A/N: I wasn't really planning to update this fic if no one reviews. This is the first update in months! Next chapter up.

Yuriko-chan – Thanks so much for the review!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Onaji Demo Chigatta

"…" talk

((…)) thoughts

Bold changes in scene

Dai 3-sho: Onna Wa Namen Da Yo

Hokage's office

Chiei looked somewhat unhappy. Setsuna's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Natsumi was fuming. "What! Another D-rank mission?" Setsuna tried to look unaffected but in truth she was starting to feel irritated. "Hokage-sama, I request for a better mission. At least a B-rank mission?" Tsunade didn't look up from her paperwork. "Look, I'm sorry, but you're still Genins. A mission's still a mission." The three left the building, not satisfied with the excuse given. Setsuna suppressed a sigh of exasperation. "Come on. Let's finish the mission quickly so I can train." Natsumi pouted. It's early in the morning, and they already had to do some crappy mission.

Team 7 Training Site

Sasuke arrived early at the training site. ((Water?)) Sasuke walked nearer and noticed some new marks on the posts. ((Someone's here yesterday, but who? Sakura?)) Sasuke shook his head. His pink-haired team-mate wasn't likely. ((Could it be Naruto?)) Just then, Naruto arrived at the training site to see Sasuke with one hand on the posts. He seemed to be deep in thought. Sasuke caught sight of the blond ninja, "Naruto, did you train here yesterday?" Naruto shook his head. "I was with Iruka-sensei at Ichiraku the whole day." ((Then, who was here?)) "Hey, Sasuke. Don't just daydream there! Spar with me!" Sasuke smirked as he turned to face the blond. "You're on."

Natsumi's POV

"Gah! I'm bored!" Setsuna looked up and glared at me to shut me up. Sadly, that never worked on me. "It's hot, I'm tired, sweating and this job is so damn boring!" Now, it was Chiei's turn to speak. "I know you're uncomfortable. We all are. But complaining won't get this shack repaired." "I know! Argh! Let's just finish this quickly! I wanna go train." Setsuna got up and looked around. "Setsuna?" She found the thing she was looking for. "Setsuna, what're you doing?" "Speeding up our work. It's a good thing there's a river behind this shack." I saw her performed some hand seals. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu." Five clones climbed out of the water as Setsuna ordered them around. "Wow! That's smart thinking." Setsuna flashed me a smirk, "Just because you're too stupid."

"Nani! I can do that too!"

"Natsumi, I suggest you don't."

"Why not, Chiei?"

"Too many cooks spoil the broth." ((Not to mention their mentality will be the same as the real person. She'll most likely make things worst.))

"Whatever, as long as we can finish this soon."

Setsuna's POV

Finally, the shack was rebuilt. Now, I could go train. I took the route to Naruto's training site. To my surprise, Naruto was slumped against one of the posts. He looked really tired, and really pissed. Uchiha Sasuke was standing in front of him. "The blond charged forward, fist drawn back. Sasuke easily side-stepped the attack and returned the punch. Naruto tumbled back. "Kuso…" I walked into sight, drawing their attention. "Setsuna? What are you doing here?" The Uchiha gave me a piercing stare. "You were the one here yesterday, weren't you?" I smirked lightly, "Yes. I borrowed your training site for a bit of training." The raven-haired boy looked at me for a while and then said, "Spar with me." I raised an eyebrow. Here was a boy a year younger than me, challenging me to a fight. But, as an Uchiha, "Hn. Omoshiroi. Alright then."

Natsumi's POV

"Please don't tell me I'm lost again…" I looked around. "But I followed Lee-senpai's directions properly. Mou…" "What are you doing here?" I whirled around to find myself face to face with a tall boy with freaky pupil-less eyes. ((Wait! I've seen him somewhere before.)) "Hm…Ah! You're Hyuuga Neji! I remember you!" Neji looked mildly surprised. "You are…Sakamoto Natsumi, am I right?" I nodded vigorously. ((Hey, maybe he could help me.)) But Neji was already walking away. "H-Hey, wait up!" ((That prick! He ignored me!)) I didn't have any choice; I didn't want to get lost again. I hastily followed him. We arrived at a clearing and I saw Lee-senpai. "Lee-senpai!" "Natsumi-san." Lee-senpai said smilingly. "She was lost." The Hyuuga stated. Lee-senpai sweatdropped. "Natsumi-san, again?" I stuck out my tongue, embarrassed. Lee-senpai just shook his head. "Neji saw you with his Byakugan, so I asked him to get you." I blinked. "Really? Thanks then, Neji." I turned to Lee-senpai.

"What are you guys doing?" "Training." A girl with two buns answered. I struggled to remember her name. "Um, you're Ten Ten, right?" She grinned and nodded. "Say, can I train with you?" Lee-senpai looked startled and glanced at his friends. They nodded. "Yay!"

Team 7 Training Site

Sasuke got into fighting stance. He rushed at Setsuna. Setsuna easily saw through his attack and evaded. "You're so slow." Sasuke's eyes widened as Setsuna disappeared from his sight and appeared behind him. He collected chakra at his feet and bounded away. He sped towards the grey-eyed girl. Setsuna was prepared for a frontal attack but Sasuke suddenly disappeared. ((Below!)) She blocked the kick quickly, but it still sent her upwards. "Here it comes." Sasuke began to launch kicks and punches. "Shishi Rendan!" yelled the Uchiha as he slammed Setsuna into the ground. He smirked satisfactorily. When the dust cleared, where Setsuna should have been, there was a log instead. ((Shimatta!)) A kunai was pressed on his neck. "Don't look down on me just because I'm a girl. Come at me with everything you've got." Sasuke glared. "If that's what you want," Sasuke jumped back. Setsuna noticed his eyes turned red. She smirked, "What an honour to finally be able to witness the Sharingan."

Sasuke fingered a kunai. Suddenly, he disappeared. Setsuna tensed. ((!)) She barely dodged his kicks, but got punched in the end. ((His speed has increased!)) "Ch! Katon, Goukyakyuu no Jutsu!" Setsuna's eyes went wide. ((I can't dodge this one.)) "Suiton, Suijin Heki!" Now it was Sasuke's turn to be surprised. A wall of water rose to meet the flames. Black smoke billowed as Sasuke tried to see through the thick smoke. ((Doko ka?)) "Where are you looking at?"

Naruto was tense with excitement. Setsuna was well-matched against Sasuke! She might even be better! But with all the smoke, he could no longer see what was happening in the battle. When the smoke finally cleared, the two were in a lock, kunai against kunai. Both slid back. Sasuke threw a few shurikens. Setsuna ducked, but Sasuke had anticipated that. He rushed forward, ready with a kick. Just at that moment, Sasuke felt something grip his left foot and he went hurtling forward. Landing carefully, he wheeled around to see what had caused him to slip. ((A puddle? Did my foot sink in the puddle? No, there was a pulling force in the water just now.)) "Truly the power of the Sharingan. That was an enjoyable spar." "You're not bad either." "Suge! That was a cool battle! Too bad Sasuke tripped in the end." Sasuke glared at Naruto. Setsuna stood up and picked up her kunai. "It's late now. Aren't you going home?" asked the kunoichi. She was referring to Naruto. "Okay, okay. Ja na, Sasuke." Sasuke waved goodbye. He too wanted to head home. During the walk home, one thought constantly played in his mind. ((What was that strange force just now?))

Naruto's Apartment

"Ano sa, ano sa. That was a cool jutsu just now!" Setsuna turned to the blond beside her. "Ne, ne. Teach me that jutsu! Please!" Chiei entered then. "What jutsu?" They turned their heads to see her coming in with a pot of stew. "When Sasuke used the Goukyakyuu no Jutsu, she made a wall of water come up! It was really cool!" Chiei raised her eyebrows and glanced over at Setsuna, "You were fighting with Uchiha-kun?" Setsuna ladled some stew into her bowl. "Sparring. He challenged me first anyway. Still, it was interesting." Chiei smiled silently, "My, my. You've found an opponent already."

"Tadaima!"

"Ah, o kaeri nasai, Natsumi. You're rather late today."

"I was training with Lee-senpai. You know, Neji's eyes really freak me out. When we were training just now, it went all weird and the nerves, you can see the nerves!" Setsuna shifted a little to let the dark-haired girl sit down at the table. "The Byakugan…it's a special doujutsu, isn't it? (Doujutsu – Eye jutsu)" inquired Chiei. Setsuna nodded and said, "Byakugan is a bloodline limit that allows the user to see through his surroundings. The range depends on the user. But that's not all. The Byakugan, one can say, is superior to the Sharingan in the sense that while the Sharingan allows you to copy jutsus, the Byakugan can see the tenketsus." Natsumi cocked her head to one side, "What's tenketsus?" "It's a very tiny opening that allows chakra to pass. By pressing certain points, or tenketsus, the Byakugan user can increase or stop the chakra's flow. If the tenketsus are sealed, the opponent will not be able to use chakra." Chiei provided. Naruto thought back to the last Chuunin exam where he had to fight Neji, "Yeah. That really hurts. But I defeated him anyways." The blond grinned triumphantly.

At that instance, the three girls turned to Naruto. Setsuna looked rather curious, "You have fought him before?" Naruto nodded, "In the Chuunin exam last year. During the finals." Chiei seemed to be in deep thought. "How did you win if you can't use chakra?" asked Natsumi. "There isn't any known way of reversing the circumstance if one's tenketsus are sealed." Naruto grinned, "I managed." After that dinner proceeded in very much of a usual manner.

Ichiraku Ramen

The ramen shop was rather packed today, as it had more customers than usual. Seated near the counter were Naruto, Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba. Along with them, Naruto had also invited the three girls to come along. "Do you know?" started Shikamaru. "The Chuunin exam is coming in a couple of months. I heard that it'll be held in Kirigakure no Sato (Hidden Mist Village) this time." Natsumi, who was slurping down her ramen, said, "That means we'll be going back to Mizu no Kuni." Naruto remained oddly quiet. Chiei called him gently, "Naruto-kun, Naruto-kun, is something wrong?" Naruto shook his head and smiled, "Iya, just thinking about something." Setsuna too was quiet, but then again, she was always quiet.

"You figure all of us Genins are taking part?" asked Naruto. The shadow master shrugged, "Don't have any idea. But I'm sure your team will be taking it." "That's right!" Naruto turned to Chiei, "What about you three? Are you going to take part in this Chuunin exam?" Setsuna had a strange glint in her stormy grey eyes as she replied, "Of course."

Translation

Suge – That's great

Tadaima – I'm home

O kaeri nasai – Welcome home

A/N: Please review ne?