Getting to sleep in my own bed after weeks on the road was the best feeling in the world. Sure, there was the anxious pit in my stomach from the looming and imminent doom that was hanging over the village, but at the moment there was nothing I could do about that so I just let myself relish in my bed when I woke up the next morning.

It truly was the next morning, I noted, seeing the early predawn grey sky outside of my window. We'd gotten back to the village a little after midday yesterday and I while I'd been tired, I hadn't expected to sleep till dawn the next day. I stretched in bed, still languishing in the feeling of being in my own bed.

"You look like a cat." Sasuke called up from the floor. He and Naruto had dragged futons out of storage at my direction and were camped out on my bedroom floor.

I grunted and tossed my pillow at him, rolling myself out of my bed and landing on my feet with a soft thump. "Alright, I'm done sleeping. Let's see if anyone's home now."

When we had gotten home yesterday, no one was in the house. Shika was training, I assumed, this close to the tournament. Mom was probably out running errands or meeting with some of her friends. Dad hadn't followed us home, so I hadn't expected to see him. I nudged Naruto awake with my foot. His mouth was open and it looked like he should have been snoring but he was completely silent. You could call sensei's training bizarre but you had to acknowledge that it was effective. Naruto would never give us away on a mission from snoring.

I shoved him again harder before giving up and letting Sasuke take charge of waking him up. I grabbed some clothes from my closet, internally holding back tears at the feeling of NEW clothing. Compared to what was left of the rags I brought with me on that training trip, I was glad to finally get to switch into nicer clothing.

"I'm taking a shower." I announced. It was my second shower, but now that I wasn't so tired, I still felt dirty from all the dirt—and blood—on the road. I took my time and by the time I was out Naruto were fully awake, sitting up on his futon and chatting excitedly at a still bleary eyed Uchiha.

Seeing a chance at escape, Sasuke spoke up quickly. "I'm going to shower next." He stood up and grabbed his bag, which had been dumped carelessly on the floor in his haste to sleep the day before.

"Do you want to borrow some of my brother's clothes?" I asked, realizing that they deserved the feeling of comfort that I'd just enjoyed.

"That would be AWESOME." Naruto said instantly, and clearly more awake then the rest of us. Sasuke paused thoughtfully before he nodded in agreement as well. I moved from standing at my doorway to direct Sasuke to the shower. I stopped in Shika's room across the hall and was unsurprised to find it empty. He had either left early from practicing the day before, or more likely, hadn't made it home the night before. I snagged two sets of Shikamaru's clothes and tossed them both to Sasuke who mumbled apprecitvly.

"Just leave the other set in the room for Naruto." I ordered him, making my way back down the hall. I tuck my head in my room on my way downstairs to let Naruto know I was going to go eat breakfast. He was welcome to either stay upstairs and wait to shower, or eat beforehand.

I went to go down the stairs before thoughtfully walking back into my room and grabbing my own pack, on the floor next to where Sasuke's had been. Mine was just dirty, but Naruto's had dried bloodstains on his from his cargo the day before. I wrinkled my nose at dried stain but grabbed his bag as well, bringing them both downstairs with me. Making a slight detour to the kitchen, I stopped and dropped both bags outside my front door on the wraparound porch. Leaving the door open, I made my way into the kitchen.

I was disappointed to be greeted by an empty kitchen and a still warm stove top and kettle. We'd just missed mom. Glancing at the clock, I'd guess by a half an hour or so. I refilled the kettle with more water, setting up some cups for tea. I also gathered some food for breakfast. Nothing elaborate but miles away from field rations or the wild animals we'd been feasting on. Naruto and Sasuke both stumbled downstairs as I was setting the table.

I gestured for them to sit and they complied, mumbling thank yous. We all stayed quiet as we started eating, but after a lull in eating, Naruto spoke up.

He sounded ridiculously cheerful considering how upset and off kilter he'd looked the day before. "So what are the plans for today?"

I turned to Sasuke stumped. "I hadn't expected to wake up with no one here." I said slowly. Sasuke looked just as clueless as me. "So I guess we just stay in the compound until we get orders to do something else."

Naruto didn't look satisfied with that answer. "That's booooring." He whined. I had to agree. I was still sore from the intense sprint we'd made back to the village but I felt restless. I was used to waking at dawn and immediately jumping into some ridiculous routine, or spar, or other form of training that Kakashi sensei had cooked up for us.

I shrugged. "We can stretch everything out today, stay limber. I also wasn't to replace my weapons from training—everything is dull or broken. We could eat up a lot of the daylight on just that while we wait for more information." Neither of them seemed to have anything to say to that, which I assumed meant that they agreed.

Once we'd finished eating in a comfortable silence, we'd washed the dishes with minimal complaints, even from me. Sasuke went upstairs while Naruto joined me on the porch, this time grabbing his own bag. I led him around to the back of the house, facing the woods and sat with one leg hanging off the porch, the other tucked neatly under me.

Not seeing a reason to delay, I opened my pack and dumped its contents out. Naruto copied me a few feet away. I started sorting through the pile. Many of the things in my pack had gone untouched. I pushed them to the side—these were things that had just taken up space and I wouldn't bother packing them on a mission again. They just made my pack heavier and served no purpose.

I hesitated over a pair of armguards. They hadn't been used at all on the mission which meant I should just toss them in the not to bring category, but they were undeniably useful if not well worn. I sighed, then put the guards in the middle in the meantime, not sure of which pile it would fall in.

As I was deliberating over a another object, Sasuke interjected, having arrived with his own bag. "I thought we were stretching first?"

"We were waiting for you Teme." Naruto rolled his eyes. I copied the motion adding my own "Duh!" for effect.

Dropping his bag on the other side of Naruto, Sasuke hopped off the porch and onto the grass. We copied him, then each broke off into our own stretches. We had all developed our own routine during the mission—Sasuke was the most similar to the academy katas we'd all learned. Naruto's and my own diverged significantly from the academy standard. Naruto was more powerful in his motions; each movement looked grounded and he kept his center of gravity low, which had him balancing in the oddest stances.

I started the Hatake set of Katas that sensei had begun me own during the training trip. I moved slowly, feeling each movement in my muscles, tense as they were. Strangely enough, I felt like Naruto's stretches reminded me most of actual martial arts while my own routine felt a little like…dancing.

I sped up while Naruto and Sasuke also picked up their paces. Although I wasn't holding my wakizashi, I swung out my hand as if I was holding it. I threw a punch, only to subtly change my stance at the last minute and change the feigned punch to an elbow strike.

By the end of the hour, the three of us had spread out throughout the grass and were all going through our second or third repetition of the katas. We were all at near full speed by now and I felt limber enough to start cooling down—the goal of today was to rest. If there was to be an attack, I didn't want to still be recovering from the run back to the village OR from an overly enthusiast training session.

I signed for my teammates to do the same and we all slowed the stretches until we were sitting on the floor in a tighter circle then we'd been just minutes before. Pausing for a moment to catch our breaths, we all grinned at each other, feeling good now that our muscles weren't full of lactic acid.

"Time to sort our weapons now?" Naruto asked bouncing up before either of us had a chance to answer.

I groaned, laying back on the grass and looking up at the beautiful nearly clear blue sky above us. "Or we could not and just watch the clouds instead." I offered.

"NO WAY Kage-chan!" Naruto cried out excitedly, grabbing on of my arms and dragging me up. I slouched as I stood but couldn't hold back my own grin.

"Fine, responsibility calls our names then." Naruto grinned at my answer, reaching out to drag Sasuke up. His stamina was unreal.

I slumped back over to the porch, feigning how tired I was. I really did feel good at the moment. I climbed back on the seating, orienting myself the same as I had before, one foot hanging off. Sasuke sat much more properly in a seiza, while Naruto crossed his legs and plopped on the floor.

I talked out loud more for their benefit then my own. "I think I packed too much excess stuff on this trip. I'm trying to keep a ready-made emergency pack for missions and I want to repack all the things I'm going to need…I think I can keep out the unnecessary stuff this time." I said wrinkling my nose as I held up a fishing rod that broke off into three pieces for easier storage.

Naruto perked up. "That's so cool though!"

I shrugged, handing it to him. "Yours then. Sensei showed us how to fish with ninja wire a lure so I don't see the point in this extra stuff taking up room."

Naruto eagerly grabbed it, stuffing it into his own pack. Sasuke frowned at him. "Unpack everything first dobe. Thenyou can put back in the essentials. "

I nodded in agreement with Sasuke. "I'm making piles." I pointed out to the other two. Sasuke gave it a perfunctory nod, pouring out his own pack. We worked in silence, only speaking up to ask the others their opinion on the worth of an object for missions. Finally, I felt like my pack was good with supplies-although I'd need to restock on ration bars, medicines, and health supplies sometime in the future.

I sat waiting for my Sasuke. Naruto was already finished because the two of us had started slightly before him. Once we were all caught up and on the same page, we all looked at the massive piles each of us had created of 'useless' items.

Mine was the smallest. Although I didn't needall of them in the strictest terms and I definitely could and would make a more barebones version of my pack for when it was required…everything in my pack currently made my life easier and wasn't heavy enough for me to really complain about. For a day to day mission, it was good enough to cater to most missions I would be assigned.

Sasuke and Naruto each had bigger piles of 'stuff' left out of their packs. Truly some of it looked useless. Naruto had two can openers in his pile which was pretty useless because we didn't use cans on missions. Sasuke also had some questionable items in his pack which he'd had on him the entire last mission.

"You brought a pair of windmill shuriken?" I looked at him dumbfounded.

"We used them on the Wave mission." He defended. I eyed him skeptically but turned back to his pile in acquiesce.

"I would leave the ninja wire in your pack. If you don't want to keep it, I will; we use ninja wire on EVERYTHING." I suggested.

Sasuke shrugged. "I have two more rolls, one flammable and one non flammable already packed." I grinned then made a 'gimme' motion.

"Mine then!" I said happily. He rolled his eyes but tossed me the brand new roll with a small smile. We truly did use the ninja wire on everything from fighting to cooking to fishing and hanging clothes to dry. Multipurpose and reusable, Naruto probably needed to add some to his own pack.

Although with all the traps and pranks he set up, he probably already had a roll in there.

Each of us eyed our own piles again before Naruto groaned in annoyance. Flopping backwards on the floor he cursed aloud. "Shit. WE should've unpacked at home. How am I going to get all this-" He gestured to the pile of stuff, "-back to my place?"

I chuckled. "I can lend you bags or something. Don't stress it." He grumbled some more before popping back up.

"Weapons now?" Sasuke suggested. We each nodded and grabbed our whetstones and knife sharpeners. Sitting back to lean against one of the wooden beams that held up the porch, I fell into a familiar routine of sharpening weapons. I'd been doing this since the academy under dad's watchful eye for his own gear and later for my own set when we'd started throwing practice.

That's how sensei came back to find us, sharpening knives or testing to see if they were still good. Sasuke banged his on rocks and if they didn't chip or break, continued to sharpen them. Naruto sharpened each one carefully regardless of the state of the blade. I aimed all of mine at the rock in the lawn. Some shattered. Others chipped. I would pick up the remaining ones later to be honed.

"You're such cute little genin." Sensei remarked, hands in his pockets as he strolled over to us. None of us paused in our tasks, just mumbled out a greeting and continued our work. Sensei sat on the porch as well, pulling out his book to read while we worked.

I held out my lucky kunai, holding it at eye level an arm's length away and surveying it critically. It looked like I would need a new one. To be sure, I gave a flick of my wrist and shot it at the rock. It shattered on impact and I frowned sadly. Kunai and shuriken weren't meant to last. Sure, if you took good care of them—oiled them, kept them away from water and kept them sharp—they would last a few weeks or even months. But the force put on them meant that they would eventually become structurally unsound from a couple of hits. I didn't want to throw a weapon like that in battle and have an enemy block it. That would mean shrapnel flying back at my face.

Sasuke was too meticulous about his weapons and his aim to keep any that were damaged. One chipped shuriken wouldn't be aimed as well as a well-cared for one. Naruto on the other hand usually used his weapons for traps—shrapnel and surprise angles would suit him so it made sense he would keep all his weapons. With that thought, I asked him if he wanted my chipped ones. He eagerly accepted, and nodded again when Sasuke offered his own up as well.

I sorted through my kunai before finding one that I liked the grip of. I pulled a polishing cloth and some alkaline polishing oil out of my pack. I wanted to make this my new 'lucky' kunai. Not so much for attacked but more for peripheral vision. I'd need a mirror like polish on it for better visibility.

We sat in silence for most of the morning this way. The only sound the familiar grinding of metal and the turning of sensei's pages on his book. When the sun was about midday, sensei finally stopped us.

"Time to get back at it team." He announced, standing and stretching his hands overhead. He was tall enough that his wrists almost hit the ceiling of the porch.

We all groaned but obligingly put our things away. I shoved my kunai, shuriken, and sharpeners into their respective pouches, then strapped them onto their appropriate spots. Two went on my waist and the last one wrapped around my upper thigh. I also stood, strapped my wakizashi horizontally along my lower back with the handle closer to my right hand.

On sensei's orders, I was to change up which side I strapped it to randomly. I also was to wear it everywhere to get used to the feeling of always having it on hand.

I patted myself down, dusting dirt off and making sure I had everything I needed on me. Naruto and Sasuke also looked likewise ready. We all turned to Kakashi. He nodded at us approvingly.

"We're going to do a quick survey of the village- the team will be patrolling tomorrow during the exam and I want you guys to know what it will be like without me there."

That had each of us perking up, looking at him more seriously. "We wont get to watch the tournament?" I questioned. It wasn't entirely unexpected but it was a disappointment. I had been planning on watching Shikamaru.

Naruto looked similarly bummed, and while Sasuke didn't show it as much as us, I could read the shared disappointment. Sensei shook his head.

"Sadly, no. It would be a great training tool- to see how other ninja your age fight. But the village has other needs including patrols during that time."

We all nodded in agreement. Sensei looked us all over then clapped his hands together. "Ready then? Let's race to the academy rooftop. On your mark. Get set…go!"

He shunshinned away but none of wasted any time. We each launched ourselves towards the academy.

I had the advantage here, being the quickest and the most familiar with the route, but Naruto was following me closely. Sasuke had taken the more familiar route, leaving the compound through the main gate and down the road.

I took the more direct route, cutting through treetop and hopping the fence that stood between the Nara woods and the rest of the village with Naruto shadowing me as close as he could.

Hopping building to building once we reached the village proper was taking time. I mentally calculated the distance between me and the roof 2 buildings down, then tried to approximate the right amount of chakra. I gave a slight whoop as a skipped one of the buildings as planned and furthered the gap between myself and Naruto. Trying to keep it going took a little more mental planning and careful chakra control but I ended up skipping and landing on every other building instead.

Landing slightly out of breath on the academy rooftop, I walked the last few steps over to sensei, who stood unruffled with his book back out. Naruto joined me just moments later followed up by a disgruntled looking Sasuke.

"Sensei, when are we going to learn the poof thing you do?" Naruto asked. Sasuke and I bother joined Naruto in his baleful yet hopeful look towards sensei. Being able to shunshin would be you typically didn't see genin with that skillset. And few used it in battle like Sensei or Shisui. Most just used it as a quicker transportation technique.

He stood quietly thinking about it before shrugging. "Mahhhh, later." We all groaned. Gesturing for us to sit, we all listened to his nonverbal instruction and popped onto the benches. It was strangely reminiscent of our first meeting as a team. Sensei put his book away and eyed us strangely, before eye smiling at us.

"It hasn't been too long since you've been out of the academy. You're all still fairly new at being ninja. So I thought it would be nice to get you an area you were familiar with for patrol." He took on a serious note as he began lecturing us. "The academy is one of the most vulnerable areas in the village. You should remember how many drills you had considering how recently you graduated."

All of us nodded in agreement. We'd done evacuation drills, lock down drills, fire drills, poison drills. Tons of different practices with different operating procedures for each.

"Tomorrow" he continued "You will show up here before sunrise, prepared to patrol. But your patrol will consist of this 4 block radius" he pointed out the streets to us " and the academy. And the academy is the priority. With so many dignitaries in the stands of the arena, many ninja will be required to show face. But the future of the village is right here." He said the last part firmly and looked at us seriously. "So you will all be here ready to help the academy teachers and students with any disruptions they may face tomorrow."

He didn't put any emphasis on 'disruptions'. Nothing in his speech referenced a possible attack on the village. But he made eye contact with me on the last few words and I knew he was preparing for the worst to happen in the village. We watched him silently and he observed us back for a few moments before he smiled again.

"Alright, ready for a practice run on how to patrol? The key is to not be noticed by anyone, unless they're looking for you. Civilians want to feel safe, but not under surveillance. It's a fine line…" He said as began showing us how he wanted us to patrol the next day.

When we made it back to my house, the front door was open and I could hear the sounds of someone inside. We all grabbed our stuff from the floor around the back porch and made our way back to the front and in the open door.

"Hi mom!" I called, leading team 7 up the stairs. I could sense it was mom and a few other people in the kitchen including Shikamaru. "We'll be right down!"

I jogged up the stairs, Naruto and Sasuke right on my heels, as I heard Ino shout out, "IS THAT KAGE-CHAN? Finally!"

Dumping my pack and armful of miscellaneous supplies on my bed, Naruto and Sasuke looked around, then dropped their stuff on their futons. I wrinkled my nose at them.

" We really need to wash our packs off before we put them that close ot our pillows." Sasuke shrugged but Naruto grimaced and gently nudged his pack off his futon with his foot. It took several light kicks and an increasingly animated Naruto.

Because I was sniggering at Naruto's antics, Sasuke led the way downstairs.

The kitchen was full, and Ino stood immediately to give hugs out. Sasuke declined to her disappointment, but I eagerly reciprocated the hug, before leaning down and giving a hug to Shikamaru, who'd remained seated. I gave a slight wave to their sensei, Asuma, who sat at one end of the table with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. Choji also got a hug and mom gave an enthusiastic hug to each of us.

"Did you just get back?" Ino demanded, looking us over critically.

"Obviously not." Shika drawled. Choji nodded in thoughtful agreement.

"They're wearing Shikamaru's cloths." He pointed out helpfully to his female teammate. She frowned at us thoughtfully.

"Why not just go home and get dressed there. Surely there was nothing that urgent." She paused to thank my mom for the soup that she'd just placed in front of her, then continued, "When did you get back then?"

Mom answered as she was putting Asuma sensei's dinner in front of him. "They arrived back sometime yesterday. You all looked so tired, I didn't bother waking you for dinner."

I grinner at her as she placed my own dinner in front of me. "Thanks mom. I think sleep was more the priority at that point."

"But why didn't you two go home?" Ino asked incessantly.

I molded my face to a serious one and answered as if the whole table had asked. "Well you see, after spending so much time on the road together, I've decided that it would be best for me to cohabitate with the team for the time being. Considering how close we've grown, it seemed like the logical next step." I took a spoon of soup and maintained the serious face.

The room was dead quiet for a moment before Naruto and Shikamaru burst out laughing. Sasuke dropped his head into his hands in despair and Ino frowned at me. "That's not funny." She said as everyone around her laughed.

I chuckled. "Clearly it's at least kind of funny if everyone is laughing." I pointed out, continuing to eat my soup.

She grumpily tossed her hair over her shoulder as Choji started telling us about how their training was going. We listened in eagerly, and eventually Ino got over her annoyance enough to jump in and catch us up on the missing gossip as well.

"It's going to be a tough tournament." Ino admitted. "I think the only one with a definite chance is that Hyuga genin." I frowned thinking back to the exams and pulling up an image of his face. It also reminded me to let my brother know.

"We won't be able to watch the tournament live." I said regretfully. Ino gasped and Choji looked slightly betrayed.

"It's not our fault." I defended myself. "Team 7 got placed on patrol duty. Probably because we were out of village for so long, they're relieving the other teams by throwing a fresh team out there."

Asuma sensei spoke up. "It makes sense. The tournament is a big deal for the village and if we can maintain a good presence, that will make Konoha look better. More high profile ninjas will probably be shifted inside the stadium. Which means more patrols outside in the village to fill the gaps."

I nodded in agreement. Shikamaru spoke up, "It doesn't really matter anyway. We can tell you all about it later."

I grinned thankfully at his easy acceptance and forgiveness.

Once dinner was over, we all helped with the dishes except Shikamaru and Asuma sensei who went outside to go play a game of shogi. We'd just finished cleaning up when Asuma came back into the kitchen.

"He wants to play someone different considering the past 2 months have been the same people." Asuma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Typically, it's not this long a wait between the prelims and the final exam, but with all the attacks and stuff, they've really been dragging it out." He over explained for my benefit.

I nodded and turned to mom, shrugging as I put down the drying cloth for the dishes. She waved me off to go play a game of Shogi with my brother. Asuma followed me outside, while Naruto and Sasuke kept company with Choji and Ino.

I found my brother sitting outside where he always sat, slumped against the post I had been sharpening my knives on earlier this very same day. I grinned at him savagely. "Ready to lose?" I asked him as I sat down and started setting up the board for a new match.

He grunted. "You wish. I've had so much practice while you were out of the village." We eyed each other speculatively, before I reversed the board, spinning it to face him.

HE raised an eyebrow at me. "You sure." I nodded thoughtfully. By default, Shikamaru normally let others make the first move, but I wanted him to start this match.

Too often, dad had taught us to use Shoji to relax our minds and sharpen our wits. I wanted to be ready for tomorrow, when I would be waiting for some kind of an attack. I watched my brother rather than the board. He seemed stumped. His sensei watched us carefully. I couldn't read his face, and he'd started smoking. I didn't like the smell so I didn't bother turning towards him.

Finally, Shikamaru made his first move, chuckling. "I knew it was a good idea to grab you. The whole lead up to this exam and I can count on one hand the amount of games where I've made the first move."

I laughed too, quickly responding to his opening move. "In the match, I really don't think you're going to make the first move. You're much more reactive then you are action oriented. So, it makes sense under those thoughts."

Shika paused thoughtfully before making his next move. "So what are you expecting that you wanted to 'react'." He asked thoughtfully. He didn't seem to expect an answer. "After all, you've always been the more explosive one of us."

I hmm'ed an agreement and then responded to his move.

We played in silence and swiftly, both of reacting to the moves with very little pause before sliding our pieces. Sometimes his sensei would lean in and look at the board but neither of us paused. It was turning out to be a quick game, when I paused eyeing the board.

I turned my head while I looked at it.

Shika sounded smug. "You lose in 4 moves."

I kept watching the board and tilted my head to the other side, still eying it thoughtfully. "No I don't." I moved a piece. "I lose in 3 moves. If-" I stressed the word, "IFyou manage to capture my king by then."

He frowned at the move I'd made but then leaned back thoughtfully. He carefully folded his hands into the pose he always made when he was thinking hard.

"You're sacrificing a lot of pieces. It's a pyrrhic victory."

"And yet, somehow, still a victory." I announced. My eyes were still on the board and not on him. "When is a victory not a victory?" I asked quietly.

Shikamaru quickly made his move, then before waiting moved my piece in the final 3 steps of the match. I grinned softly at the bpard as he answered. "When the price is too high," He said, quoting dad, "Then you can't say you've gained anything at all."

I helped him put away the pieces. "Thank you." I said seriously. "I needed to clear my head."

"Me too." He said mournfully. I sniggered and ruffled his hair. "You'll do fine. Just don't be stupid and save plenty of chakra for later rounds. That's what always held you back in the academy as well." I politely excused myself and let Asuma-sensei take my spot. I wanted to get a good nights sleep before the tournament tomorrow.

Happy April Fools day! Thanks for waiting on me forever. I have rewritten this chapter so many times you cant even believe it. I appreciate every single follower, reviewer and reader who continue to push me towards finishing this chapter. especially Yuma, who left the most thoughtful review/critique/comment I've seen in a while. Thank you everyone and look out for next chapter- should be coming sometime this week, I just keep adding to it.