Yeah. So, I decided that if they can have adequate hospital machinery and walkie-talkies in the form of small headsets, then MP3s can exist too. Therefore, by extension, so can computers. But phones and the like don't, hence the scrolls via bird. Mainly because I always include music in my stories, but wutevarr.

This chapter is short, like half as long compared to the first. Sorry about that. .


The next day dawned too early for Makoto's liking. Sitting up in her bed, she looked at a nearby clock. It was five-fifteen in the morning. How the hell was she supposed to kill an hour and a half? Grumbling some rather unlady-like things underneath her breath, Makoto crawled out from the blankets and took a quick but thorough shower. Walking out in shorts and an oversized t-shirt, she padded over to her dresser. Opening the top and bottom drawers, she pulled out her usual clothing: dark green shirt, black undershirt, black pants, and belt.

The sleeves of the dark green shirt were long and stopped at Makoto's knuckles. While said sleeves were loose, the torso part of the shirt was tight fitting, but not to the point of suffocation. There was also a black hood attached to the back and a matching, large front pocket. On the back was the Wakahisa symbol, a budding black rose with no stem. Underneath the unbosoming flower was a couple of the same color petals from the bud. It was basically a hoodie, though made of much more light material. The tight fitting torso made it easier to move, as baggy clothing can cause more air resistance, and the light material added to speed and flexibility. The undershirt, unlike the green shirt, had no sleeves but was of the same light material. It was also a tight fit.

The pants were straight leg and only slightly loose, starting out tight at her thighs before flaring out as it went farther down the pant legs. The belt, also black, and though a bit unneeded, was wound firmly through the pant loops. When Makoto had her standard blue sandals on, the pants had the tendency of covering everything but her toes and the ends typically got trampled on, causing a fraying at the ends. There was also a hole at her left knee, though Makoto really couldn't be bothered to fix the fabric. The whole outfit was realistically based on mobility and comfort.

Makoto glanced at the clock again to see it around forty-five minutes more than she had last checked. Growling under her breath at the slow passing time, she attached her black weapons pouch to her right thigh along with her small, dark green medic pouch under it. Going back into the bathroom, the hazel eyed teen opened a cupboard and pulled out a hairdryer. Eyeing the infernal contraption as she plugged it into the wall, Makoto flipped it on and began drying out her auburn hair, knowing that if she didn't, the thick strands would still be half-sopping during survival training.

Several minutes later of half-hearted struggling with trying to dry her hair and yelps of pain caused by trying to brush out knots caused by the drying, Makoto looked in her bathroom mirror at her reflection. Her auburn hair swayed slightly just above her waist, a bit more bushy than usual, a byproduct of using the hairdryer. Soft waves started just around her ears as a result of being brushed out and put into a low ponytail or messy bun while still wet and her bangs hung down and curved slightly at the ends as they reached her chin, parted at the middle of her left eye. Small glints of blonde and red shined in the lighting of the room, otherwise unknown to exist. Two pairs of hazel eyes narrowed before the real version sighed and fixed the strands into the usual messy bun.

Walking out of the bathroom and in the direction of the living-dining room combo, Makoto crossed the hall to enter her bedroom momentarily in order to retrieve her headband and MP3 from her bedside table, putting on her sandals while she was at it. The teen clipped said device to her belt and slipped in her earphones, flicking the power switch to on. After a few seconds of silence, the beginning violin of Thanks For the Memories by Fall Out Boy began to play. A small grin formed on Makoto's face as she locked her small apartment up and launching herself up onto the roof.

"Ready…Set," Makoto muttered calmly to herself, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. After a few minutes, Fall Out Boy faded out and was replaced with Relient K. As it reached its chorus, Makoto's eyes snapped back open, "Go."

With a burst of speed, the brunette lifted off from the roof in a chakra-heightened jump. Her toes barely touched the next roof before she was once again momentarily suspended in air. Once Makoto landed onto another roof of shingles, she hopped down into an alley and tore out of it. The hazel eyed girl never lessened her pace while weaving in and out of the condensing crowds. Though completely engrossed in the music that pumped into her ears, Makoto was just as aware of her surroundings, of each twist and turn, each person she passed, and never once did she touch them, not even a small brush. All the while, the brunette had been running through the survival training details Kakashi had given her yesterday.

Multitasking was something she had learned to do from her siblings long ago and it also turned out to be something Makoto was extremely good at. And, oddly enough, music helped in that matter. Daisuke often liked to tease her about it, saying that if Makoto ever lost her MP3, she'd lose her 'Super Awesome Expert Crowd Weaving Abilities', as he had come to christen it. That is, whenever he and Emiko managed to drop by.

Makoto shook her head, trying to rid the bitter thoughts by focusing on the switch from Paramore's Decode to Paralyzer by Finger Eleven.

'Being in ANBU is time consuming and dangerous,' the youngest of the Wakahisa reasoned to herself, though her words sounded empty and well rehearsed to even her as she took care to run on the edge of the bridge railing and jump to the trees. 'It's not their fault that they don't have much time…'

The intended ending was left off though a small voice in her head decided to finish it for her.

'…for you.'

Makoto promptly visualized kidnapping all the fangirls in Konoha, duct taping their mouths shut, and using cruel means of torture, A.K.A making them believe that Sasuke hated them all and was gay for Kiba. The thought made Makoto grin as she settled in a tree of the appointed training grounds that had been pre-mentioned in those papers. The oldest of the Team Seven Genin laced her fingers and laid them on her stomach and let one leg dangle from her self-appointed branch, leaning back against the trunk of the tree.

'I could recruit Naruto,' Makoto thought idly, closing her eyes, 'Though it would include Sakura, so he probably wouldn't want to.'

Only a small amount of time passed before the last Uchiha made his approach to the training grounds. As he reached the tree that Makoto rested in, the young Uchiha sighed and sat under the shade of the leaves. There was a slight rustle above him. Startled and relying on instinct, Sasuke jumped away and threw a kunai in that direction. The following result was a yelp, causing the dark eyed teen to arch an eyebrow.

"The fuck!"

The leaves once again rustled as Makoto jumped down onto the spot where Sasuke once sat. The older girl turned her gaze to her teammate, now sporting a slightly bleeding cut on her cheek and holding up the offending kunai.

"Lose something, Uchiha?" the brunette questioned dryly, throwing it over to him and wiping a bit of blood away.

The boy caught it easily and stashed it back into the pouch on his left thigh, giving his usual 'hn' as his only response. Makoto only rolled her eyes before plopping back down onto the ground and putting the earphones back in. For a bit all that kept the two from lapsing into total silence was the faint sound of Linkin Park coming from Makoto's earphones. Several songs and what was becoming an increasingly irritating silence later, the atmosphere was shattered by a yell loud enough to break the young Wakahisa's musical trance.

"MAAAAAKOOOOOO-CHHHAAAAN!"

Makoto's head snapped to the direction of her blonde teammate as he ran to them.

"Ouuuchhh…" she groaned, rubbing the back of her neck and grimacing.

"Hey! What's up, Ma-" Naruto stopped dead in his tracks and trailed off, staring at Makoto's face, "-ko…chan…"

The girl in question blinked a couple times, clearly confused as she tugged an earphone out of one of her ears.

"S'up, Naruto," the teen unsuccessfully tried to catch his attention and carried on, "What? Is there something on my face?"

Naruto blinked once and met her eyes.

"How'd you get that cut on your face?"

"Oh. That," Makoto muttered. "Uchiha over there threw a kunai at me when I was up in a tree."

"WHAT?"

Makoto quickly saw the on-coming attack and jumped up, just managing to grab the back of Naruto's jumpsuit as he lunged at the Uchiha.

"Naruto, stop," the older spoke calmly, winding an arm around the shorter teen's chest to help keep him in place. "Calm yourself. Do you really think that I would let Uchiha land a cut on me?"

Naruto stopped struggling for a bit but Makoto could still practically feel the anger that radiated from the boy. A scoff could be heard from Sasuke's direction.

"What was that, Wakahisa?" the darker haired one smirked. "I think it testifies against that."

"You're not helping this, Uchiha," Makoto stated, letting some of the annoyance that was swiftly turning into a well-bottled anger sharpen her voice.

For a second, Sasuke looked ready to retort but Makoto glared at him. Even though he didn't show it, this surprised him. From what he'd witnessed during the academy, Makoto Wakahisa had never been one to actually get riled up about something unless it really got on her nerves. And it was best to stay clear when the rarity were to occur. There had been this one day when Makoto had blown up on Kiba because he kept bugging her on why she didn't get along well with a lot of people, the few exceptions being Hinata, Shikamaru, and Naruto. Needless to say, the whole class had gone completely quiet once she had finished yelling Kiba into a cringing mass of fear. After that, Hinata had tugged on her sleeve to get the infuriated teen to sit back down next to her.

"Are you calm?" Makoto finally spoke after she felt that Naruto had calmed down considerably, though didn't relinquish her grip.

"Yes. I am calm," Naruto answered, his tone surprisingly level.

"Alright." Makoto paused, only lessening her hold slightly. "I'm going to let you go now. No attacking Uchiha, as much as I normally encourage it. Be good. "

Naruto nodded his consent and the pressure on his chest that had been keeping him securely in place vanished. When it was clear that he would hold his side of the deal, Makoto also let her hand slip from the collar of Naruto's horribly bright orange jumpsuit and settled herself back into the position that she had been in before Naruto arrived. Just as Naruto joined her beneath the tree, the last member of Team Seven began to make her appearance. She looked at them all curiously, as the atmosphere had maintained a slight tension. Going from Naruto, who was glaring at Sasuke, to said Uchiha, who was standing with his hands in the pockets of his white shorts a few feet away, and finally to Makoto, who had her head leaning back against the trunk of the tree and was mouthing the words of Hurricane, and the cut on her cheek. The pinkette shrugged finally before trotting over to Sasuke and beginning her fruitless attempts to get his attention. Naruto watched her do this but said nothing and didn't move, shifting so his lunch was in his lap while he sat with his legs crossed. Makoto looked at the bento, realization dawning.

"Oh, for the love of the Gods…" the brunette muttered and stood.

Naruto looked at her with curious eyes.

"Where are you going?" he questioned, bringing the attention of Sasuke and Sakura over to the oldest, as Makoto quickly put away her MP3 and started to run in the direction of the village.

"I forgot to pack my bento!" she yelled back to them.

Sakura ran a little bit after her before cupping her hands around her mouth.

"But, you can't leave!" She warned, "Kakashi-sensei could be here any minute now!"

"Don't worry!" Makoto's voice was starting to sound distant to the three now sweat dropping teens. "I won't be long!"

And she was intent on making it. She kicked it into overdrive, reaching the streets of the village in no time. Launching herself up to the roof tops to avoid the now thick crowds down below, Makoto gathered chakra in her feet.

'Thank you, Daisuke,' Makoto praised her brother as she unlocked her door not even a minute later, 'You and Emiko's lessons on chakra control.'

As she reached the small kitchen of her apartment, the brunette paused. On top of the counter was a bento tied with a dark blue ribbon. Walking over to it, Makoto also saw a note on top and read the small handwriting.

"Good luck today, Imouto-chan," the brunette read aloud, "Daisuke and Emiko."

Makoto couldn't resist the silly grin that spread on her face as she folded the note and tucked it into her pants pocket. Picking up the bento and storing it under her arm, she locked the door before sprinting in the direction of the training grounds. Maybe today wouldn't go as bad as she thought it would.


Yay, boring 'let's-see-how-they-act' filler chapters. Can't you just taste the sarcasm?

Sorry if Makoto seems like the stereotypically sarcastic fangirl-hater. But really, who can stand them? Am I right, or am I right?

Imouto means little sister, for those Naruto Fanfiction Virgins out there. I affectionately call them NFVs. Notes such as these will show up throughout the chapters but I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with the Jutsu names. Which I will probably be using the Japanese names for, 'cause some of the translations are lame sounding. Let me know what you think.