, and left the students to their own devices as he read in peace. Ah, how he loved his book. It was his fifth time reading it.

"We're so screwed," Kiba muttered to the group around him. A few of them nodded in agreement.

"Man, this sucks major monkey balls," Naruto groaned, slumping over in his seat and pressing his cheek against his desk.

Sakura snorted, glaring at the teacher venomously. She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "Look on the bright side, Naruto," she remarked sarcastically. "You get to see your dear old friend, Chicken Ass, again."

She had meant it as a scoff, because, honestly? She hated Uchiha Sasuke. He and her got along like her alarm clock and her toilet did when she attempted to flush it down after getting annoyed at its constant beeping. (That hadn't turned out well. She ended up blowing out the water system in her house for over a week.) Naruto, however, brightened instantly.

"That's right!" he cheered, grinning widely. "I get to see the teme again! Geez, how long has it been? I still can't believe he transferred over to stupid Oto University. What's his deal, huh?"

Sakura looked away inconspicuously, plastering on a blank mask. She knew why Sasuke transferred: because of her. They had gotten into their thousandth fistfight, and Sasuke finally got so fed up, he took out a restraining order on her and switched schools. Crude, but effective. Not that Sakura cared, anyway.

"Beats me, man," Kiba replied, shrugging. Only Shikamaru and Neji were in on the secret. "But who cares, anyway? The guy was a real prick."

"Definitely," Sakura muttered, placing her cheek in her palm.

"What the heck are we gonna do about this sports festival thing?" Naruto complained, crossing his arms and puffing out his cheeks as he climbed out of his desk. "This is so uncool, man."

"Tell me about it," Sakura agreed distastefully, standing up to join him. She sighed as their little group followed the other students up to Kakashi's desk, dreading the upcoming event.

Their small circle of friends was a strange bunch. It composed of Haruno Sakura, the foul-mouthed short-tempered genius/street-fighter; Uzumaki Naruto, the gutsy loud-mouthed idiot who meant well; Inuzuka Kiba, the flirt/part-time-mechanic/dog-lover; Nara Shikamaru, the lazy genius who spent his time sleeping and cloud-watching; Akimichi Chouji, the human garbage disposal; Hyuga Neji, the fate-oriented well-mannered third genius; Hyuga Hinata, the super shy/quiet girl with a monster crush on Naruto; and Aburame Shino, the mostly-silent genius/bug-lover. Yamanaka Ino, Tenten (she never gave out her last name), Sai (no last name, either), and Rock Lee occasionally joined in their group, though not very often.

Sakura grimaced as she looked over the sign-up sheet on Kakashi's desk. Naruto, sensing her distaste through their twin-like bond, tried to look over her shoulder at the paper.

"What's it say, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura grabbed the paper and turned around to her group, glaring at it. "Alright," she grumbled. "Here's the different events: girls'-slash-guys' ten-meter dash, girls'-slash-guys' fifty-meter dash, girls'-slash-guys' hundred-meter dash, girls'-slash-guys' twenty-meter swim, tug-of-war, girls' softball, boys' baseball, girls'-slash-guys' soccer, girls'-slash-guys' basketball, girls' volleyball, and girls'-slash-guys' long jump."

Kiba and Naruto groaned loudly, while a few others grimaced.

"Great," Shikamaru grumbled, eyes closed as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and stuffed the other in his pocket. "What a drag."

"This sucks," Naruto repeated crossly, glaring at the paper as if he expected it to explode.

"Complaining will get us nowhere, even if it does make us feel better," Sakura remarked dryly, stealing a pen from Kakashi's desk. "So let's hear it; tell me what you want, and I'll put all our names it."

The others gave grunts and grumbles, but none of them protested. In the end, they (unwillingly) decided upon their events:

Sakura: girls' hundred-meter dash, girls' twenty-meter swim, tug-of-war, girls' soccer, and girls' volleyball.

Naruto: boys' ten-meter dash, tug-of-war, and boys' soccer.

Kiba: boys' hundred-meter dash, boys' twenty-meter swim, tug-of-war, boys' soccer, and boys' basketball.

Shikamaru: skipping school that day, but showing up in the stands for the hell of it to see how everyone else does.

Chouji: going with Shikamaru.

Neji: boys' ten-meter dash, boys' fifty-meter dash, and tug-of-war.

Hinata: girls' ten-meter dash, girls' twenty-meter swim, and girls' volleyball.

Ten minutes later, the class had another reason to be unhappy: their sports festival uniforms had come in. The shirts were one-size-fits-all, but they all had to sort through the shorts to find their size. All of the universities were required to wear black shorts and a t-shirt with the school's symbol on the back, but the shirts colors differed.

Red for Konoha — their university, blue for Kiri, yellow for Kumo, green for Kusa, brown for Suna, purple for Oto, black for Ame, white for Yuki, and gray for Taki. It was all very organized, against popular belief. The school whose students won the most competitions was the winner. The reward, to the students' annoyance, was an all-expenses-paid one-week-getaway to America for the principal of the winning school. Figures.

"Well, Naruto," Kiba mumbled, clapping the blond on the back in the manly way of defeat, "to me, it looks like we're screwed."

"Seriously screwed," he agreed glumly.

"We won't go down without a fight," Sakura vowed, eyes blazing and smirk in place. "What d'ya say, guys? Let's kicks some ass."

She was met with grins and smirks.

"Definitely, Sakura-chan!" Naruto slapped her a high-five. "Watch out, world, 'cause Uzumaki Naruto is gonna beat you all!"

"You're such an idiot, Naruto."

"You're so mean, Sakura-chan."

"I know."