This is interesting. By the end of chapter two, I've already caught up to chapter five of the original.


I crouched on a tree branch, cloaked by the leaves, as I watched a ninja training session. I really shouldn't have been there – my instructions were to deliver the message to the Hokage as soon as I arrived, but old habits die hard. I didn't think of my actions as disobedience; I preferred to think of it as reconnaissance.
So far, I wasn't too impressed with the team I was watching. The black-haired boy was the only one I thought I might be able to tolerate for more than five minutes, and that was only because he hadn't said much more than 'Hn' in the two hours that I'd been watching them. The other boy was hyper, the girl had gotten on my nerves within the first ten minutes, and I had a feeling I could walk up to their sensei and wave my hands in front of his face without him noticing.
With a sigh, I silently leapt away through the trees, not knowing that I hadn't been as stealthy as I'd thought...
"Sensei."
Kakashi glanced at Sasuke. "Yes?"
"Who was that?"
Naruto jumped in before Kakashi could answer. "Who was what?"
Sasuke gestured over his shoulder vaguely in the direction of the tree. "The person over there."
Kakashi cut Naruto off with a look before he could interrupt again. "It was probably nothing. Back to training."

I would have been more than happy to procrastinate some more, but loyalty to Atsuo wouldn't let me delay any longer – and so, feet dragging, I made my way to the Hokage's office.
I fidgeted impatiently as the Hokage read the scroll, rising disbelief evident in her face.
"Very well, Kaminari Shararah. You may go." I coughed nervously. The Hokage made an exasperated noise. "What?"
"What does the message say?"
"Oh, just 'this is the training she has received' and blah blah blah." She raised an eyebrow. "He also specifically requests that we not send you to the Academy."
I mentally rolled my eyes. That was typical of Atsuo, bending the rules for me.
The Hokage tapped to message, drawing my attention back. "Is there any reason in particular that your previous training was exclusively taijutsu?"
I blinked uncomprehendingly. "Tai-what?" Then something clicked in my head. "Oh, you mean hand-to-hand combat. Weapons and stuff. Right?"
Tsunade sweatdropped. "Well, at least you're not completely ignorant."
Shararah's Journal – Tuesday
I feel like a total idiot.

"Well, well, what have we here?"
I jolted awake, nearly falling off of my branch. The sun filtered through the leaves of the tree I'd climbed last night to go to sleep. Sure, I could have found a place to stay – an abandoned house, maybe – but I'd always disliked not being able to see the sky. My clan was nomadic – meaning they never stayed in one place for long – and so had no form of housing. Most of the time, they slept in trees like this one, and I'd retained the habit. Even Atsuo's house had seemed closed in, closed off.
My panic attack was interrupted by the man's voice. "Lady Hokage sent me to find you." I finally looked down. Looking up at me was the sensei from the team I had watched before. "Come down."
I slung my pack over my shoulder and jumped, bending my knees to absorb the shock. Keeping a bored expression on my face, I looked up at him and waited for him to explain.
He shrugged and started walking, gesturing for me to follow him. "Since you don't have an official sensei, we're just going to have to take turns training you. You have a lot to catch up on."
Shararah's Journal – Wednesday
Wow, he wasn't kidding.

Several days later, my fingers traced a newly-acquired bruise on my right cheekbone. I scowled as I watched Naruto demonstrate the hand seals yet again as we waited for Kakashi to show up for training. I had no idea why Naruto kept trying to be nice to me even when I made no effort whatsoever to return the favor. His over-cheerfulness seriously got on my nerves – listening to him say "I'm going to be the next Hokage, BELIEVE IT!" made me want to punch his face in.
Help with training, however, I wouldn't refuse. Not even from him.
That time I got five hand seals out of twelve, which I'm ashamed to say was the best I'd done so far. My eye twitched as he began demonstrating again.

After training, I simply climbed into a tree and pulled out my journal. I was in a bad mood. Not only was I still hopeless at using jutsu, even after a week in training, but I could hardly even understand what I was supposed to do. I understood the theory, but somehow it never translated to real life. Even the most basic of jutsu were beyond my abilities.
And my trouble with jutsu hadn't gone unnoticed. In every sparring match I had, it became a weakness. The senseis had soon given up trying to cure me of my acid tongue - I was an arrogant smart-alec and liked it that way - and it hadn't taken long for Team 7 to get tired of me. They were quick to exploit the fact that I could only use martial arts. The only time I wasn't at a disadvantage was when I sparred with Lee, who also couldn't use jutsu, although it was for entirely different reasons.
And now I'd worked myself into a bad mood. I looked around for him.
Shararah's Journal – Wednesday
Lee might be a mini-Gai, but sparring with him is fun. Ow.

I saw a flicker of movement out of my left eye, my turquoise eye. Hastily, I glanced to my right; the entire team I was training with that day was still there. I saw another flicker to my left, and my 'panic' meter hit the setting just below 'overkill'.
Whirling, I aimed a kick – and nearly fell when my opponent caught my leg. He flipped me over, and my breath came out in a whoosh as my back hit the ground.
"If that's the best you've got, I don't see why I'm supposed to train you. You aren't worth the effort."
Slowly getting to my feet, I examined the man standing in front of me. He was fairly tall, with steel-gray hair and piercing ice-blue eyes. The condescending look on his face was enough to inflame my rage, even if his actions hadn't.
Now that I was looking directly at him, I leaped, slamming him with both feet. Taken by surprise, he stumbled backward as I landed a punch in his face. Before he could retaliate, I darted behind him and shoved him to the ground.
He flipped over and levered himself to his feet, glaring at me. I stuck out my tongue. "How's that for 'not worth the effort'?"