AN: Nothing exciting. Just getting into the plot more. And I absolutely adore Iruka:3


Hamai bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. Finally, she was getting a team! No matter how much Kakashi trained her, Minato refused to put Hamai into the Academy until she was at least 7, so she would only be a year younger than the rest. However, because of Kakashi's training, Hamai graduated after her second year, and became a Genin at 8. There was only one other Genin without a team, so they had to wait. Finally another student graduated a year early, and now they had their team.

Shikaku Nara was the head of the Shadow users clan. He was a large man, about Minato's age, with a black ponytail and several scars on his face. Hamai was the first to arrive at the clearing Shikaku-Sensei had specified. She only had to wait a few moments before someone else appeared.

"Hi! I'm Hamai Namikaze!" She announced, hopping off the rock she'd been sitting on and holding out her hand. The boy had long black hair and matching eyes. He simply raised his eyebrow, then looked away. The pinkette's temper flared. She reached out, grabbed his arm, and flipped him over her shoulder onto the ground. "I said 'Hi! I'm Hamai Namikaze!' that means you say hi back and then tell me your name." She smiled sweetly at him, holding her hand out again.

"…Itatchi Uchiha." He grabbed her hand, and used it to pull himself up.

"Oh. So you're related to Obito."

"Cousins… how do you know him?" Itatchi's voice held little interest.

"He's on my brother's team." His lack of emotion was really starting to bother her, no wonder no one else ever liked Kakashi.

"Minato Namikaze? You're brother is the Yellow Flash?" Hamai smiled brightly.

"Yup! The one and only!"

"… Impressive."

"Hiya!" A second boy walked into the clearing. This one had brown hair up in a spiky ponytail and matching eyes. "I'm Iruka Umino!" Hamai happily shook his hand.

"I'm Hamai Namikaze, and this is Itatchi Uchiha. Don't expect him to shake your hand though."

"Why not?"

"He's too stuck up." Hamai said, speaking as though Itatchi wasn't right behind her. As if to prove her wrong, Itatchi took a step in front of her, and held out his own hand.

"…Maybe it was just your hand I didn't want to shake." Hamai was about to punch him, but then she noticed the faint smile he was wearing.

"Just keep talking like that and see where it gets you, Pretty Boy."

"Pretty… boy?" Itatchi seemed horrified at the nickname. Iruka simply burst out laughing. "What are you laughing at, Pineapple Head?" Iruka choked off his laughter, and Hamai tried to hold hers in, knowing what was coming.

"Yeah, yeah. Hold it in all you want, but you're still gonna be Pinky!"

"It'll turn red once I'm older!" Unknown to them, Shikaku Nara had been hiding in the trees since before Hamai had even arrived. He decided now would be a good time to make his presence known.

"Hello." He said deeply, without revealing his location. The three students quickly formed a triangle while pulling out their kunai.

"Who's there?" Iruka called out. "Show yourself!" Shikaku had a team of protégés, and he intended to test them fully before passing them. The kids scooted closer together.

"My brother said all Jounin test their squad before accepting them… this might be a test." Hamai whispered to the others, not letting her guard down.

"…Or it could be an attack." Itatchi added, just as quiet.

"Heh, no matter what we can't let our guard down!" The three gripped their weapons tighter. Itatchi activated his Sharingan.

"Whoever it is, there's only one, and he's above us and at 3 O'clock from my position."

"How do you know?" Iruka asked.

"My Sharingan… I'll explain later, just trust me." The other two nodded. "Now what?"

"We should make clones, and hide. Quick." Iruka suggested. All three quickly used a Substitution Jutsu, and sat waiting in a branch.

"What's he doing now?" Hamai asked, looking with interest at Itatchi's now red eyes.

"Still sitting… wait. I think he's noticed. Move!" Kunai hit their substitutions, turning them into logs, as well the nailing the branch they had just sat on.

"We should set a trap!" Iruka suggested. "That way we can figure out who we're dealing with."

"What kind of trap?" Hamai had only briefly read about them at the Academy, and had never set one up, even on her missions with Minato over the past year.

"The best kind." Iruka pulled out several wires with exploding tags attached, grinning madly.

A few minutes later, they were sitting on a branch in what they hoped was a good enough hiding place. Itatchi was scanning the area with his eyes.

"…He's coming!" He whispered suddenly. A large form came into view, and stopped short of running into one of their wires.

"And they're supposed to be geniuses." He scoffed.

"So it is our Sensei." Iruka pointed out. Shikaku easily avoided all the wires, pushing forward until he was almost at their hiding spot. "Now!" Itatchi jumped out and looked Shikaku in the eyes, effectively trapping him in a weak Genjutsu. Knowing they had only seconds before Itatchi's Jutsu would break, Hamai and Iruka threw kunai, cutting all the wires on the side lose. Iruka then pulled on another string, bringing all of the wires to wrap around their new Sensei, effectively holding him captive as the Genjutsu wore off.

"I must say, I'm impressed… for a bunch of kids."

"Wait! It's a clone!" Itatchi warned, turning around sharply. "The real one is behind…" He didn't have time to finish his sentence, for Iruka flew at him as he was turning around and knocked him off the branch, dragging Hamai behind.

"He even slipped past the sensory wires we set up!" Hamai grumbled. The three grabbed onto branches and tried swinging away. "Ahh!" The boys looked back to see Hamai frozen in a crouch.

"What are you doing?" Iruka asked.

"I can't move!" She suddenly stood up, and placed her hands on top of her head, waving her fingers. Before Itatchi and Iruka could think of what to do, the same Jutsu had been cast on them.

"Games up. I caught you kids. And it only took 15 minutes. Not very impressive." Suddenly, all three smirked.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Sensei. But you're wrong." The image then dissolved, and Shikaku realized he was sitting on a branch, completely tied up with think rope.

"What…? When did you get me?"

"Right after your Shadow Clone disappeared." Itatchi explained, his eyes were now back to the normal charcoal color. It was quickly becoming clear to the other Itatchi only spoke when needed.

"So, do we pass?"

"Big Brother! Kakashi-Sempai! Rin!" Hamai came racing into the training ground Team 7 was practicing at. Ignoring the fact that her brother was in the middle of a lecture, she jumped up and hugged him tightly. "We passed!"

"Congrats! We'll go out to eat tonight to celebrate! But Mai-Mai… I'm kind of in the middle of…"

"You're on a team now? That's great!" Rin interrupted. She hugged Hamai as she let go of her brother.

"Thanks! We're Team 3!"

"Who's your team?" Kakashi asked.

"Shikaku Nara is my Sensei! And then it's Iruka Umino and Itatchi Uchiha!"

"Itatchi? Isn't he a Chunin though?" Minato asked.

"Well yeah, but so is Kakashi-Sempai!" Minato nodded, as though he'd forgotten.

"Good job, Kiddo!" Kakashi ruffled her hair, his eyes creasing in a smile. "I've heard Shikaku refused to even consider taking a team that wasn't made of geniuses."

"Well then it's lucky Big Brother got you before he did!" Hamai smiled up at her brother. "Can you Summon Gamarian?" Rin and Obito turned to stare at their Sensei.

"Please, Sensei! I want to see!" Rin asked excitedly. Minato sighed and bit his thumb, did a few hand signs, and then slammed it into the ground in an overly dramatic way.

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"Yo, Boss." Gamarian waved and then turned towards Hamai. "How'd it go?"

"I passed! Come on!" Hamai took off running, Gamarian right behind her.

"Can Hamai not summon him herself?" Obito asked.

"She hasn't signed the contract with the Toads. She refuses to and insists she'll have a different Summons then me. Now… back to practice!"

"Pineapple Head to Pretty Boy, I'm ready."

"Pinky to Pretty Boy, I'm ready too."

"Poppa Grizzly, this is Pretty Boy. We're set." Shikaku sighed. His team was insane, he was certain of it now. He thought those nicknames when they first met would be used as insults, not code names. "Poppa Grizzly?"

"Alright, move out." Even though all four were connected, they insisted that Itatchi, as Chunin, be the one to communicate with him.

"Pinky calling! I've spotted Poufy!"

"…!" Itatchi didn't responded, but Iruka understood his message: move in. It didn't take long for Iruka and Hamai to begin understand Itatchi's silent language. "Poppa Grizzly, Poufy has been spotted." Shikaku grunted in response. And he thought Itatchi would be boring and refuse to get along with the others, yet here he was, leading the crazy brigade.

"Pinky here, I've lost sight of it!"

"Pineapple Head, …?"

"I've got it! I've got Poufy!" Iruka grabbed the cat up easily. "Mission accomplished!"

"Poppa Grizzly, Poufy has been recaptured… again." It has to be because they're geniuses. That's what Shikaku decided. They're so smart, and these menial missions are so easy, they have to be crazy to avoid dying of boredom. Once they were on a normal mission they would act sane… hopefully.

"Transform!" Shikaku turned around and dropped his apple.

"What… what are you doing?" There were now three dogs holding the ends of leashes in their mouths, and two of each Iruka, Hamai, and Itatchi with collars around their necks.

"We Henged into the dogs, and changed them into us!" Hamai exclaimed gleefully.

"Change back. Now!" Shikaku demanded. They immediately listened.

"What's wrong, Sensei?" Shikaku shook his head.

"Nothing… just… continue on."

"I am so sick of these stupid missions!" Iruka yelled in frustration. He threw the weed he was holding as far away from him as he could. "I want to go and actually do something! There's a war going on, why aren't we helping?" Itatchi threw his weed bag at Iruka's head.

"Will you shut up already. Sensei's explained it six times."

"We are helping out, by continuing to do the D missions here, we're bringing in the money needed for supplies for the squads out there." Hamai explained.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"So then quit asking!" Hamai yelled at Iruka.

"But don't you want to do better missions! I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting really sick of catching that poor cat, walking tons of dogs, and picking stupid weeds!"

"…That cat does seem desperate to get away." Itatchi mused.

"I feel so bad for it, maybe next time we should help it escape, it's really not too much money."

"Is that all you got out of my speech?" Iruka asked sadly.

"I actually heard a rumor that different ANBU members are told to sneak in and help the cat escape if it doesn't do it often enough. She always pays the amount for a D plus a tip, no matter how often it happens." Itatchi continued on, ignoring Iruka.

"You're kidding? That's slightly awful, but makes a lot of sense." Hamai smiled at Itatchi. They could feel Iruka's growing temper next to them.

"..." Itatchi responded with a nod.

"IT WASN'T FUNNY THE LAST THREE TIMES AND IT ISN'T FUNNY NOW!" Iruka yelled at them. Sure, Iruka's temper was terrifying, but it was worth the fear to rile him up, and there was even a lesson in it this time.

"Yes, something being repeated over and over again isn't very amusing, is it?" Itatchi sighed as Iruka caught on to what Hamai was saying.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it." He pouted and went back to his work, picking weeds in silence. Neither of his team mates felt bad though, they knew he would be talking again in a minute.

"…!" All three quickly did a Jutsu and waited.

"Do I even want to know…?" He asked.

"I'm being a scarecrow, to scare away the crows!" Hamai asked before going back to her motionless state.

"We're the crows, showing that this scarecrow isn't scary, so the other crows should come join us, and then they can help us pick the weeds." Iruka explained, as though this was completely sane.

"I need to talk to the Hokage. Now." They waited until their Sensei was out of sight before changing back.

"YES!"

"As a team, you have completed a total of 13 D rank missions in the past two weeks. I believe, especially with the experience Itatchi has, that you are ready for a C rank." The Hokage informed them. Iruka fought hard to hold in his cheers. "You will travel to the Land of Tea and pick up a package. Bring it back, and drop it off in the missions room." Shikaku smiled, hopefully his team would act normal now.

"Hey Minato, Kakashi-Sempai!" Hamai raced through the door and straight to her room. The two sitting at the table looked up in surprise.

"Mai-Mai?" Minato said curiously.

"Min-Min!" Hamai called back.

"Min-Min?" Kakashi and Minato shared a surprised look. "You alright Kiddo?"

"I've got my first C rank mission in the morning!" She exclaimed, running into the kitchen excitedly. "I've got to pack!"

"It's only been two weeks since you've formed a team? How is that happening?" Minato asked.

"Well, Itatchi, Iruka, and I may or may not have been purposefully driving Shikaku-Sensei crazy so that he may or may not go request a higher mission for us."

"You managed to drive him crazy? What'd you do?" Minato chuckled.

"Acted like morons basically. We've been calling each other crazy code names, and taking forever to do the simplest things, and purposefully overanalyzing every mission and doing it in the most complicated way possible." Kakashi burst out laughing.

"Shikaku Nara actually fell for that?"

"Itatchi said it would make him think we're acting crazy because it's too easy for us, so he'd request harder missions for us. But none of us thought it would work this quickly!"

"Wait, you're serious? You tricked one of the smartest men in the village into getting you a higher ranked mission? Are you sure you're ready for it?"

"Brother! Of course we're ready! Itatchi's a Chunin already! And Iruka's the smartest Genin there is! Plus we'll have Shikaku-Sensei with us!"

"Not to mention they'll have you." Minato pointed out. The rushed packing sound coming from Hamai's room paused.

"Yeah…" Kakashi stood up and walked to her doorway. He leaned against the frame, watching her pack.

"What's up?" He said suddenly, causing her to jump.

"Oh, Kakashi-Sempai! What do you mean?"

"Come on, we both know something's wrong. What is it? Are Itatchi and Iruka assholes?" the pinkette laughed.

"What? I love my team! We get along great! A whole lot better than yours." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"This is true. If only Obito wasn't such a loser." Kakashi sighed. "And if Rin wasn't so… weird."

"Weird? It's called having a crush, Sempai." Kakashi gave her an odd look.

"You… don't have any crushes right?" Hamai began laughing loudly.

"Not yet, I haven't really met many guys my age." She returned to packing, hoping he had forgotten…

"So, what's wrong?" Crap.

"I don't get why I was put on the team with Itatchi and Iruka. I mean, it's obvious why they're with Shikaku-Sensei. Itatchi's almost as smart and as good as you! And he's even three years younger. Iruka passed through the Academy in one year, and he's a master at traps and strategizes. I don't really see what I'm good at."

"You're a fast thinker, you're a natural at learning, you have great chakra control, and you mastered things at the age of four not even I could think of learning until I was eight. How many pre-Academy students do you know that could do a clone? Henge? Walk on water? Do fire style Jutsus? You're the only one I know of." Hamai gave Kakashi her large grin.

"Thanks Kakashi-Sempai! You always make me feel better!" She went back to her packing with even more excitement then before.

"Good luck tomorrow, don't make me have to come save you." Kakashi ruffled her hair before turning and going back to his tea.

"What was wrong?"

"She was nervous about the mission tomorrow." Kakashi lied. Minato smiled into his cup. Of course he had listened in on the whole conversation, but it was good to know Kakashi would keep his sisters secrets. "You were listening, weren't you?" The blonde nearly choked on his tea.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" The Jounin wiped the tea off of his face. His student merely shook his head.

"I figured as much." He stood up. "Thanks for the tea, Minato-Sensei. I'll see you tomorrow for training. Don't be late."

"I'm the one who's supposed to remind you to not be late!"

"Yes, but I'm the one who's more likely to be on time. At least you're never as bad as Obito." Kakashi scowled at the wall. "Bye, Sensei."

"Bye, Kakashi."

"Bye, Sempai!" Hamai called out loudly.

"Bye, Kiddo!" Kakashi nodded to his teacher one last time before closing the door behind him.