Okay originally Ibiki and Hayate's teammate was this kid Tokara. He's a boring stub. at first the story was supposed to be Hayate-centric, but then I added an OC to the mix.

kindly deal with that, loves.

Hayate was already in the training field when I arrived. He was sitting under a tree looking at birds flying across the sky.

"Ohayou" I greeted. He nodded in response. I took a seat a couple feet away. Then I took out a brush and a poison canister and began to coat senbon needles with the stuff.

"What's that?"

I shrieked at the sudden voice behind me and stabbed the needle into the source of the voice. I heard a grunt of pain and Ibiki fell forward, the senbon lodged in his arm.

"G-g-gomensai" I whispered, realizing what I'd done.

Hayate walked over. "Takara, did you just poison *cough* Ibiki?"

"I-it isn't l-lethal?" I offered. I dipped my head in shame "G-gomensai Morino-san"

Ibiki pulled the needle out of his arm, whipped the blood off with his shirt, then handed it to me. "I told you to quit it with the suffixes. What does it do anyway?"

"In about three to five minutes, you're arm will stop functioning..." I muttered. I dug through my bag and pulled out the antidote. "But it didn't hit the major artery so it would have been closer to twenty. Hold still."

I injected the liquid into his neck. He rubbed the spot. "Cool. How do you know weather it works or not?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "I test it on rats and snakes I find in the back of my apartment and in the woods.."

I got weird looks from both of my teammates. Hayate finally coughed and muttered "Okay then"

"heh" Ibiki said after a few seconds passed. He sat down.

Sensei arrived fifteen minutes later.

We stood at attention while she pulled two little bells out of her Flak Jacket. "The object of this exercise is to take these from me within the next two hours, 'ttebane." She clipped the bells to her belt. "This isn't going to work unless you come at me with the intent to kill, kay?"

We nodded solemnly.

"There are two bells and three of you." She said with a small smile. "Meaning whoever doesn't get a bell will be going back to the academy, 'ttebane."

My eyes snapped wide open and I could feel my heart beat in my throat. I made a small noise.

Kushina set the timer, and then the three of us proceeded to scatter.

I was maybe two minutes away from a full scale mental breakdown in my tree, when a big hand clamped over my mouth.

I turned my head slightly to see Ibiki and Hayate out of the corner of my eye. I slumped slightly in relief and he moved his hand.

"If we're going to get a bell we need to work together." Ibiki informed me. "a head on approach isn't going to work on Kushina-sensei. I just got my ass handed to me and so did Hayate. If any of us are going to get a bell we need to do it as a unit."

Hayate coughed into his fist. "We were thinking that if *cough* we could distract sensei, you could hit her with the same poison *cough* you used on Ibiki. From there we'll *cough* figure out who gets the bells and who is sent back. Sound like a plan?"

I nodded. This seemed like the only way I'd even have a shot of being a ninja.

I observed Ibiki running at Kushina-sensei with a kunai in each hand from one side, and Hayate coming at her with his katana from the other. She seemed to dance around Hayate's blade, before she fluidly ducked Ibiki's kunai.

Nows my chance! I jumped out of my tree and made a beeline for sensei. I wasn't confident enough in my aim to go from further away so I needed to get close if this was going to work.

I let six needles fly. Three hit each of her legs. I sighed in relief when I saw they'd hit where I aimed. The upper thighs, the calves, and the ankles. She grunted slightly at the impact.

I had explained to Hayate and Ibiki that as soon as the needles made contact, they were to do one thing. Make her move.

The more she moved the faster the poison would spread. I ran forward with my own kunai and joined them. They didn't disappoint.

A minute in Kushina-sensei's legs started to wobble. Then they gave out all together. Hayate, being the closest grabbed both bells and tossed them to me and Ibiki.

"Great job, you guys!" he called. I noticed the undertone of sadness in his voice. He coughed into his fist.

"Hayate." I walked forward and pushed my bell into his hand. "You deserve it more then me. Your the one who helped distract her. I wouldn't have been able to get close without you and Ibiki. I'll try again later, but for now, you and Ibiki deserve this more than me."

"Bullshit!" Ibiki exclaimed. "Your the one who incapacitated sensei! You can have mine."

I could tell everyone there (including me) were about ready to get into a full scale fight over who didn't get the bells. What the actual hell?

"Guys!" Kushina-sensei called pulling the needles out. She army-crawled forward. "That was brilliant, 'ttebane! You all pass!"

"come again?" Ibiki asked.

Kushina pushed herself up onto her elbows. "It was about teamwork. I needed to see if you three could work together and get the bells. You pass, ttebane!"

I let out a shaky laugh of relief.

"Now can you please fix me, ttebane?" Kushina-sensei said in an annoyed voice.

"Right!" I pulled the antidote from my pouch and carefully injected her. I made a point to rotate her ankles for her and periodically rub the veins to make sure it traveled faster.

"Your all going to be a great team, ttebane!" she exclaimed.

I smiled brightly at that.

So you think you can ninja?

not sorry.

tune in next time!

-Scathach