Our new sensei was late. I grew bored, and from the expressions worn on everyone else's faces, I knew they felt the same. To me, the seconds felt like minutes, the minutes felt hours, and the hours felt like eons.

Soon, Naruto became impatient, as usual, and decided to set up a trap for the late sensei by lodging a chalk eraser into the sliding door, so it would hopefully fall a top the sensei's head. I could sense that nothing good would come out of Naruto little 'game'.

"Naruto!" warned Sakura loudly. "You know you shouldn't do that! You're going to get us all in trouble."

"Well, that's what he gets for coming late! Surprise!" teased Naruto.

"Hn, our teacher's a Jonin, an elite ninja. Do you really think that he'd fall for a lame trick like that?" muttered Sasuke, locking his fingers together and resting his chin atop them.

I said nothing, but opened my 'aura-eye' and began to scan the hallway for any signs of our late, Jonin sensei's approach. I noticed a shape coming up the hallway, towards the classroom. Their aura was unfamiliar to me.

A hand took hold of the door's handle, and slid it open. The eraser, dislodged from its position, fell upon the silver-gray head of their sensei, which was seemed to lean over toward the left side of his head.

He was wearing a navy-blue mask over his face, covering his mouth and nose. His headband was crooked, hiding his left eye from view. He was wearing the chunin flack vest, in mossy-green color, with a black, long-sleeved shirt underneath. He wore long, baggy, black pants, with bandages around the lower part of his shinbones and ankles. His visible eye wore the expression of boredom, and hinted at an easy-going nature. But, looking at him fully, he gave the impression that you wouldn't want to mess with him.

"Ha ha! He totally fell for it!" cracked Naruto, pointing.

"I'm sorry, sensei. I told him not to do it, but he would listen. I'd never do anything like that," said Sakura, her head low with apology. But I could feel that her true expression was the absolute opposite.

"He actually fell for that cheap trick. Is this guy, really a Jonin?" muttered Sasuke, resting his chin in his locked fingers on the desk.

I had to admit that Sasuke had a point.

Our sensei bent down and picked up the eraser. He took a good look at us and said, "Hmm, how should I put this? My first impression of this team is—you're a bunch of idiots."

I felt Naruto and Sakura go flat with their emotions. I was a bit un-nerved, but ready to prove myself. Sasuke's expression seemed mostly unchanged.

Brilliant, we have to spend all our years with this ninja until we die, I thought in a bitter, dry way.

Sensei brought us onto the rooftop of the academy. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and me sat down on the steps, while our sensei leaned against the railing.

"Now, why don't you introduce yourselves? One at a time," said our sensei.

"Introduce ourselves? What are we supposed to say?" asked Sakura

"Thing you like, thing you hate, dreams for the future, hobbies. Thing like that," muttered the sensei.

"Well, why don't you tell us about you. You know, so we can see how it's supposed to work," suggested Naruto.

"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate, I don't really feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future…hm…never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies," Kakashi stated blankly.

"Well, that was totally useless. All he really told us was his name," muttered Sakura.

Naruto nodded.

"Okay then. You, on the right, you first," instructed Kakashi, pointing to the hyperactive blonde.

"Believe it, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup, and a really liked the ramen Iruka-sensei got me, at the Ichiraku noodle shop. But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them..."

His hobby is comparing ramen?

"…and my future dream is, to be the greatest Hokage. Then the whole village will stop ignoring me and start treating me like I'm somebody, somebody important," stated Naruto, in his usual carefree way.

"Alright, next," said Kakashi

"I'm Sakura Haruno, what is er… or the person I like is…um, my hobby is umm… My dream for the future is um…" said Sakura in her high-pitched voice, and blushing furiously, while glancing at Sasuke every few moments. Though her signs of attraction to Sasuke were obvious, he didn't react in the slightest.

"And, what do you hate?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto!" said Sakura flatly.

Naruto cringed. His mouth gaped wide open.

That wasn't nice…

"Alright then, next," sighed Kakashi-sensei.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone…" Sasuke muttered quietly and mysteriously.

A certain someone…? That tells us a whole lot!

"Okay then, last one," drawled Kakashi, pointing at me.

"Umm…" I was always nervous when it came to say or doing something in front of other people. "My Name is Naya Uchiha. I…um…" I could feel the gazes of Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi-sensei burning into me as they listened to my thin and petty words.

"What do you like?" pressed Espeon through her telepathy.

"I...er…like working with Espeon and um… strengthening my aura's power. Ummm…"

"Dislikes," Espeon pressed again.

"I hate seeing my friends and comrades fall and die in front of me. But even more, if it was me who let them down," I whispered, staring at the light, concrete ground. "I guess that my dream is just being the best I can be… though I'm not sure if that counts at a dream."

Thanks, Espeon. I own you one. When I was called, my mind was a blank. I hope I didn't sound idiotic.

"You did fine," Espeon replied, waving her tail lazily.

"Good, you're all unique and have your own ideas. Tomorrow, we'll have our first mission," explained Kakashi-sensei.

"What mission are we going to have?" asked Naruto, saluting Kakashi-sensei.

"It's a task…"

Oh duh!

"…that we're all going to do together," Kakashi finished.

"What, what, what?" Naruto said, practically bouncing up and down with excitement in such a manor that made him look like a frog on a lily pad.

"A survival exercise," replied Kakashi

"Huh? A survival exercise?" Naruto whined. Disappointment hung on his face like smoke did in the air after a fire.

"I thought we're supposed to have a real mission, not more practice," protested Sakura. "We already did this stuff at the academy. That's how we got here."

"This isn't like your original training," said Kakashi mysteriously.

"So, um… What kind of training is it then?" asked Naruto

Kakashi said nothing, but just chuckled.

"Hey, hold on. That was a normal question, what's so funny about it?" inquired Sakura. Her brow was furrowed in confusion or perhaps from thinking to hard.

"Well, if I tell you, you're not going to like it," warned Kakashi.

"What is it? Come on, tell us!" begged Naruto.

"Of all the twenty eight genin at just came here. Less then a third of them will actually be accepted as genin. The rest of the lot will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. So, basically, this is a make-it-or-break-it pass-fail test, and the chance that you'll fail is at least 66 percent. See? I told you that you wouldn't like it," Kakashi-sensei said drily while basking in the image of our expressions of horror.

I felt my jaw hanging open. An idiotic expression worked its way onto my face.

This is crazy! It's insane! A 66 percent dropout rate? I'm nowhere near as smart as Sakura, I don't have nearly has much guts as Naruto, and Sasuke's stronger then us all put together! And what am I? Shy, quiet, and a complete failure as a ninja!

"That's crazy! We've worked hard to get here! Believe it! What was that graduation test for anyway?" protested Naruto.

"Oh, that. That was just to select candidates that might become genin. Or not," explained Kakashi flippantly.

"What?" whined Naruto.

"Be at the designated training spot at five A.M. and bring your ninja gear," instructed Kakashi-sensei.

I'll never pass this test. I mean, I barely made it through the graduation test. I'm sure I'll be the one who gets weeded out.

"Oh! Give it a rest, Naya!" Espeon hissed, leaping to her paws. "Say that you're going to fail, one more time, and I'll tackle you to the ground!"

"Okay, then," I sneered at her. "I'm gonna fail!"

"I warned you!" Espeon jumped one. I could feel her small paws churning at my back as she flipped me over. A gentle thump followed as Espeon made herself exceedingly comfortable sitting on my back. She began to squirm around and padding her front paws into my back, as though rubbing salt into the wound in a more gentle and playful ploy.

"Oh, get off me, you great lump!" I hissed at her, not amused in the slightest.

"Oh, alright! Alright! Okay!" Espeon mewed, getting off me. She licked her front paw and drew it across her ears.

I looked at her. She looked back at me. Then, we both fell over laughing. It was a good sign. I hadn't laughed like this in a long time.

I could feel the rest of my team's gazes burning into me. For the first time, I couldn't care less. Because it was just Espeon and me and no one else.

An omen, maybe? A sign that things are about to change for the better?

"What are you two laughing at?" Sakura demanded. Her hands were guided to her hips as she stood above us. A smug looks of disagreement at out naïve actions was worn upon her scornful face.

"Us," I replied.

She rolled her eyes drastically, as though trying to act more annoyed than she really was for a little attention from Sasuke, A.K.A. her prince charming. "Whatever," she muttered. "I'm sure that you'd never do something so non-sensible like them, Sasuke-kun!"

"Hn," he replied.

"Well, if you two are done yet, may I get on to explaining the mission?" inquired Kakashi-sensei.

"Yeah," I replied. I felt my face heat up. "Sorry." I coward down low to show that I was submissive. I wanted to melt away into the ground.

"Like I was saying before. Training field 6 tomorrow at five A.M. That's it, you're dismissed. Oh tomorrow, you'd better skip breakfast, otherwise, you're going to throw up," warned Kakashi. He turned and walked off without another word. He turned and looked at us over his shoulder. "Good luck!"

"Who does that big shot think he is?" snarled Naruto. " He comes two and a half hours late just to tell us that?"

"For once, only once. I agree with you, Naruto. A 66 percent dropout rate?" Sakura shrieked.

"I'm outta here before my eardrums explode," I hissed out of the corner of my mouth. I walked off without another word.

I passed Iruka-sensei who was carrying a large stack of papers.

"Naruto's homework excuses. Now that he's graduated, time to dig out," he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. He smiled quickly at my and kept on walking.

I went home and lay down on my bed. Everything ached from the brutal training session Espeon had drilled me in. I could see a few bruises blossoming on my arms from when Espeon had tackled me into the ground. Thoughts about tomorrow rolled into my head pulling my mind from my thoughts of pain and soreness. More fear and doubt arose in me.

"Well, if I do get weeded out, at least, I'll know how to pass the graduation test," I muttered grimly.

"Will you give it a rest, Naya?" growled Espeon, padding to her little basket, circling around and making herself very comfortable. "You're driving me crazy! You're not a failure as a ninja! And you are going to pass that test tomorrow!" She turned her head and began to groom off the patches of soil from her flank.

"Thanks. But I still think I'm a failure as a ninja."

"Well that's what you think," Espeon countered. Her tail flicked contemptuously.

"Will you be quiet?" I hissed.

"Yeah, yeah…" Espeon remarked passively; completely numb to my threats.

"Do you think that 'don't eat breakfast or you'll regret it' statement was a ploy or real?" I murmured to my partner.

"Well, seeing as it's survival training, anything's possible. He could be planning to try and feed us some kind of poisonous bug or scorpion. Or maybe a kind of berry that has bad medical qualities if used wrong, like yarrow," Espeon reasoned.

"Mm hm," I mumbled.

Yarrow will make the consumer throw up, a good way get rid of toxins in the digestive system, however, not very pleasant.

"What should we do about it?"

"I'll give you my advice, seeing as that's my role in this situation, but I'm not going to make your choice for you," Espeon growled.

"Go ahead," I prompted.

"I think that you should heed the warning, but bring a small bit of food with you in case it was a ploy," Espeon replied.

"Good point."

"But if you're too chicken to bring anything with you, you can always just starve!" Espeon ventured playfully.

"I was hoping for a little sympathy there, Espeon!"

"Yeah, well you can't get everything in life," she yawned and curled in the great nest of blankets that made up my bed. "Good night."

I rolled my eyes and curled deeper into the great tangle and nest of blankets that were piled on top of my bed. A great yawn forced my mouth open. I dug down deeper and quickly fell asleep.

"Good night, Espeon," I mumbled sleepily.