Allow me to bash my head against the wall and lose a couple hundred brain cells. I'm so sorry that this is so late! I told you guys that I would update when I got to 30 reviews…well, life got in the way. And a four-week vacation to China.

I do not own Naruto.

Taidana's story

I was born into an important position in the Nara clan. I was the clan heiress, and from an early age I was taught how to act, how to dress, how to speak...basically everything that is expected of a clan head.

And I hated every single fucking minute of it.

Why? I yearned for freedom. The desire was in my very core of being. I was always and will always remain a free spirit. Having others decide my life for me was pure torture.

Oh, I tried to rebel. I did. But those "raising" me would make me hush up or tighten that damned sash around my waist so that I couldn't breathe.

I was able to stand it to a certain extent. That's because I knew that when I turned nine I would enter the Academy, and I would learn how to be a ninja. I would've gone early if I could've, but my parents said some bullshit about it being "improper". I thought I would be free when I graduated and got my own team. I'd spend days daydreaming about the various missions I would go on - the majority of these daydreams usually ended with me saving the day.

But of course, those dreams came crashing down when my parents signed me up for kunoichi classes on the side. There I learned how to wear and fight in a battle kimono (which really isn't that much better than a normal kimono), how to perform the tea ceremony, how to hide weapons in every single inch of my body, and—the worst part—how to seduce men. Apparently even clan heiresses aren't spared from these missions.

Then the day that I had awaited arrived. It was time to graduate the Academy and get my genin team. I was happy, excited. I wasn't good at making friends, and was hoping that there would be at least one other girl on my team that I could call "friend".

So you can well imagine my disappointment when I heard my name called with two other boys. A stuck-up prick and someone who usually hung around in the background. A Hyuga Chusei and Yuki Kenji.

Our soon-to-be instructor, Shiryoku Heiwa, was finishing his last mission before taking us as his team, so he was a bit late. As a result, the three of us were stuck in the classroom while everyone else left with their instructors.

I tried to strike up a conversation with my teammates. "Hi, I'm Nara Taidana. So...you guys are gonna be on my team?"

"Yup!" The one with wavy blonde hair said with a wink and a grin, standing up to strike a "cool" pose. "I'm Kenji."

I stared at him for a few seconds. "...You're short."

"H-hey! Don't make fun of me!" he whined, abandoning his pose to flap his arms about immaturely. "That's not nice!"

"No shit," I replied. "But I wasn't making fun of you. I was making an observation."

"Oh." He paused from his fake-bawling and ran over to me, throwing a sleeveless arm around my shoulders. "Then I think we'll be great friends!"

That brought a smile to my face. "Cool!"

"Name's Hyuga Chusei." The voice came from my other teammate, a boy with long brown hair and pupiless eyes. "So you're the kunoichi in my team? …Pah, you look weak."

My smile vanished instantly. I shook myself out Kenji's embrace, walked over to Chusei, and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him using only taijutsu, accentuating each punch with a word. "Shut...up...you...fucker...fuck... you... (etc.)"

In the background, Kenji was shouting. "Hell yes! Don't call kunoichi weak! Actually, don't call women weak in general..." He then would occasionally mutter about an incident concerning his mother, a rooster, and a pair of chakra-infused machetes.

(I was fortunate that Chusei wasn't very adept at the Gentle Fist yet, else he would've stopped me the moment I started punching.)

That was how Heiwa-sensei found us. The kunoichi punching one of her teammates while the other cheered her on (and occasionally muttered things like "Women are scary").

"Alright, break it up!" He strode over to us and shoved me away from the bruised and bloody Chusei. He gave me a hard stare, but I just glared back. He sighed. "I'm your sensei. Sit down, don't kill your teammates, and state your name, dreams, likes, dislikes, yada yada yada."

"Huh?" Kenji tilted his head to the side, confused.

Heiwa-sensei sighed. "I'll give you an example. My name is Shiryoku Heiwa. I like things, and I dislike things. My dream is to have a nice pair of socks. Ya know, something ridiculous like that."

"Then I'll go first!" I said eagerly, hoping to make a good first impression. Somehow I managed to forget that beating up your teammate isn't the best first impression. And I missed the fact that Heiwa-sensei basically called our dreams stupid. "My name is Nara Taidana. I like eating, sleeping, reading, and cloud watching. I dislike working and people who judge a book by its cover. My dream is to be the first female Kage ever!"

"If you dislike working, then how are you going to be a Kage?" Chusei asked in his stuck-up prissy voice, wiping away blood from his mouth.

I didn't say anything, just held up a fist.

Chusei wisely shut up.

"Okay, thanks Bubbly," Heiwa-sensei said. "Wait, you're a bubbly Nara, that's just not right."

I turned my glare towards him. "Fuck off."

He shuddered. "Okay...next. B 'n' B."

"B 'n' B?" Kenji wondered out loud.

Heiwa-sensei pointed at Chusei. "Bruised 'n' Bloody."

"Hmph." Chusei tossed his hair back. "My name is Chusei, Hyuga Chusei. I...am a Hyuga supremacist. I hate traitors...and out-of-line teammates. I despise sour foods and I like plain food, Hyugas, and the village."

I'm pretty sure Kenji and I had the same thought at that moment: Prissy brat!

Then an evil smile appeared on my face as a thought came to me. "Hey...you said you like Hyugas, right?"

"But of course," he scoffed. "After all, we ARE the most powerful clan in Konoha."

Ignoring the subtle jab, I stood up, walked over, and leaned over him. "Does that mean...that you are into incest?"

He spluttered and turned bright red. "D-don't go about disrespecting my clan like that!"

Kenji smirked. "He didn't deny it! He likes it!"

"Blackmail material!" I cheered, high-fiving Kenji. "Heiwa-sensei, isn't Hyuga-san pitiful—Heiwa-sensei, why are you banging your head against the wall—Heiwa-sensei, you'll lose brain cells that way—Heiwa-sensei!"

In the end we had to drag him to the Academy's infirmary. We never quite got around to Kenji's introduction. Heiwa-sensei never got to give him a "B" nickname.

Then came the infamous test. In Konoha, only about 30% of the graduating class ended up as ninjas. The rest were sent back to the Academy for another year of studying.

Our test sounded simple enough. "Find a way to subdue me for more than five seconds."

Of course, the reality that he was a jonin-level shinobi and we were fucking genin set in when after ten minutes of valiant attempts, we still hadn't caught him. So what do we do? Decide that teamwork is the way to go and pass the test?

Fuck no, we were Team 4. Basically, there was no way that Chusei would work with either Kenji or me, as we were of "lower blood". I gave him a black eye for that.

So we eventually caught Heiwa-sensei by pure chance. Kenji had been chewing "Super Gum" at the beginning of the test, and had spit it out onto a rock. Heiwa-sensei stepped on it on accident and was stuck. Kenji tackled him into the river and held him there using ninja wire.

He called us "lucky brats" and admitted that we had taken advantage of a lucky situation. But, he warned us, things won't always turn out as great as the test. Something could go horribly wrong.

He lectured for some more, but I wasn't listening. I was getting ready to walk home and rub it into the face of my sister that I was a ninja, and that she wasn't.

Heiwa-sensei trained us every day, because he said (and I quote), "There's no way in hell I'm gonna have a team of rookies stay rookies. Train, get better, get promoted, get famous, retire. That's pretty much every shinobi's life plan. You guys are still at training level. So work your asses off and—TAIDANA! We do NOT use the back of our teammate's head as a target! That goes for you too, Kenji!"

Ah, good times.

"But then, on one mission, we—you fuckers asleep?" Taidana looked at her team to find them fast asleep. Yinasni was lightly snoring. Zetsu was dozing against a tree, still standing. Tobi's snores were shaking the canopy above them, causing birds to fly out.

"Assholes," the Nara muttered in a somewhat good-natured manner. "I didn't even get to the part where I saved the day." Sighing, she put the fire out, raised a dome of earth around the camp to protect her team, and headed to her bedroll. But, for whatever reason, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Thanks to TNTkitten, xxYou-shall-be-my-Squishyxx, BlueSakuraAC, Amaya Sakaruta, The-Magical-Bookworm, Thunder Krystal, Clumsy0132, Tinchie, and the anonymous reviewers Imtolazytologin and Coatlique for reviewing! You all rock, un! :3

Alright. For the anonymous reviewer Imtolazytologin that didn't get it in Chapter 7: Taidana's son is Nara Shikaku. Shikaku's genin team was the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio. The original Ino-Shika-Cho trio was Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Choza. Shikaku is the father of Shikamaru, Inoichi is the father of Ino, and Choza is the father of Choji. The trio is from Konoha. The Kagushi ninja are in Konoha from chapters 6 to 9. I DID NOT MAKE UP SHIKAKU, INOICHI, AND CHOZA. THEY ARE SHIKAMARU'S, INO'S, AND CHOJI'S DADS RESPECTIVELY. Chusei is an OC, though. I wish that you had logged in, though, so that I could send this to you privately.

Okay…let's aim for 45 reviews!

Oh yeah, and for the OC contest, here are the scores!

Thunder Krystal - 4/5

Amaya Sakaruta - 3/5

Tinchie - 4/5

TNTkitten - 4/5

Uh…since I'm too lazy, can Thunder Krystal and Tinchie send me their OCs? TNTkitten already gave me her OC. Thanks, guys!

Sasuke. Lacks. Hatred. Like I lack sleep.

Later. :D