Sorry this chapter took so long. I got self-conscious about my writing and focused on other stuff.

Chapter 13: The grind of life

The next day Inomi planed waited on the bridge between the training ground they met at yesterday and the main road. Kakashi didn't tell them where to meet, but the bridge was in an area where they could see the grounds and the academy building. Inomi couldn't imagine them going anywhere else, since they will be starting missions today. Inomi just wasn't sure if they would train as a team beforehand or not.

Sasuke was already there, and Inomi waved at the boy before sitting on the rail that he was leaning on.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Hn." Sasuke said with a shrug, which Inomi translated as he had the normal quality of sleep last night.

"Sorry, I didn't realize how long it would last. But at least Sakura and Ino-nee left you alone."

"Hn."

"They really aren't that bad. They're just... weird about boys." Inomi said making a face.

Inomi still doesn't understand Sakura and Ino's obsession with Sasuke. Even with her past memories of love and childhood crushes.

Maybe it's because they don't really know Sasuke yet.

"You think Kakashi-sensei will be on time now?"

"Probably not. It might be a good idea to do some training by our selves once Naruto arrives. Nothing too intense since I don't know what mission we will be taken today."

"Hn." Sasuke agreed, and silence fell between them.

Inomi couldn't help but be a little irritated at the boy. She really thought they were friends. Maybe not as close as Sakura or Shikamaru, but still. It can't be healthy for someone to have no friends, and Inomi knows that Sasuke doesn't have anyone else that he chooses to talks to besides her.

"I'm here! Don't start without me!" Naruto yelled as he came running at full speed.

"Don't worry. Kakashi-sensei isn't even here yet." Inomi said with a smile, chucking slighting at Naruto's obvious relief.

"Doesn't change the fact that the idiot is still late." Sasuke said, and both Inomi and Naruto looked at him.

"Doesn't change the fact that you're an ass!" Naruto retorted, pointing his finger right in his face.

"Hey guys, let's calm down and warm up while we wait. Okay?" Inomi said as she got between the two boys, giving them the same hard look that Yuuka would use on Ino and Inomi when they were misbehaving.

"Hn."

"A-Alright Inomi-chan!" Naruto said, taking a step back as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Inomi smiled sheepishly at the boys, before turning to the training grounds.

"I think I'm going to work with my Naginata for a while, though the training post here don't look like they have been treated for weapons..." Inomi trailed off as she thought.

I could work on my seals, but I didn't bring any ink. I could also study, but I would rather train a little more than read later.

"Why don't you just use my clones?" Naruto suggested.

"I don't know what kind of mission Kakashi-sensei will send us on. It will be a d-rank, but that is the most diverse of missions. We shouldn't spend too much chakra beforehand."

"It's no problem Inomi-chan! I can make, like, a hundred clones no sweat."

"Do that and you'll get chakra exhaustion. Then you'll be even more useless."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Inomi closed her eyes and breathe out her mouth before swing her Naginata out between the boys in order to stop them from getting physical.

"Naruto, chakra exhaustion is a serious thing. Sasuke is right that you shouldn't push yourself until you are aware of your limits and when it is good to push them. Sasuke, if you don't have anything useful to say, then please be quiet. Naruto is our teammate and continually putting him down isn't helping." Inomi said, keep her voice low and steady.

Can't they just pretend to get along for one day?

"But Inomi-chan, I've done that before no problem." Naruto said, looking like he was pouting with how he crossed his arms.

Naruto was the main character in that show... maybe he just has a lot of chakra. It might even be the Kyuubi chakra.

Inomi didn't like that idea, but she put her naginata away regardless.

"Alright. But what are you going to do?"

"I don't know!" Naruto said in a happy tone, a complete 180 from before.

"Maybe you should work on some chakra control..." Inomi suggested.

"But I can do the leaf now!"

"What about the water exercise?"

"The what?" Sasuke interrupted, turning to them from where he was getting ready to do some target practice.

"Water exercise? It's when you stick water to your hand. Tou-chan had Ino-nee and I do it for a year before we could start any clan jutsus. It should be harder than the leaf exercise if you are not a water type." Inomi said, smile to herself at the 'water type' wording.

"Oh, okay then." Naruto said slowly, probably because he doesn't yet understand what Inomi was talking about.

"It's not too hard to get at first, but the more water you try to stick the hard it becomes to keep it in a bubble." Inomi walked over to the lake that Kakashi threw Naruto in yesterday.

She bent down and waited until Naruto came over next to her before sticking one of her hands in. She then cupped it and pulled it out, but none of the water slipped out of her fingers.

"That's kinda cool I guess..."

Then Inomi flattened her palm and held the water upside down.

"Whoa!"

Inomi smiled as she stopped the extra chakra flow, and the water fell back into the lake.

"It takes a while to get to that point. Tou-chan first made us try moving a drop of water around our palm, then wrists." Inomi explained as she got up, and froze slightly when she saw that even Sasuke came over to watch.

"Have you not done this either Sasuke-kun?" Inomi asked, only for the boy's face to scrunch up in a grimus.

"I can already do clan jutsus." Sasuke told them, acting like he wasn't interested.

"Good for you, but Naruto doesn't have any clan jutsus so having him perfect the basics is important since he'll have to prove his worth in order to learn more advanced stuff." Inomi said, trying so hard not to lose her cool.

"That's because I don't need any stinky clan stuff to help me become Hokage!"

"Idiot. Did you forget all the Hokages come from ninja clans?"

"Nuh-uh! The fourth Hokage was an orphanage from a civilian clan, and he was the best Hokage 'ttebayo!" Naruto said and while Inomi was well aware of Naruto obsession of the hokages, Sasuke actually looked shocked for once.

If slightly raising an eyebrow counted as shocked.

"...And that might be because he was able to get the attention of one of the sannin after perfecting the academy standard and everything else they needed to do to graduate back then." Inomi added as extra motivation before grabbing her Naginata.

"Naruto? Do you mind giving me... three clones to work with?" Inomi asked, thinking that should be fine for a quick warm up.

"Sure thing Inomi-chan!" Naruto said as he looked away from his staring contest with Sasuke and made the seal.

Naruto still used enough chakra that Inomi could see it affecting the grass below his feet, but it was significantly less than what he would use while making the basic clones in class.

"Ready when you are!" The three clones said at the same time.

"Thanks again Naruto. And good luck with the chakra control!" Inomi said as she walked to the middle of the clearing, far enough away that she shouldn't be able to distract Naruto or Sasuke.

"Okay," Inomi said as she swung her Naginata a few times to check her grip. "It would be nice if you only come at me one at a time to start."

"Sure thing! Here I come!"

And all three Narutos ran at Inomi.

Inomi panicked for just a moment before "instincts" kicked in. She ducked under the punch of one Naruto while hitting another with the end of her Naginata.

"You." She pointed to the only Naruto that wasn't bent over in pain or rolling around on his back like a turtle. "Then when he is about to lose, the one on the ground can swap in."

"Oh right, sorry Inomi-chan!" They said and Inomi resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

After that, the training went much better. Inomi was able to fight them one at a time, and even all three at once before working up a sweat. Which was what Inomi decided was good enough for a quick warm up.

It was still well before noon, and no sign of Kakashi from what Inomi can see and sense. He could just be watching them from the trees, hiding his chakra, but then what could Inomi do about that? It would be better to play dumb and wait for him to show up.

"Okay you three can disperse. I'm going to do some studying and check on the boys." Inomi told the clones, who gave their own confirmation before poofing away.

Inomi stretched as she walked over, noting that Sasuke was still working on his Kenjutsu. Naruto, however, was standing up waving to her.

"Look! Inomi-chan!" Naruto yelled, and Inomi jogged over.

"You wanted to see how i'm doing right? Look!"

Inomi watched as Naruto suck his whole arm into the pond, and pulled it back out.

"See? Wait...now look! I think that one is moving!"

Inomi looked at the water droplets on Naruto's arm, and focused on the one he was pointing at by his thumb. Sure enough, it was twitching and slowly inching up his hand, away from the normal pull from gravity.

"That's amazing Naruto, I wasn't sure if you would be able to do it in one day let alone a few hours." Inomi said with a smile only a fraction as bright as the one Naruto had.

It was a good thing that she didn't mention that Ino-nee and her were able to have a droplet doing laps in the same amount of time. But they weren't Naruto, and shouldn't be used as a measuring tool for the boy.

"Heh, Of course I'm amazing. I'm going to become Hokage Inomi-chan!" Naruto said just as Inomi finally was able to sense that their teacher arrived.

"Yo," He said with a lazy wave, book out and leading on a tree like he's been there for hours.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto accused, pointing dramatically at Kakashi.

"A black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around." Kakashi deadpanned, and Inomi felt her eye twitch.

"Really?" Inomi asked with a raised brow, but her new sensei just kinda smiled with his eye.

"Come on my cute genin. It's time to get our first mission as team 7."

"WHOO! MISSION!" Naruto yelled, jumping straight up with his first. "What's it going to be?!"

"It will be a D-rank, which can be anything from running nonsensitive messages to cleaning up the Naka river." Inomi thought out loud, and Naruto visible deflated.

"Really? I thought Iruka was joking about that."

It didn't take long for the four of them to get to the Hokage tower, and as soon as they got inside Inomi couldn't help but look around. There was a buzz of work similar to the academy two floors below them, but with less screaming. Though some of the people working at the desk look like they are one argument away from tears.

With Kakashi in the lead, Inomi was shocked when he lead them past the main desk, and into one of the more private rooms. The rooms that either require the Hokage themselves to defeat them on the mission, or more information sensitive stuff. Not the place that fresh genins about to take their first mission would be around. And sure enough, at a desk identical to the one they just passed but with fewer people, was Iruka and the Hokage sitting in the dead center of it. Right where Kakashi was leading them.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" Naruto practically yelled with how quiet the room was.

More than a few of the ninja turned to look at them, and Inomi felt her cheeks rise in temperature from the judging looks.

"Naruto, I don't teach all day." Iruka very calmly explained, though Inomi still saw his eye twitch in annoyance.

The Hokage, to Inomi's complete disbelief, chuckled.

"It's nice to see you too Naruto."

"Whoops, sorry gramps. I didn't see you there." Naruto said while rubbing the back of his neck.

Inomi and Sasuke both stared at their teammate. Sure Naruto has told Inomi that he was friends with the Hokage, but this was still their leader. Inomi with her very basic chakra sensing could easily feel how dense his chakra was, and he was no double suppressing some of it. If it was anyone else, Inomi would say they were lying, but this was Naruto and Inomi could tell that he truly didn't notice that their Hokage was there in front of them.

"That is quite alright. I see that you and your team are here to get your first mission?"

"Yeah! Get us a good one!" Naruto yelled, drawing the rooms attention to their group once more.

At this point Inomi was just standing Starck looking at Iruka who in turn was looking like he was going to pop a blood vessel.

"Naruto. You're Genin, and have only been a genin for four days! The only missions you will be getting are D-ranks-"

"I know that, but there has to be some good ones!" Naruto interrupted.

The Hokage chuckled again while Iruka gave a sigh as he rubbed his brow.

"Here. There have been signs of the local wildlife around training ground 3 in distress. Seems that someone left traps out and they have been getting caught up in it." Iurka said as he handed Kakashi the scroll.

Inomi felt the blood drain from her face as she recalled that they ended up never using the traps that Naruto set up the other day.

"Training ground 3 huh, at least you know where it is." Kakashi said with a hand on Naruto and Inomi to lead them out.

"Wow, what are the odds that someone else set up traps there, huh Inomi-chan?" Naruto commented, and this time Inomi didn't resist the urge to slap herself in the forehead.

"Idiot. It's the traps that you set up." Sasuke helpfully explains, and as Naruto took the bait and started up one of their arguments, Inomi noticed that Kakashi ditched them.

I wonder if he would have still left us if we didn't know where our mission's location was.

With that thought, Inomi left to go back to where they started, trying not to agree with the boys later when they keep complaining of what a waste of time this all was. At least Inomi was practicing her sensing by trying to keep track of the boys while they raced to saves all the animals from their traps.

Next chapter will have some training and more d-ranks, and the one after that should get into the wave arc, which is going to be fuuuun. A lot of the changes Inomi has directly and indirectly caused will come into play in the second half of that, so look forward. Also any pairing ideas would be nice. I'm currently thinking of Naruto/Sasuke, Ino/sai, and Saskura with a character that hasn't been introduced yet, but nothing for Inomi. Her past lives have been all over the sexual spectrum, so as long as there isn't a huge age difference, anything is available.

Thank you everyone who has followed/favorited this story despite it being over a year since I last updated it. I want to say the next update will be quicker, but I'm starting classes in two weeks so who knows. Special thanks to Dannyphantom619, shadekiller13, majorcartooniac, lizyeh2000, the 2 guests, angelicsailor, whitedogwood, blindkitten97, callmecrazylol, and giant salamander for taking the time to leave a review. I hope to show off some of your d-rank subjections next chapter as well cause I got some funny situations in mind.

Till next time, hope you all have a fantastic day/night!