Chapter Two
Becoming a Gennin
Another two years passed. It was finally time; the graduation exam. Zemaria and her classmates were all twelve years old now. That meant it was finally time to graduate from the Academy. Once a student graduates, it meant they had become the first official level of being a Shinobi. That level was called a Gennin. There were three levels one needed to achieve to being on the path of the Shinobi. They were Gennin an entry level Ninja, Chuunin a second level Ninja, and a Jounin the final level Ninja.
In a squad, Gennin followed the orders of Chuunin and Jounin leaders. Chuunin followed the orders of Jounin leaders. The next level above Jounin was Anbu Black Ops for anyone with enough potential. Besides Anbu there was medical Ninja, the interrogation unit, and various other types of Shinobi one could become after taking the appropriate exams for them.
Speaking of exams, everyone was getting ready for the graduation exam. One by one each student entered a specific room. Sitting at the desk up front was Iruka and another Chuunin teacher named Mizuki Touji. Mizuki didn't seem too enthused about the exam taking place. Even so, each student that entered the room performed the clone Jutsu which was the final exam Jutsu needed to perform in order to graduate.
Naruto entered the room and like previous attempts, could barely produce two clones. They were sickly looking and couldn't even stand. Iruka failed him. Zemaria entered the room after him. She produced ten clones without even creating a single hand sign. She was definitely her father's daughter.
"Ten clones? They're absolutely flawless! Zemaria, congratulations. You pass," Iruka proudly announced.
Mizuki questioned her ability, "Just out of curiosity, how did you produce so many clones and not even create a hand sign?"
Zemaria just shrugged her shoulders, "I guess I just can."
She walked over to them and Iruka handed her a headband. The fabric was black and it had a shiny metal plate in the middle with the Leaf symbol engraved into it. Zemaria unfolded the fabric and placed the headband on her forehead and tied it tightly. She then silently left the room.
At the end of the day, every student had graduated. Everyone that is except for Naruto. He was the only student in the entire class that hadn't passed the exam. Zemaria noticed him sitting on the swing he always sat on... alone. He looked so sad. She couldn't help but feel his pain. Having the kindness of her mother, she made her way over to him.
"Hey," she said smiling lightly.
He gave her a weird look, "What do you want?"
"I noticed that you always sit on that swing by yourself. Thought you could use some company is all," her smile became a bit more inviting.
"I heard you were the only one that produced more than three clones today," he randomly pointed out.
"Yeah, I did," she responded.
Naruto stood up from the swing. Glaring at her because of her success, he spun toward the tree and punched it. He was angry that she had been able to make so many clones and he couldn't even make two. Zemaria took a step back not knowing what to do. As he walked past her, a wall created from thorny vines quickly formed in front of Zemaria as a sort of barrier to protect her.
All the new Gennin standing outside excited about graduating now stopped talking and turned their heads in the direction of Zemaria and Naruto. What had just happened? Naruto stopped and curiously stared at the wall of vines. Zemaria reached out her hand and touched it. The thorns didn't hurt. At least, they didn't hurt to her.
Naruto finally asked, "How did you do that?"
She responded, "I'm not sure. I... I thought you were going to strike me like you did the tree and then this wall of vines formed."
The silence from the other Gennin transitioned into murmurs about what had just happened. There were only a handful of people not talking about it. Zemaria out of nowhere decided to run off and head home. She had no idea what was going on or how she was able to create vines like that. Day soon turned to night. She fell asleep to await tomorrow when the new Gennin would be assigned squads.
The sun finally came up for the new day. Zemaria slowly opened her eyes to the blinding sunlight. She lifted herself up on the bed, stretched her arms, and threw the covers off. She made her way to her closet to pick out the day's clothes. Fixing her headband, she headed to the door. Shoes on, headband present, clean clothes on. It was time to see who she would be teamed up with.
On her way to the Academy, Zemaria wondered if she'd be on Shikamaru's squad. Oh yeah, no one really knew it but Zemaria secretly had a crush on the laziest student in the Academy; Shikamaru Nara. Little did she know, he also had a crush on her as well. Shikamaru was the absolute laziest student in the entire Academy although it was said that his IQ was through the roof. He simply had zero motivation to becoming a Shinobi.
Finally, Zemaria made it to the Academy building. Pretty much everyone else was there already. She walked in and looked around for somewhere to sit. As she looked for an open seat she noticed Naruto sitting in the front with Sakura and Sasuke next to him. How did Naruto graduate?
"I just hope I'm not stuck with Naruto or Sasuke," Zemaria thought to herself.
"I'm going to be on Sasuke's team," Sakura bragged to Ino.
Ino's eyes screamed hatred, "I'm the one who's going to be on Sasuke's team billboard brow!"
Ino Yamanaka. She was another one the Shinobi world could do without. For years Sakura and Ino had been sworn enemies. Zemaria didn't really understand that too much. She preferred to have nothing to do with fan girls. She preferred to stay far away from Sasuke's fan girls. Zemaria finally found an empty seat... next to Ino. Ino was sitting one row back from Sakura and was next to Shikamaru.
Zemaria sat down. At least she was next to Shikamaru. Well, she was next to Ino who was next to Shikamaru. It was close enough. Everyone was talking up a storm. Iruka entered the room and immediately ordered everyone to quiet down. The room settled and the talking dissipated.
"Today you are all Gennin. As Gennin you will be assigned squads. Now I want you all to pay close attention to who you will be teamed up with," he announced.
Iruka waited a minute. There was light chatter with excitement. Who would everyone be teamed up with they all wondered. Every girl of course wanted to be on Sasuke's team. Okay, every girl except for one. Her name was Hinata Hyuuga. She was a super shy person and only had eyes for Naruto but could never say anything to him.
Iruka continued on, "Squad seven will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and because of an odd number of graduating students your squad will also have Zemaria."
"Sensei, why does my squad have to be the one that gets an extra person?" He barked.
"Naruto, you were the only person that had the lowest scores. To balance that out, your squad was chosen to take an extra person. Instead of having an even number that includes the Jounin leader, your squad will have a total of five people. Between the four of you sitting in this room Sakura, Sasuke, and Zemaria all had excellent scores," Iruka explained to him, hands on his hips.
Naruto pouted and sat down. Zemaria looked upset. She wasn't going to be on Shikamaru's team. The other squads were called out. Squad eight consisted of Chouji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Ino Yamanaka. Squad ten consisted of Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. All of the mentioned were referred to as 'the rookie ten' and that included Zemaria.
Iruka gave them all instructions on where to meet their squad leader after reading off all of the names. They were dismissed to get to know one another further and have a lunch break. Naruto sulked about being on the same team as Sasuke and also about having an extra member. Sakura as always had gone in search of Sasuke. Zemaria though, had found a nice quiet spot in a tree and took a nap.
You wouldn't think it but her and Shikamaru would be a match made in heaven. Zemaria wasn't nearly as lazy but she did enjoy a nice opportunity to catch a nap in a tree. In a way the two are very much alike. Anyway, lunch break was at an end only forty-five minutes later. Naruto, Sasuke, Zemaria, and Sakura all made it to the room they were told to be in to wait for their new Sensei.
They waited, and waited, and waited. They had waited so long that all the other squads were already gone with their Senseis. Naruto decided to be a wise ass and stick a black board eraser between the door and wall. When their Sensei would open the door, the dry eraser would hit him on the head. Typical Naruto.
He finally showed up. The door opened and bonk! The eraser hit him on the head producing a small cloud of chalk dust as it landed in his hair. The Jounin known as Kakashi Hatake stared blankly at them at first.
"Well," he started, "I'd say my first impression of this group would be... you are all morons."
They all had 'doom' looks plastered on their faces except for Zemaria who wanted no part of their shenanigans. They ended up on the roof of the Academy. The four Gennin sat on a set of steps while Kakashi leaned against the railing. There was an odd silence.
Kakashi finally spoke, "Okay, let's start out by getting to know each other. Tell me a little about yourselves. We'll start with you on the end."
He was referring to Sakura. This would be interesting. The only thing she ever really thought about was Sasuke.
"Well, what I like to do is- no wait, the person I'd like to be with is-" she tried to make a complete sentence, "The plans I have for my future are-" she giggled.
Well that didn't work too well. She could barely even create a complete sentence. Who would he ask for to go next?
"Okay then. Let's move to you next," he looked at Zemaria.
She replied, "I have a dream to be reunited with my parents. I'll do whatever it takes to find them just to see them again."
After she went, Kakashi went on to Naruto. He went on about becoming Hokage one day and his mad obsession with Ramen. Lastly was Sasuke. He seemed more ominous than usual talking about killing someone.
"What about you Sensei?" Zemaria asked him.
"Me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't really feel like saying anything more than that. The rest you'll just have to figure out on your own," he stated.
Well that wasn't very helpful at all. After a short awkward silence, he finally gave us new instructions. He said to meet him at a specific spot at the crack of dawn the next day and not to eat breakfast. We were going to have a test to see if we're really ready to be Gennin. The only catch was that if we failed, we'd be sent back to the Academy and start our training all over again.
We went home and rested. At the crack of dawn we all dragged our feet to the training ground we were told to go to. Kakashi was the only one not present. Of course Zemaria's squad would be the one that had the Sensei that was always late.
