*HI GUYS! I completely forgot to update yesterday, but here's a super-long chapter to make up for it. Enjoy!*

"ATTACK!"

My eyes flashed open and I bolted out of bed, barely dodging a flying Sepi.

"DAMMIT, SEPI!" I yelled from my position on the floor.

"What?" She asked innocently. "It woke you up."

I groaned. "What time is it?"

"Six."

"COME HERE!"

"EEP! ANGRY IBUKAI!"

... ... ...

I walked out of my room with my bag slung over my shoulder, yawning.

"Morning, sleepyhead." My mom said, smiling. "Did he wake up before you landed on him, Sepi?"

She grinned. "Unfortunately, Mrs. Kokori."

I yawned again. "Where's dad?"

"He's already working. He packed some sweet rolls for your guys' first day."

Sepi fairly leapt at the bag my mom held out. "OHMYGOSHILOVEYOU!"

I sighed and shook my head. "Honestly, you're addicted to those thing."

"Ahmnot." She said with her mouth stuffed with a sweet roll.

I just shook my head again as my mom chuckled.

"Have a good day, you two." She said, giving me a hug.

"We will." I said, hugging her back before turning away. What I mean by that is, 'We'll try not to get killed by a psychotic sensei.'

I adjusted my tanto as we got closer to the training ground. "What do you think this survival exercise is gonna be?"

She shrugged. "I dunno."

I glanced at her, eyes narrowing. "So do you know why I was put on this team?"

"Yep." She said happily.

"Are you gonna tell me?"

"Nope."

I growled. "Why not?"

She started skipping. "Because I love knowing classified secrets no one else does."

I glared at her and was considering the pros and cons of telling Ino I killed her sister when we got to the training ground where Miko and Anko-sensei were waiting.

"Alright, listen up." Anko said. "This exercise will last until the sun sets. Your jobs will be to retrieve three things within the time limit."

"That's it?" I asked.

"Not so fast." She said. "The first is a scroll I have hidden in the Forest of Death. The second is Lord Hokage's hat. The third is to retrieve the Icha Icha that Kakashi carries on him all the time. I'll leave it up to you to decide how to go about it. If you fail, you all repeat the academy. If you get caught, then you repeat the academy. If you die, well, then you're no longer my problem."

With that, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Well, fuck you, too!" I yelled.

"She didn't even say good luck." Miko said with a yawn.

"Alright, I have an idea." Sepi cackled. "Listen close."

... ... ...

It was decided that we would split up. I was stuck with the Forest of Death because I was the one who wouldn't lay down and take a nap. Sepi absolutely refused because she wanted to steal Icha Icha. Plus, her clan's technique would work well for getting Kakashi's Icha Icha. Miko was going to get Lord Hokage's hat. We would also do it in stages. I would head out immediately. Sepi and Miko would wait for me to retrieve the scroll and signal them with some fireworks Sepi 'borrowed.' They would then move, and we would meet at the training ground, hopefully before any shinobi caught Miko or Kakashi caught up to Sepi.

With a deep breath, I focused chakra to my hands and feet and scaled the wall that enclosed the Forest of Death. Once at the top, I slid down the other side and gave a thumbs-up through the fence to Miko and Sepi.

"Don't die." Sepi said before taking off. Miko yawned before waving and walking off at a slower pace.

With a deep breath, I turned around and walked into the forest.

...

I have limited intel on what the scroll even looks like, let alone where it is. The best idea would be to head for the tower and try to spot it from there.

It was a good two or three hour walk to the tower, and it was already eight in the morning before I had got here. With a deep breath, I hitched up my bag, scaled a tree, and started leaping across the branches to the tower.

"Freaking Forest of Death, of course I'm the one stuck with it." I muttered.

Maybe nothing big noticed I was there yet…

... ... ...

I landed on a branch to catch my breath when I heard a hiss. Not a snake's hiss, but a burning-

"FUCK ME!" I yelled, leaping off the branch to the one I had just been on as a paper bomb blew it to smithereens.

She boody-trapped it? Of course she did.

My sensei was seriously trying to kill me. I looked ahead to spot several more traps in the branches, mostly kunai and more paper bombs. I looked at the forest floor, but it had so many traps on it that I immediately ruled it out.

I was considering my options when I heard another hiss, causing me to leap to another branch as the one I was on blew up as well.

Delayed timers? You gotta be kidding me.

That meant I couldn't stay in one place and scope out the traps for fear of the branch I was on exploding. I glared at the forest. I really hate this place.

Still, I wasn't that far from the tower, so I took a deep breath and started jumping again, relying on my reflexes to save me.

I hadn't gone two steps when I realized that it was a stupid idea, barely avoiding being impaled by kunai.

Growling with irritation, I glanced at the sun, horror and frustration setting in when I realized that it had already been two hours since I had started. If this kept up, I wouldn't be able to find the scroll.

I took a deep breath. Here goes nothing…

... ... ...

"HOT HOT HOT!" I screamed, leaping onto the roof of the tower. I had lost my bag awhile ago, only holding onto my tanto through sheer force of will. I had ran past all the traps, almost getting blown up more times than I would care to count. I had found out the hard way that the stairs were also rigged, so I thought that the sides of the building would be clear.

Yea right.

"So, you're still in one piece."

I looked up and cursed enough to make a sailor's ears bleed. A Hyuuga in a Chuunin vest was looking at me, a smirk on his lips. To make the situation so much better, he was tossing a scroll up and down in the air, and I had a gut feeling that it was the scroll I needed.

"Tch. Such language." He said, shaking his head and holding up the scroll. "Anyways, a Jounin named Anko told me that one of her team would be searching for a scroll here and gave me this for them."

Without hesitation, I attached the explosive firework tag to a kunai and threw it into the air, setting off a massive display of fireworks. I calmly stood up and faced him, a hand on my tanto.

"I don't suppose you'll just hand it over?"

He smirked. "Not a chance."

I shrugged. "Worth a try."

We stood there for several minutes, waiting for the other to make the first move. I considered my options, calm on the outside but freaking out on the inside.

All right, calm down! Clones may or may not work against him, transforming into someone else is useless, and there's nothing around here to substitute into. So, the jutsus the academy taught me are essentially useless. I'm only average at Taijutsu, so hand-to-hand combat would be suicide. No Genjutsu in my arsenal, not that it would do much anyways. Ninjutsu? If I got close enough, I could singe him with a really wimpy flame.

I sighed. Fuck it.

I charged, forming several clones before drawing my tanto from my sheathe and ducking under the Hyuuga's blow. He completely ignored the clones, confirming my belief that clones were useless against him. I threw several shuriken as I leapt away, but they went so far awry that he just raised an eyebrow, not even having to dodge.

Dammit. I have two hours before the other two head for their targets. Well, here goes nothing…

I charged again.

A half hour later, all I had accomplished was getting in close enough to form my Fireball Jutsu, which didn't even singe his clothes. He wasn't even trying that hard in combat, which was making me feel more and more like I was completely useless on my team.

I was weaker than Sakura at the beginning of the series!

He smirked as I leapt away, chest heaving.

"How did you even graduate?" He asked, shaking his head. "Perfect clone jutsu and good enough chakra control to make it all the way here and climb a wall, still having enough chakra for a fight, and yet you can't form a simple fireball. Your Taijutsu sucks, you haven't even attempted Genjutsu, so I'm guessing you suck at it as well, else you would have tried it. You can't even throw a kunai straight!"

My tanto shook ever so slightly, but he noticed, pressing his advantage.

"Let me give you a piece of advice, kid." He said. "Stick to making bread, because as a shinobi, you're worthless. Give it up before you get yourself or someone else killed."

I glared at him, pissed off beyond all belief. However, I was mostly angry because he was right. I had no talent, passed because of a fluke, and I would be more of a burden than a help during every mission.

Why was I here? Because I had dared to dream. I guess I should have figured out by now, both here and in my world, dreams were pointless-

"To be Hokage, that is my dream!"

"When people are protecting something truly precious to them, they become as strong as they can be."

"Shinobi who break the rules are scum, but those who would abandon even one of their friends are worse than scum!"

I opened my eyes, the shaking and the doubt gone. I saw confusion flash momentarily in my opponent's eyes as I smiled.

"You're right." I admitted. "I am weak. I passed because of a fluke at the academy. I really don't belong here. However, I am here, and my friends are counting on me. If I fail, so do they. So, yea, I completely suck, but the simple fact of the matter is I cannot lose. I have friends who are counting on me, and I won't fail now!"
My eyes burned and I channeled my chakra into my limbs, willing my legs to move faster and my hands to hit harder.

"Now," I snarled, "dance with me!"
I charged in, my blade a blur as I slashed at him. He barely leapt out of the way in time, lashing out with a foot that I spun around, knocking out of the way and leaping closer. He lashed out with a decimating Gentle Fist, which I threw up my tanto's blade to block…

...and it went spinning out of my hand. I shrugged and charged forward, my own palms lashing out, taking him by surprise as I hit him twice. I ducked, hit, blocked another palm, and leapt into the air, forming several more hand signs, hand signs that I had only seen once before.

Please, whatever deity is out there, let this work.

Another clone popped into existence, charging around the back of the Hyuuga as I dashed in from the front. As predicted, the Hyuuga ignored it, turning to me and kicking me in the stomach, which bent me over as he prepared a Gentle Fist for my head…

...and the clone slammed into him from behind, using his palm to slam chakra into the man's back, a rip-off of the Hyuuga's own Gentle Fist. I recovered from my feint of bending over and jammed my palm into his stomach, hitting him with still more chakra as my clone hit him again from behind. The Hyuuga finally lashed out behind him, destroying my clone and turning to kick me halfway across the roof, but the damage had been done. One of his arms hung limply by his side, and the other was clutching his stomach as he hit his knees, one eye shut, the other staring at me.

"H-how…?" Was all he could manage.

"Well, you see," I explained, "I was there when Naruto used the Shadow Clone Jutsu. I gave him the opening against Mizuki. That was my fluke, how I passed the academy."

I swayed slightly, my chakra at an all-time low, as I slowly walked over and picked up the scroll.

He sat back and closed his other eye. "I...was not expecting that. I underestimated you. Well done."

With that, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"A FUCKING SHADOW CLONE?! DAMMIT!" I yelled. Funny, I was more upset about him being a shadow clone that I was about what he had said. I shook my head and put the scroll in my pocket, not bothering trying to retrieve my tanto as I headed back the way I came. At least it was clear of traps.