I walked into the entrance for aquaterrain A-12. This was the field where all the recent graduates would gather for their team assignments. Everyone else looked older than me. Good. I needed to be the genius. I stood with my hands in my pockets, waiting for someone to show up. I looked up when I heard the rustling of footsteps.

Suddenly, there were a large number of Rank 2s. In our military system, there was only one Rank 1. This was Lady Tsunade. She was both our leader and our leading medical specialist. It was an interesting combination. The Rank 2s worked directly below her, and they were also charged with wrangling us Betas. The Rank 3s went on missions in teams of three and were Betas that had passed the military achievement exam (MAE). And, of course, Betas were those who had just graduated the Academy.

The Rank 2s were easily identifiable because of their black waistbands on their suits. There was a sudden scuffle at the door and to my surprise, a certain blonde stumbled in. His helmet was askew, and his hair was an utter mess.

"Sorry I'm late! Old Tsunade didn't tell me where I was supposed to be until three minutes ago."

He put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. My face deepened into a scowl. Why the hell was he here? I fought him, and there was absolutely nothing special about that idiot. He looked up and saw me. His idiotic face broke into a wide smile.

"Hey Sasuke!" He shouted as he came to walk over to stand next to me.

I heard a giggle from one side. I glanced over and saw that it was Hinata. Wait, she had been in our class, too. I looked around the room again. Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru… there were quite a number of people that I was acquainted with. At least Shikamaru was a year older, and Kiba was two. These were Naruto's friends. I was surprised that any of them had passed, especially that stupid blonde.

One of the Rank 2s ahead of us cleared his throat. My head snapped forward as did everyone else's. Even Naruto looked like he was paying proper attention. Tension seemed to buzz in the silence. When they got to team 7, a white-haired man stepped forward. Only a small part of his helmet was transparent, so only one of his eyes could be seen.

"Hello, I'm Kakashi Hatake." The one eye that I could see appeared to be smiling.

"On my team, I have…" He trailed off to check a sheet of paper. "Sakura Haruno,"

I let out a sigh. I really hoped I wouldn't be teamed up with her. She was one of the girls who couldn't seem to leave me alone properly.

"Sasuke Uchiha,"

Great. I thought. Just what I need, next it's going to be Naruto, just to cap it off. My nose was wrinkled in disgust. I sincerely hoped I wouldn't be stuck with a total loser like him. If he slowed me down, I wouldn't be able to achieve anything.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

I swore. Naruto cuffed me goodnaturedly on the shoulder. He looked so goddamn happy that we were on the same team. It annoyed me. He would definitely, definitely slow me down. Anyway, how had he managed to even graduate? Shouldn't he be back for another year at the Academy? I was in a very sour mood as I followed after my two other new teammates and Kakashi.

We walked through the air-lock to the aquaterrain and put on our helmets. I poked around in the system to see if anything would trigger the legendary Uchiha sharingan, but nothing happened. After the Rebirth, different humans were imprinted with different codes. We still weren't sure how exactly it worked, but codes were passed down from father to son or mother to daughter. Some codes could be taught, some could be hacked. Others were things people seemed to be born with. It was weird.

I felt a light zap in my left arm and turned. It was Naruto. He pointed ahead to where Kakashi was leaning against an underwater plant. He was holding pearlescent spheres. The Rank 2 attached them to his belt and pulled out a tablet. He was obviously reading.

"We're supposed to get them." The words flashed across the screen on his helmet.

I nodded to tell him I understood. Why was he trying to help me? I turned away from him. Surely, I could do this myself. It really didn't have to be that difficult. However, it was much more easily said than done. After an hour, all three of us Betas were running low on energy. Since our underwater suits were powered on our own physical energy, we were getting weaker. And still, Kakashi was sitting around reading his tablet.

I noticed Sakura was trying to sneak up on him from behind and Naruto was coming from his left. I would let them fail, and use the opening. I waited. Sakura got thrown off. Naruto got pushed into a tangle of weeds. Now was my chance. I lunged forward. Kakashi slammed me into the ocean floor. Sand rose around us and dissipated in the waves. Ouch.