"You're not in the comfort of your own homes anymore, kids!" the man practically screamed to the gathered crowd, "Here, if you cry mommy, you leave. You're here to become ninja, not to be babysat."

The gathering was located in the training grounds of the Academy, the place where children would go for their ninja training. There were no adults present save for the chuunin instructors, and even they were few and far between.

"I do not like to repeat myself," the man continued, "So if you hear me say something, jump to it. I don't expect you all to conform to my ways overnight, but I do expect it to be done...and quickly. The faster you conform, the happier I am...and you will want me happy. The next thing you should know is that this place isn't fun and games; you will learn to kill people here...not treat them as friends, not try to negotiate with them...kill them. Many of you don't know what that means yet, but I assure you, by the time this first month is over, you will."

The man tilted his head slightly in a bow and paced away from the center of the stage to his seat. The man who replaced him was slightly older and stood a good foot shorter.

"I will be your training coordinator. I can promise you now that you won't like the majority of the training that you're going to be doing, but there are many aspects that will be fun and entertaining. After you've completed certain parts of your training, there will be a competition of sorts pertaining to that certain aspect. The winner will get a prize of their choosing, among those we've set aside for such an event, and the second place will then pick theirs and so forth. So there is definitely incentive to improve your skills, and there will be competition that will help you improve."

"But first," the elderly ninja commented as the students began murmuring, "We get to do the thing I love most, and many of you will hate most...we're seperating the mass of you into pairs to spar."

At this many students gawked and started to complain, "Silence! You will not argue! You do it or you leave and don't come back!" Silence quickly spread as teachers began taking groups of ten to watch over. "This is not meant to humiliate anyone, it's merely for us to know where you stand on a basis of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. I know that some of you come from ninja clans..." many of the students turned their heads to their instructor at this, "And we will be doing our best to pair you off with another clan member, so don't take your opponent lightly because you know a little bit of ninjutsu. Now, you're individual instructors will be keeping an eye on you and will tell you when to begin you individual matches. Remember that this match will have an obvious outcome on your future, as will every other match you take part in. I wish you luck."

- - -

Nahiko stared at her teacher for a moment before she turned her head to the rest of the group. Many looked as nervous as she felt, but there were a few who didn't even seem bothered; she had to assume those were children from clans.

"Alright," their teacher spoke up, "I'm going to be pairng you off in groups of two for this...first up, Hybusa Takenao and Imura Haisho." The two boys shakily took their place in front of their instructor. "I want a good clean fight. All techniques are allowed, including those which would cause severe damage to your opponent. If I find your technique could easily maim the other, I will step in and dispel the jutsu before allowing the match to continue. The jutsu will be held in regard to the outcome of the match and you will be scored that much higher for having successfully performed it. Now, if you'll take your places..."

The two boys stepped a few paces from their techer in opposite directions.

"And...begin!"

Neither of the boys attacked at the signal, apparently sizing each other up. What happened next was something that Nahiko logged in her memory, and later her journal, as one of the most pathetic fights she had ever seen. One hit from Takenao landed Haisho in dreamland and Nahiko on the ground crying from laughter. It was at that moment that she dubbed Haisho as the 'One hit wonder'. Unfortunately, her teacher didn't find the match as entertaining as she did, and made sure to grind that fact into her skull.

A sword impaled the ground where her head would have rolled next, scaring the laughing fit out of her. "Did you think that was funny, girl?" the man asked, the disdain in his eyes apparent. Nahiko nodded her head, knowing it was rather pointless to argue it. "The let's see how you do!" the instructor spat with malice. Before she knew it, she was standing in the same spot Haisho had been before facing her opponent. She had the unfortunate disposition of being paired against one of the boys seeing as there were only three girls in her group.

"You won't always be fighting against enemy kunoichi, girl," the instructor informed her, "Sometimes you'll be forced into a match where you are outmatched physically and have to use your wits, and even then, you may be forced to flee. Begin whenever you're ready."

The boy Nahiko had been placed against lurched forward to begin his assault, but as Nahiko pulled away from his attack to lessen the blow, she realized he was holding back. With a quick maneuver, she smacked his fist to the side and slammed her knee into his gut. As he hit the ground holding his stomache she felt he needed some encouragement.

"Don't hold back against me! I might be a girl, but I'm still an opponent! Fight me! Fight me for real!"

The boy stood up shakily, still recovering from the blow, "Fine, I'll fight you for real...but don't blame me if you get hurt."

The boy lunged forward once again, this time much faster than before, and Nahiko was forced to take the defensive. Several decisive kicks and punches later, Nahiko was certain that the boy was, in fact, no longer holding back. She found that her arms and legs agreed with her completely; his attacks hurt. Luckily, a few swings later and a well placed counter landed her on the offensive.

"One," she counted as she hit a point on his shoulder, causing him to wince.

"Two," she stated as she swept his legs out from under him, causing him to topple onto his back from her first reeling blow.

"Three!" she practically screamed, twisting her body at an impossible speed to flow through with her third strike. Her foot struck home on the boy's chest, knocking the wind out of him.

Nahiko rolled with her third hit to continue her assault, but found her instructor in between her and her opponent.

"It's clear who the winner of this match is," the man affirmed, lifting up the boy and ushering the two of them back to the group.

- - -

"Where did she learn that?" a huge, clean-shaven man asked.

"I'm going to have to say it was probably by accident," a man with a weasel mask on his face replied slowly, "It looks very similar to basic ANBU martial arts...only changed up a bit to fit her body structure. That specific combinations of attacks is used to incapacitate enemies long enough to get them in a choke-hold. I figure if she'd been given a few more moments, the boy'd be out like a light."

"You're saying she learned that watching an ANBU fight?"

"Actually, Ibiki, it's more likely she learned it by glancing back when an ANBU was defending her from a pursuer."

The two men landed and crouched in the shade of the tree they'd used as a perch for the match.

"So, why are you here?" the black-clad weasel ANBU dared to ask, "Aren't you leaving to gather data on Iwa tonight? Shouldn't you be packing?"

"I thought I'd check in on Nahiko and make sure the instructors were treating her fairly first. My packing's done, and I wanted to see the level she was at before I left. I'm going to be gone for quite some time. I want to see how she improves."

"I understand. Don't worry, I'll have a constant watch on her. Hyuuga-san has ordered several of his branch guards to keep an eye on her, but the Hokage has asked me personally to watch her as well. We can't guarentee the absolute loyalty of Hyuuga-san's ninja and, until we can, it's still ANBU's job to keep her out of harm's way."

- - -

"This is our weapons training grounds," the instructor stated to Nahiko and her group, "Here you will learn to use Kunai, Shuriken, and Senbon. The majority of you will stick with the first two, while a few of you may find senbon more convenient that Kunai."

The students were quickly filed in line and ordered to throw two of each weapon.

"This is not the time when you will be forced to pick your weapons. You will never be forced to use any one of these, but you will learn to use them all," the man proclaimed. "In front of you are three mokujin, each with a picture of the projectile you are to use taped above their heads. You are to attempt to hit one of the two body targets, with that weapon."

The group did horribly, Nahiko included; she didn't even hit the dummy...earning her a snide remark from one of the other kids. The last girl walked up to her line and grabbed all six of the weapons. With a flick of her wrist the Kunai went flying towards their target, and the instructor's eyes went wide. A second jerk, and the shuriken were hurdled towards their own destination, and the teacher's frow furrowed. The final two weapons, both senbon, found their own hands and, in a single deft motion, were pinned through the middle of each of the targets on the third Mokujin. The teacher's mouth dropped.

A few moments after the girl took her place back in the group, the teacher got control of his bearings and, with a quick 'very good' to his students, led the group out of the weapons grounds and toward their next destination.

- - -

"Who is that?" Ibiki had to ask after his long whistle at the girls performance.

"The little brown-haired girl?" the ANBU asked.

"Yeah, the one that nailed bulls-eye on all the targets."

"Don't know, but from the looks of her eyes, I'd have to say she is from the Rein clan."

"Rein? I don't think I've heard of them before..."

"They come from Mist. If I'm correct, that girl's name is Akiaya, and she'd the first of the Rein clan born in Konoha."

"Mist...aren't they raged in a bloodline war right now?"

"That's right...and now you know why they're here. We know they hold a bloodline, but only the Hokage knows what it can do. As far as I've been informed, it only manifests in a few select individuals each generation, so while ANBU's been told to keep an eye on them, their Kekkei Genkai isn't at treat of being stolen. If I'm right, Tora's keeping tabs on them at the moment."

"I see...do you think their bloodline has anything to do with weapons?"

"I doubt it...again, it only manifests in select individuals, so one would have to assume that they each get the kind of training little Akiaya here has had since birth. I, personally, couldn't even begin to guess what kind of bloodline they have. The only thing I do know is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the eyes."

"Spoken like a true dojutsu user, Weasel."

"Watch it, I'm still in ANBU garb. There's no giving away my identity right now...no telling who might be listening."

- - -

"Alright, next, you will each be put under a genjutsu...don't worry, it can't hurt you, but it might scare you nonetheless. This is going to be a weak, C ranked Genjutsu, so it's more than likely that none of you will be able to break it. All you have to do is put you hands in the ram seal," the man showed them the seal, "then focus your chakra into it and yell 'Kai'." "Got it?" the man stated more than asked.

The students quickly put their hands in the seal the man had shown them. The instructor made several hand seals and upon completion stated, "Genjutsu: Nightmare's Door". The majority of the students completely abandoned their hand seal and started screaming and running about, most of them hitting the floor crying. As the instructor walked around and dispelled the jutsu, he came upon the familiar face of Imura Haisho. The boy was just standing there, gawking at the sight of the students.

"What happened to them, Sensei?" the boy asked.

"Didn't the Genjutsu have an affect on you?" the teacher asked, wide-eyed...he'd gotten many surprizes today, but this had to top them.

"Is that why they're crying? I heard you call out the genjutsu, but I thought you accidently overloaded it...it didn't hit me at all..."

- - -

"A natural resistance to Genjutsu? He's going to be a top notch Genjutsu specialist alright..." Ibiki stated.

"That explains why he went down with one shot..." Weasel agreed, "I seriously doubt his Taijutsu will improve enough to reach anywhere near his classmates, but he should have a lot of talent in the Genjutsu and Ninjutsu area."

"This is strange though...according to Mizuki, that was a low C ranked Genjutsu."

"It probably was...it's not unheard of for Genjutsu users to have a natural resistance to certain types of Genjutsu...I wonder how he'd hold up to Kurenai's?"

"I doubt he would...the woman's better at Genjutsu than any other I've seen to date."

"Well this is interesting...we've already got a good glimpse at a future team..." Weasel stated with a smile, though Ibiki had no chance of seeing it through the mask, "Uzumaki Nahiko, a taijutsu specialist, Rein Akiaya, a weapons specialist, and Imura Haisho, a Genjutsu specialist...I can see some potential, but what do you think the academy will chose?"

"Honestly...I doubt they'd put Nahiko in a class with people her calibur...especially with Mizuki there. All we can do is wait and see..."