A/N: Hello friends! Thank you for your patience in waiting for this new chapter. I've actually been working on another fic I'm preparing to release the first chapters of soon, so if you've ever read/watched Bungou Stray Dogs, keep an eye on my page ;). In other news, I start school in about a week and half, but never fear, I would never abandon a fic- or at the very least, without proper warning. Like I said, updates are irregular and whenever I have the time to work on them. Finally, I've rushed through to the graduation exam for this chapter, so if it seems like there's a lot of jumping around, there is. Next chapter, we get straight into plot things! Enjoy~

Chapter 18

"Finally! Thank God," Charlie gasped out, falling onto skinned knees and hands with a dramatic flourish. She was drenched in sweat, covered in dirt and grime and blood, and yet she'd done it, finally.

From the sidelines, Kakashi was clapping in a subdued sort of fashion. "It took you long enough," he said dryly.

Hazel eyes rolled. It had been roughly a week, and she could now finally, finally shunshin- albeit not very far, but still. With a small exhausted smile, she rolled onto her back and stuck her hands under her head. The weather was starting to reach more convenient temperatures, but the grass was still cold underneath her. "Does this mean you'll finally teach me a sweet sweet ninjutsu technique?" she asked.

Kakashi pocketed his porn and gave one of his signature sighs. "You still haven't gotten the bunshin down. How do you expect to graduate like this? You should be spending your time on that, instead."

Charlie grimaced. T'was true enough. Neither her nor Naruto had had any luck with the technique, and as much as she told herself it wasn't her fault, it still stung a little to be reminded. "All of this will go away if you just teach us one requiring more chakra," she grumbled.

From his spot clear across the field, Naruto screamed his concurrence. He, too, was working on the shunshin- though admittedly, he could go a lot farther.

"And as I said, I would get in trouble for doing such a thing. Now, regroup kids, we're done with shunshin today. Let's talk about something more interesting."

'The last time he said that, he went on and on for fifteen minutes about the newest edition of Icha Icha,' Charlie thought, unimpressed. She sat cross-legged in front of the man anyway, figuring if he wasted her time she'd just go home to thumb through the fuuinjutsu textbook she'd borrowed from the library.

Minato's laughter echoed in her head, and she grinned to herself.

"Situational awareness," Kakashi announced grandly. He crossed his arms proudly over his chest, as though it were the most important thing he'd said all day.

Beside her, Naruto was rocking from side to side. "What's that?" he asked impatiently.

"Situational awareness is defined as the three phase process of taking in present-"

"I'm the sensei, not you, Charlie-chan," the silver haired jounin whined. The girl pursed her lips. "Situational awareness is defined as the three phase process of-"

She couldn't help but let out an annoyed groan.

Kakashi glared, "-taking in present elements and events, comprehending them, and predicting what they can mean for the future," he finished.

Naruto cocked his head, looking about as lost as a seven year old in Walmart. "I feel like... you could've said that simpler?"

Charlie laughed and knocked his shoulder as their teacher withered in front of them. "Let's... just start the exercises?" the man whispered.

A short period later saw the two strung up by their ankles.

Charlie grit her teeth as the ground swirled nauseously below her and reached into her pouch for a knife, muttering under her breath. Alongside her, her blond companion crossed his arms over his chest, nodding to himself.

"Oh, so that's what it means," the boy said. "Seeing underneath the underneath, right?"

"I guess," Charlie grunted, slashing the rope that held her and barely managing to land feet-first. "How are we supposed to-" she cut off, hitting the deck hard as a barrage of shuriken came at her. "One of these days, Kakashi," she swore, and shunshined to where Naruto was now extricating himself. It kind of worked, though she overshot herself into a bush.

Holding a knife out ready to parry any incoming strikes, she said, "Let's divide and conquer. He's probably gonna try to get you in a genjutsu, so pay att- Naruto!"

The boy's eyes swirled, unconscious already and rope half-cut. Kakashi stood on the branch above him, looking way too superior. "You were saying?"

Charlie scowled, and felt the absurd urge to stomp her foot. "That's not fair you-! You!"

"Don't be touchy," Minato urged, "just focus on how to save him."

'Any words of advice, there, chief?' she thought. Nervous sweat was already building on her brow- she hated how futile it always seemed to try to survive against Kakashi.

"Do your best and have fun?"

She deadpanned.

Withdrawing six shuriken from her pouch, she chucked half at the rope and half at Kakashi's feet. His jump to avoid them coincided with Naruto's descent to the hard earth below.

And because of her tenuous hold on the shunshin, she didn't reach him in time to halt his crash landing. Or hers, for that matter, as she ended up stumbling into the tree. 'Oh, well,' she thought, rubbing her aching nose and heaving the limp body of her friend over her shoulder. 'That's what he gets for getting knocked out.'

Kakashi was suddenly nowhere to be seen, which put her on edge more than anything else. She paused a moment, stretching her senses in a weak attempt to track his whereabouts. Unfortunately for her, jounin weren't so easily discovered.

Charlie swallowed a stressed sound and wandered into a denser crowd of trees and shrubs.

Minato chuckled nervously. "You should probably wake him up. Carrying him will weigh you down, you know..."

Oh, yeah. She forgot that she could do that. Padding silently into a tall bush, she laid Naruto down none-too-gently. "Kai!" she whispered, flaring her chakra. If she remembered correctly, it required quite a bit more energy to upset the balance in someone else's system, so she threw more into the pot than was probably necessary.

The kid woke with a start, and then a groan. "Haaah? Why does my neck hurt?" He held one hand to the back of it as he sat bolt upright.

Ignoring him, Charlie rose to her feet, a bit proud at having nailed it so well. "We can talk about it later. Don't get caught by his genjutsu again, dummy. Now, let's work on how to incapacitate him-"

The two parted quickly as kunai littered the soft earth underneath where they'd been seconds ago. "You two are getting better at sensing me," Kakashi voiced, form appearing from the darkness a few yards away.

"Maybe you're just going easy on us," Charlie taunted, knowing it was foolish of her to do so. It was true, though, right? And enemy ninjas weren't about to go easy on them.

Naruto didn't seem to agree, shooting daggers at her from his spot behind a distant tree. 'What are you doing, idiot?!' he mouthed.

"Oh? You want me to be tougher, huh?" Kakashi's visible eye crinkled as he held his hands at his hips. "Fine, then. But don't say I didn't warn you-"

"Charlie, I will kiiiillll-"

I will spare the reader the next hour of torture our poor heroes endured.

As they walked (read: stumbled) home that night, the air was as still as a pond. Villagers were still milling about, as they had called it quits a bit earlier that night than most, and gave the two kids confused glances as they slumped by. Behind them, their demon of a sensei had both of his hands in his pockets and a comfortable air of nonchalance.

"Oi, Kaka-sensei, I think you worked us too hard today," Naruto grumbled, scratching a bit of dried mud off his chin. Charlie glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She could see her exhaustion mirrored in his expression and the tired puffiness around his eyes.

A small smile lit her lips. He had tried hard today. Not that he didn't try hard every day, but- well, did it make her sound like a fond old granny if she said that she could see the man he would become one day? Because she could. It was obvious in his confident stride, in the determined glint in his gaze. Sure, he might still be a brat now- and hell knew how much he still tested shinobi and civilian alike with his pranks- but he wouldn't always be.

"You think so?" Kakashi remarked blandly. The way his visible eye creased, Charlie could tell he was smirking. 'Butthole,' she thought, with only a whisp of affection. He only worked them this hard because he cared (a far cry from how they started out)- that didn't mean she couldn't complain about it though. Her everything hurt.

And it wasn't like he shot to miss, either. She had many fine slices along her arms and face from where his shuriken had made their marks.

"Yeah. Is this like... child abuse?" Naruto continued.

Charlie choked. "Er-"

"In not so many words," replied their cheerful sensei. Suddenly, his wide hands landed on both of their heads, mussing the strands casually. "But your sensei has your best interest at heart, don't worry~"

The redhead pouted a bit, hands already reaching up to fix her hair. The rest of the walk home was in comfortable silence, until the two got to their apartment building. Kakashi, for some reason, had stayed alongside them the whole way, though they'd already passed his residence.

"By the way, kids," Kakashi said, hands casually in his pockets. "I won't be teaching you much more regarding techniques- mostly because you need to understand that there is more to being a ninja than using flashy ninjutsu. Our first lesson began today. We're going to continue it for the next week or so."

"You mean on situational awareness?" Naruto piped up, looking confused and a little dejected that he wouldn't be learning any ninjutsu.

"Part of it. If you want to be a ninja, and I mean really want, you have to realize that it is more than just being physically strong. It is a dangerous way to live your life, and I would be doing you a disservice by not teaching you how to live it." Charlie's fists clenched behind her back. She didn't like when he sounded all serious- she knew he was a much more serious person than he let on, but... he'd always been more jovial with them.

"I'll see you in a few days, my cute little students," Kakashi finished, giving them his signature eye smile before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto and Charlie glanced at each other. What was that all about?

True to his word, Kakashi never did train them in any cool ninjutsu techniques. He was of the belief that it was their future jounin sensei's duty to teach them those, not their current. Charlie hadn't put up much of a fight, mostly because she could learn them just as well without him as she could with him- she had Minato, after all- but partially because what he taught them was genuinely useful.

He didn't teach them any more taijutsu, though they sparred and exercised daily. He didn't bother with genjutsu, since they knew how to disarm it. Chakra use was limited to water and tree walking, things they already had in their repertoire. What he did teach them?

How to pitch a tent.

How to start a fire.

How to catch fish in running water.

How to find food in the forest, and what not to eat.

How to make a tourniquet.

How to spot an enemy ninja's presence, even if their chakra was muted.

So on, and so on.

As it turned out, there were numerous things that she had not known. It was a bit embarrassing for her, someone as book smart as she was, to be completely ignorant of how to survive on her own. Not that Naruto knew about it either, judging from the wide-eyed looks he gave during each lesson. Still, as the months rolled past, they learned.

Being a ninja was more than being stronger than the other guy. It was a headspace. It was a way to interpret the world. Granted, not a healthy way to interpret the world, as Kakashi had instilled in them an ongoing, paranoid vigilance that never seemed to stop, even when they were relaxing at home. No, being a ninja was not a healthy thing to be, and the fact that shinobi generally die young was not hidden from them. But he taught them the truth.

"Your hair's getting long, Charlie," Kakashi said, a few months into their stint. They were currently in the middle of some forest just outside the village gates, sat in a semi-circle as Naruto cooked fish over a fire.

Charlie batted away the smoke coming towards her and coughed. "I don't know any good hairdressers," she replied jokingly. The red strands now rested below her collarbone in the front, and stretched halfway down her spine in the back. Her hair had always grown like a wildfire.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "You should probably cut it when you get the chance. There's a salon in the shopping district called 'Kaoru's Curls', it's pretty cheap."

"Why?" Naruto complained, glancing at their sensei. "I like her hair!"

"Because it's just another thing for an enemy ninja to grab onto," Kakashi replied shortly. "That's how many kunoichi get captured. Why they choose to let it grow so long is beyond me."

"Because it's pretty," Naruto retorted.

Charlie laughed a little. "No, he's right, Naru-chan. Besides, I don't need long hair to be pretty, right?"

The blond flushed, and mumbled under his breath as he turned back to the fire. Even his hair had grown a bit on the longer side over the while that she'd known him. He'd never gone to a barber in the entire time she'd been there, and as a result, he looked evermore like a porcupine. "Maybe we'll go get our hair cut together. You look raggedy," she continued.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her. "Bleh! I ain't going to a salon, Charlie!"

Hazel eyes narrowed.

"...Whatever. I'll do it before we graduate," he mumbled, shifting on his haunches uneasily.

"Speaking of graduation," Kakashi piped up. "You both graduate in a few weeks, right?"

The two nodded. "Provided we pass the test, that is," Charlie added.

Their teacher hummed. "I suppose we won't be seeing each other much after that," he said to himself.

"Whaddayamean?" Naruto frowned at him, and then cursed as he saw the overly crispy fish. "S-crap..." He pulled it off the flames and gave Charlie a sheepish look as he handed it to her.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well, you will be with your new jounin senseis. Trust me, they will put you through the ringer enough to where you won't even want extra training."

"Hey now, that's quitter talk," Charlie grunted. "And anyway, we're family now, like it or not. So we can hang out with you whenever we please, whether it's at a training field or in the Akimichi district eating barbecue."

The man's lone dark eye settled searchingly on her. His expression was unreadable (not that there was much to read), but judging from how Minato flared to the forefront of her mind, his chakra must've been fluctuating like crazy.

Ignoring the obvious and sudden tension in the air, Naruto settled back on his bottom. "Ah... barbecue..." he mumbled wistfully. "Barbecue... pork, chicken... steak...."

Settling her jaw firmly, Charlie gave the man a stern nod. 'Like it or not,' she'd said, and she'd meant it. And if he didn't want to be family, he could be her friend- she didn't care which, so long as he wasn't alone. She knew all to well what loneliness was. "Naruto, you're burning Kaka-sensei's fish," the redhead said, gaze not leaving the older man.

"Sh- crap! I really can't do this right," the blond grunted, pulling the skewer off the flames and holding it out over his shoulder. "Here. I'll get the next ones right, I swear."

"At least it's not a complete lost cause," Kakashi replied, taking it from the boy slowly. "I think there's at least two edible bites on this fish..."

Charlie smiled a little, looking down at her own burnt fish. Truly, the only portion worth eating was the thicker part of the belly- the rest was blackened to bits. "He's right, you're doing better Naru-chan. Just in time for your own fish."

The blond pouted at her, sky blue eyes watery from the smoke, and she couldn't resist elbowing him.

This wasn't there first night camping, not by a long shot. In fact, they spent many many nights under the stars- most of it was behind the gates of their village, as you never know who might come along, but they spent a night or two outside of it as well. All a part of their training regime, one which was going to be drawing to a close soon enough.

She took a thoughtful nip at the fish, fighting down a grimace- he truly had ruined it. "I'm gonna miss nights like these," she spoke up abruptly, surprising herself. Charlie wasn't usually one to talk about her own feelings much, or at least the ooshy-gooshy kind.

"Me too," Naruto acknowledged. He grabbed his own skewer and leveled it over the fire. "It's been fun."

Kakashi seemed to sigh a little as he stared down at his fish. Two bites were all he'd gotten out of it, as he'd predicted. He set it aside and leaned back on his elbows, head tilted up to stare at the indigo sky above them. Then he glanced over, saw his two companions staring meaningfully at him, and rolled his eye. "It's been alright," he hummed noncommitally.

Charlie sweatdropped. 'Kakashi... will always be Kakashi.'

Charlie had a hard time sleeping.

It was not that she didn't need the sleep- God, no. She was so bone-tired that she wondered if the bags below her eyes would ever recede. It was more that sleep evaded her. Her brain, buzzing like a beehive, desperately wanted more time to prepare. So much so that it took it from the only place it could, at the detriment of her mental health.

And despite Minato's chiding, despite many hours lying uselessly in bed, despite herself, nothing would stop her overactive brain from overacting.

So the night before graduation, as per usual, was a sleepless one. Instead of spending it in her bed, she spent it in her living room, doing what she did best. (Studying, that is.)

Fuuinjutsu had become a bit of a side-preoccupation, something to do on sleepless nights like these, or on her break days. She hadn't managed to get too far into it. Her brain could recognize symbols, could read the meaning of probably any seal under the sun, and yet-

Well, she'd never really been one for the arts.

"Charlie," Minato sighed delicately, "You need to use lighter strokes than that..."

The redhead pouted, crumpling up the piece of paper and throwing it over her shoulder. The seal was ruined. "If I use lighter strokes, it comes out all shaky!" she complained, dropping her brush into the jar of ink. So far, she'd managed to incorporate simple explosive tags into her repertoire. Sometimes, her seals would be clear enough that she could even make a storage seal. But almost everything else was a hopeless fail.

"That's because you're scared to mess up," he replied wisely. Hazel eyes rolled- he was always wise, she supposed, but it didn't make him less irritating.

Okay, maybe that was a bit mean. She wouldn't have survived the past few months without his encouragement. But still, he had a habit of being too candid for his own good. 'Can you stop reading my mind, please?' she grumbled. She had put messy silencing seals around her apartment, but she doubted they did much. And she knew conclusively that she was an object of interest- if Danzou and his cronies thought she wasn't onto them, they were wrong.

"It's hard not to. You think pretty loudly," he joked.

Charlie quirked her lips. That was another thing that was a bit irritating about him. Endless positivity and lightheartedness. She knew he didn't feel that way all the time, just like she knew her own emotions. Why did he bother disguising them? From her, of all people?

Her knees ached as she stood from the hard ground. An exhaustion headache was teasing behind her eyes, and it was all she could do to make it to the couch before dropping unceremoniously. The clock on the wall read 4 AM. 'Maybe I'll just lie here a while.'

When she opened her eyes again, she was in the pale abyss of her subconscious.

Minato blinked at her from the ground. His hands were laced behind his head, and he wore the same Hokage haori and flak jacket as usual.

"..." Charlie scratched her head awkwardly. "I think I'm lost? And... normal-sized?" She glanced down at her hands, twice the size they were regularly. And as a bonus, the floor seemed farther away, too.

The kind of dysphoria that came from suddenly aging eight years again was hard to describe. She surely wasn't used to her 11-year-old body still (her mind would always be that of an adult, after all), but seeing herself the size she should be felt off now, too.

Her blond companion rose to his feet, a quick smile curling his lips. "Probably a stress reaction, huh?"

It was weird to see him again, too. She supposed if she'd tried hard enough, she could've visited him like this sooner- but it felt different talking to him face-to-face than it did when he was just a voice in her head. Not bad, necessarily, but... could she call it awkward? Or perhaps a different term?

"Stress reaction?" she echoed. Her arms crossed defensively. "I'm not-"

He rolled his eyes, which seemed so unlike him that she stiffened up. "Charlie, if I didn't know you by now, I would be a lousy friend." He stood in front of her now, still a head or so taller despite her recent jump in height. "I'm stressed too, you know," he added.

She found it in herself to glower at him for all of five or so seconds before she threw her arms up. "Ugh! So what if I'm a little off my game! The plot starts tomorrow, you know! How would you feel?!" He raised an eyebrow. "Shut up, you know what I mean."

"You don't need to justify yourself to me. Come on, sit down." Minato plopped down, crossing his legs casually.

"No, you're trying to be all comforting and I don't want it," Charlie retorted. "I work best under pressure."

He rested his head on his fist. "Obviously not, considering your subconscious brought you here." To her glare, he continued hastily, "It's not like I'm judging or anything! But... I mean, even though you have me to help you, even though you have Naruto and Sasuke... don't think I can't tell when you're feeling alone, or scared."

An embarrassed flush colored her cheeks. "Yeah, well, so what?" She scuffed her Converse below her pointedly. Now she was feeling the awkward.

"You're still lost, Charlie, even with me here, and even with all you've done. And there's a trillion things you'll have to do in the future to make the world a peaceful one. But despite that, ever since you got here, I've never seen you ask for a hug from anyone."

Charlie scowled, but turned her glare in the other direction as her eyes watered dangerously. "I don't need stuff like that. I've never needed stuff like that." It wasn't a lie; showing weakness to others was not something she was in the habit of doing. Her own parents had never seen her cry. She'd never needed anything like emotional support- that was for weak people, something she most certainly was not.

She had rolled through middle and high school years younger than the rest. She had been bullied relentlessly. She had ignored all of them, had made next to no friends the entire time. She had walked a path far from other people, had amassed a wealth of success from doing so. She had been ready for the cutthroat world of adults before she'd passed her fifteenth year. And she'd never cried, not once. She'd never needed anyone's help, neither teacher nor professor nor parent nor therapist. She was not weak, then.

And she didn't think she was weak now. Comparably, she was much, much stronger than she'd ever been before. Physically, no doubt, but she had withstood being placed in this alien world for thirteen long months- over a year. Didn't that make her strong? Why would she need a hug now, after everything?

But then he was hugging her somehow, and she was crying again. It would be the second time she cried on him, and the third? time he'd eeked a hug out of her despite her reservations about such things. She didn't have the strength to wrap her arms around him, but he held her tight enough for the both of them.

She was never good with feelings. Something so base had never been a part of the equation for a person like her. It was hard to recognize the emotions inside herself, harder still to react to them in a healthy way. But they spilled forth from her anyway, a cascade of tears and whimpers muffled into his shoulder. How odd it was, she felt absently, that he recognized them first. And yet it was just like him.

She said something like, "I don't know, I can't do this, how can- how am I supposed to-" 'You can't ask me to change the future.'

To which he replied, "Even if you don't, you'll figure it out. I have faith in you." 'Of anyone, anyone, I'm asking you.'

"But I'm not- I can't- it's so blurry- what about Naruto- what if-" 'Please don't put your faith in me. I can't bear the guilt.'

"From the very beginning, I knew nothing would happen to him with you by his side." 'Protect him a little more for me.'

'I don't deserve anything you've given me.'

'I'd hand you the moon, if I could.'

They didn't say those words. As it was, all that left her lips were quaking murmurs, and all he could reply with were quiet platitudes. The funny thing about their fucked up situation was, those words weren't even needed for their meaning to be conveyed.

And so when she pulled away from him, drying her eyes roughly on her sleeve, she felt marginally more determined than she'd been before. "We have a plan," was the first thing that popped into her head.

Minato blinked in surprise at her abrupt change in demeanor, but then he smiled at her, a genuine one that crinkled his eyes in the corners. "We have."

"And we've been training like crazy for over a year." Which she was quite proud of, thank you very much.

"Correct," he hummed.

"And if I need help-"

"You don't even have to ask." His eyes bore into hers steadily. They were darker than Naruto's, she noticed, just a shade or two.

A small sigh left her lips, just a little relieved.

Maybe she was still incredibly worried, but at least they had a plan, right? As long as she stayed close to the rambunctious little blond, nothing untoward would happen to him. "I have to say, I'm still worried about team assignments..." As far as the class went, she was an outlier. Her presence would immediately push out one of the Rookie 9- it wasn't that she was being arrogant in thinking so, but... well, it was the truth. Only 9 graduates. Who did she inadvertently kick to the curb?

"I wonder what will happen. I do hope he doesn't mess up the prearranged groups I gave him," she mumbled, scratching her chin. She'd handed him the piece of paper via messenger hawk, but the fact was, she hadn't been to see him in months. She could only hope the hawk wasn't interrupted and that the Hokage would trust her words.

Minato shrugged. "Part of it isn't up to him, you know. The elite jounin are the ones who get the final say, he just... encourages."

Charlie pouted. "Well, be that as it may. I won't be able to predict anything as well if they mess up the teams. Maybe I should bomb the graduation exam..." She'd be left at the Academy for at least another few months and unable to move, but... well, it was for the good of the plot.

"Perhaps we can finagle our way into convincing Hokage-sama to allow a fourth team pass," Minato replied, though his tone was doubtful.

Despite herself, Charlie smiled a little. "You said 'finagle'..."

"...What? What's wrong with 'finagle'?"

"The last person I heard use the word 'finagle' was my 85-year-old grandmother." She chuckled as she watched his eyebrow tick and an embarrassed flush light his cheeks.

"Charlie," he whined. "I'm being serious."

She sighed again. "I know, I know. So was my grandmother."

The redhead was proud to say that she was finally able to get him to glare at her.

Charlie awoke groggy the next morning to Naruto banging on her door. "CHAAAARLIE! WE'RE LATE!" the kid was shouting.

Hazel eyes drifted lazily to the clo- five minutes until class started.

Jumping off the couch and pulling on her shoes, Charlie didn't even register Naruto's belated fist hitting her in the face as she swung open the door and grabbed him by the collar. "SHIT!" she screeched.

"Erm- Ch-Charlie?" the blond stuttered, feet flying out from under him as his body fluttered in her wake. "L-Let's just shunshin theeeere- hey!"

They stood in front of the conical red building as if they'd always been there. Naruto collapsed predictably on the ground; though he had enough skill to catapult himself to a maximum of ten yards with his shunshin (which was nothing to thumb one's nose to), she could've been called the second coming of Quickstep Shisui.

The redhead blinked wearily as she held out her hand. "I got nervous," she said awkwardly as bright blue eyes glared at her.

"Nervous? You ran us halfway across town!"

She rolled her eyes as he begrudgingly took her hand. "It was just down the street, quit exaggerating."

"And you almost hit that fruit guy again!" Naruto continued.

"What, Yoichi-jii? He loves me. He wouldn't care," Charlie replied, unabashed. She bought fruit from him almost every morning, after all.

She gripped him by the wrist and dragged the both of them into the building, hiding a grimace. Truthfully... ah, well, she didn't have much precision when it came to the art of the shunshin. Sure, she wasn't running into trees anymore- or at least, she hadn't in a few weeks, and she counted that as a win- but it was more difficult than she'd originally anticipated.

Speaking of more difficult than anticipated. The damned bunshin was a bunch of bullshit- she could understand wholeheartedly why Naruto was unable to do it. Letting a whisper of chakra out was kind of like poking a pinpoint hole in the Hoover Dam. Kakashi had spent many long, tedious hours on the bunshin before writing Naruto off as a lost cause. She kind of felt bad for him, though she knew he'd pass one way or the other. The kid was so worried though...

Well, be that as it may. She'd managed to do a decent bunshin, one that would get her past the graduation exam but not much further. And that was all she could ask for.

"Are you excited?" Charlie asked, unable to stop herself from tosseling her young friend's spikey head of hair.

Naruto hissed at her, jerking his head away. "Cut it ouuuuut! And yeah, sorta," he mumbled. He wouldn't meet her gaze as they neared their classroom. "But I still can't do that dam- I mean dang bunshin. Are you sure I'll pass?"

"Duh!" Charlie grinned, forcing even more cheer into it. She grabbed his hand abruptly as they passed the threshold, and squeezed it tightly. "You got this. I believe in you, Naru-chan."

He smiled back, the toothy one that she loved. "Ack, what do I have to worry about anyhow?" he said.

They took their seats amongst the throng of buzzing students. Akiko, predictably, had her head rested in her palm and an irked expression on her face. "You two are late," she grunted upon seeing them.

"Uh, last I checked, sensei isn't even in the room, so we aren't," Naruto retorted, puckishly sticking out his tongue.

Charlie smirked at his sass. "So there," she added with a chuckle.

The trio's heads swiveled in the direction of the front of the classroom at the sound of purposeful footsteps moving in their direction. Talking puttered in the room as the devil himself walked through the door and grinned at them. "Are you ready, guys?"

His grin widened at the loud, resounding cheers. 'Ninjas, we're finally going to be ninjas,' Charlie thought, lips twitching up as she eyed the excitable kids around her.

First came the written test, which she flew through in a short period of time. It was simple stuff, but it covered what most of the kids had learned since they started the Academy years ago. 'Name all the countries and the main villages of each'. 'List each form of the ninja arts and what they do'. Hell, the extra credit question was 'why do you want to be a ninja?', as if there was a proper way to score such a thing.

'They really do let these kids into the ranks way too early,' she couldn't help but think as she set down her pen and leaned back.

Beside her, Naruto was writing hurriedly but with a grin on his face. A quick glance at his paper showed that he was writing a novel to answer the extra credit question, and she cracked a smile. 'Of course.'

Some things just set a fire under him.

After the written exam, the genin-to-be were all tested on their accuracy with throwing weapons, were paired together for a taijutsu spar based on skill set, and were then brought back indoors to do the ninjutsu exam.

Naruto, who was already sweaty from his spar with Kiba, was practically shaking with anxiety as he stood in line right before her. Charlie reached up with a frown, wiping his forehead with the sweatband on her wrist. "Calm down," she muttered to him, "Sakura-chan's not gonna think you're cool if you keep that up."

She smirked as the blond glared down at her. Yes, down, as he'd miraculously grown even taller than she was in the year she'd been there. "How many times do I have to tell you that I don't like her like that before you believe me?" he groaned, swatting her away. "And also, just so you know, I'm shaking with excitement."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Right, yeah, excitement," she echoed with a short laugh despite being slightly concerned with what he'd said. Despite never ending up with Sakura, it was a bit of a concern for her that he wasn't as preoccupied with her as he'd been in the original storyline. In fact, he wasn't really preoccupied with anything besides training.

Not necessarily a bad thing- Minato was actually pretty pleased with how focused Naruto had become- but... uncomfortable.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" called Mizuki from the exam room, popping his stupid head out into the hallway. Charlie instinctively mean mugged him over Naruto's shoulder as the boy turned to look at her.

"Good luck, Naru-chan, not that you'll need it," Charlie said, giving him a quick hug and taking her eyes off that traitorous little worm.

Naruto grinned- wobbly, but a grin nonetheless. "Thanks. You, too." And then he was off, marching towards the classroom like he was marching towards his death.

Charlie leaned against the wall, suppressing a grimace. Naruto was about to be really, really depressed for at least a few hours until that cretin came to mess around with his emotions. Charlie had decided long ago that it was necessary to the plot for the kid to learn kage bunshin, but it didn't mean she had any respect for the insect for being the indirect cause of it.

A short period later, Naruto exited the exam room, hitai-ate free and not looking at her as he continued down the hallway towards the exit. Charlie bit the inside of her lip, and walked stiltedly towards the exam room, purposefully knocking Mizuki's shoulder along the way.

"Shimizu Charlie-chan, how do you think you did today?" Iruka asked casually as he glanced through the papers in front of him. Mizuki took the seat alongside him, looking a bit peeved that she'd bumped him without apologizing.

"Not bad," Charlie muttered, eyes glancing towards the door. She kind of just wanted to leave and go comfort Naruto. "Look, can we just- get done with this so I can go comfort my friend, please?"

Iruka stared at her for a moment before he shrugged. "Alright. Let's see henge, bunshin, and kawarimi. In that order."

She henged into the Hokage, created a ~decent~ clone, and substituted herself with the chair Mizuki sat on, laughing to herself as he fell on his ass. And with that, and despite Mizuki's furious mutterings, she left the room with a headband in her hand.

'Now...' she thought, storming towards the exit, 'to find my friend.'