The first day at the ninja academy was incredibly rowdy, various shinobi hopefuls loudly greeting their friends, bothering the poor Uchiha boy, or declaring themselves the new upcoming Senin in a fashion achievable only by a 7 year old.

Two children however, sat by themselves the beige trenchcoat and shades on the boy was a prime giveaway here, they were children of the Aburame clan, a small, reclusive group of bug wielding ninja that creeped out most ninja, let alone other kids.

The girl preferred a dark, baggy hoodie, she sat hunched over a book as if trying to make herself disappear.

It was not working.

Eventually their first sensei arrived and browbeat them into submission and began their instruction as ninja. Stopping only to evict a disruptive blond child from the class.

This day was mostly introductory, informing the children of their schedules for the next few years, locations of various resources and programs.

In short, it was incredibly boring, but the two silent Aburame children focused with rapt attention. This was the beginning of their lives as ninja, the defence of their home and of their family began on this day.

-x-

The Aburame clan counted themselves among the few clans that have been with the village since its founding. Unlike the other clans they had no singular compound, instead spreading around just outside the village walls, using their various insects to keep guard of Konoha. They were merely one layer of defence among many.

There was one complex inside the village itself where retired or noncombatant clan members lived, raising and educating the young of the clan. It was here that Shino and Tsuchigumo grew up.

Tsuchi was a strange girl among the clan, most Aburame could communicate somewhat with their insects, giving them commands and sharing small amounts of information with them. Tsuchi was similar, but her connection to her insects were especially acute, it was sometimes as if her and her insect were but one mind.

Generally members of the clan trained to reduce their emotions, the rush of endorphins and

Tsuchigumo and Shino were near inseparable, the two cousins had few children their age in the small clan and with few of their classmates willing to spend time with the creepy duo they spent a lot of time playing and training together.

Now especially, with only days before graduation the two gave it their all, both vying for top positions in the academy. Shino had long given up trying to surpass Sasuke, the brooding prodigy, rather focusing on his own skills as he fought for second place. Tsuchi was similar but instead fought to beat Sakuro and Hinata for top place.

Right now, they were refining their mastery of the academy three, they were versatile jutsu, well worth learning.

"Bunshin no jutsu" the twin cries were accompanied by a small puff of smoke and a few extra copies of Shino and Tsuchi appeared.

Kumo, the elder of the clan tat was currently overseeing their training clapped.

"Congratulations you two, Shino, excellent control, there was barely any wasted chakra, and Tsuci, five clones? Excellent, I see you have been using the exercises Gira gave you?"

"Hai, it has been very helpful."

"Hmm, but remember to work on your control as well, you wasted enough chakra to form an additional clone, I understand you have plans for techniques that require extra chakra but that is no need to waste unnecessary resources.

She nodded in respect and acknowledgment.

"Well, now that you have mastered the standard bunshin, it is time you learnt one of the signature techniques of our clan, the mushi bunshin." The looked on in interest. "And as a special reward," she pulled out a blank lip of paper, "whoever completes it first gets to find out their chakra nature."

Kumo was fond of this particular training method, friendly competition was always good competition.

Shino and Tsuchi were surprised, usually her prizes were sugary treats, chakra paper was not a cheap item.

She smiled, "There's many levels to this technique, we'll begin with its most basic." She stood up from the log she sat on and a small cloud of insects swarmed from beneath her coat. She formed them into the shape of a human and performed the standard hand signs for the bunshin technique, a second Kumo formed over the insects, obscuring them. The clone waved, looking to be simply a normal clone.

"As you can see, the first level is merely imposing a normal clone atop a swarm in the shape of a human." She dispelled the clone, leaving a humanoid cloud of insects."

"You two give it a go, restrain yourselves to a single clone for now, the hardest part of this technique is to maintain the illusion of a normal clone, right up to the moment it is too late for your enemy. It requires no fancy chakra or handsigns but control of your swarm." She paused to let it sink in before waving her hand to them.

Shino tried it first, but struggled to maintain a humanoid form above the clone, insects popping in and out of the physical illusion.

He stopped to take a breather as Tsuchi gave it a try.

To everybody's surprise she completed it properly first try, only a few stragglers popping out of line.

"Ooh, interesting, try moving it around now."

The clone slowly started moving, initially the arm of insects was out of sync, but after just a few minutes the clone was moving as fast as the insects inside could fly.

Kumo clapped. "Remarkable work Tsuchi-chan, I think you have earned your prize." She gave the slip to the surprised girl.

"I don't know why but it just…felt right, almost like I'd done it before."

"Oh don't worry about it dear, we all have our talents, and you have always had a strange control over your insects. Now, don't keep us waiting, just push your chakra into the paper, I'm sure you've covered it in class already."

Tsuchi held up the slip of paper and gently pushed her chakra inside, it crumbled to dirt neatly.

"Ah, Earth nature, very fitting for you Tsuchigumo."

"Hmm, seeing as you are not having any trouble with the technique I'd like you to continue practising with it by yourself, while I instruct Shino, try making multiple at once and put your devious brain to use coming up with ways to use it strategically." Tsuchi blushed under the praised but moved to the other side of the forest clearing to practice.

She did have a few ideas after all.

-x-

The days flew by as their graduation exams began, there were many assessments spread over the course of one week, beginning with multiple gruelling academical tests. She did well, motivating herself to learn of the terrain and locations of various nations by relating them to thie local insect populations, her knowledge of history was not as broad but enough to place her near the top of the students. Likely nowhere close to Sakura but she knew that was not a winnable battle.

Next came the physical tests, beginning with a modified form of hide and seek as each student was tasked with finding and tagging one of many chuunin that hid in one of the forests inside the village. She came fourth, just behind Hinata, Shino and Kiba.

The kunai and shuriken throwing was a tough competition among the non-Sasuke classmates as they fought for second place. In the past she always struggled slightly with aiming but this year she developed a new technique, a way of feeling out space using a select few gnats she'd bred, forming a more clear picture of space and distance than her eyes allowed. She finished second, only a little below Sasuke, surprising the cocky boy.

Taijutsu was hard fought, but ultimately Hinata beat her handily, literally, she was oddly good at taijutsu for her clan but still paled in comparison to the mastery of they Hyuuga.

She finished near the top in stealth and espionage, utilising her bugs to create a makeshift gilly suit from discarded leaves off the forest floor and spider silk. The most surprising here was that top spot was taken by Naruto, in a bright orange jumpsuit. She'd always thought his pranking was a waste of valuable training time but perhaps he was more competent then he looked, and acted, and talked.

The final day the students that had managed to cumulatively pass all the previous tests gathered to perform the academy three, this last test was pass/fail, the village had no use for ninjas that could not use jutsu after all.

Tsuchi showed off, summoning six clones and demonstrated them all acting independently, surprising her instructors somewhat, her other two were not nearly so impressive but were performed as perfect as she could.

She walked out of the room, a pristine headband held up, the symbol of her home, Konohagakure adorned the band. This was it; this was where it all began, truly, this time.

-x-

An hour later as all the new genin sat in their seats and the final scores were tallied Iruka-sensei stood out front to congratulate the two top students, bringing with him two headbands, signature of the hokage stitched on the inside of the band. They were given to the top student as well as the top student of the opposite gender, depending on who won the place.

Iruka settled the class for the first time by merely raising his hand, everybody was eager to hear the results.

"Congratulations on graduating everybody, I'll save the big speeches for tomorrow, for now I'd like to present this headband to the rookie of the year." He paused for dramatic effect even though everybody knew who this was going to. "Uchiha Sasuke!" The class clapped, cheers of delight from many of the girls as the boy smirked and walked up to Iruka, taking the headband casually, not even bothering to thank the man.

Iruka Laughed. "Ok maybe that one was not so surprising but for top kunoichi this year we had an incredibly close competition, and our winner just barely eked out enough points to secure the victory. Come on out…" The top girls all leaned forward slightly, excited to see who would take the place next to the prodigy. "Aburame Tsuchigumo!"

Tsuchi was shocked but stood up regardless, the girls who were keen on being next to Sasuke soured as she, walked down to take the headband, making sure to lean away from her as if she had a bad stench.

She took the headband respectfully, thanking her teacher.

"Arigato sensei," she adjusted her glasses, a glare catching on the lenses, "I will ensure the will of fire continues, your training has been, invaluable."

Despite the subdued nature she delivered her words a slight buzz belied her excitement, Iruka didn't have the heart to tell her how threatening the statement sounded. She had a habit of being a very intense child.

A few of the students, predominantly clan children gave her a respectful nod as she found her seat, Sasuke gave his equivalent, a piercing stare followed by a self-assured smirk.

With that the class was dismissed, they had a week until their jonin assignments to rest up.

She wondered who her sensei and teammates were going to be, for their sake she hoped it wasn't somebody that was disgusted by her very presence but wouldn't hold her breath.

Seriously, what kind of upcoming ninja can't handle a bug or two in their ears.

-x-

Tsuchi sat in their usual seat, before the usual horde like normal, idly turning her new weapons in her hands, a pair of folding kamas, slightly jagged and insect like. It was a present for being kunoichi of the year, they felt weirdly right, like they had been there before.

A great cascade of noise signalled Sasuke's arrival.

Not from the boy himself mind, he was rather reserved ever since his clan's extermination. The noise came from the myriad of fangirls, loudly proclaiming their love and dreams to be on the same team.

It confused Tsuchi, sure, he was attractive, and his skills as a ninja were highly commendable but… well anybody that actually paid any attention to him knew that romance was not on his mind.

Honestly she was half convinced he was gay, it would certainly explain why the only person to get a reaction from the boy was Naruto.

Speaking of, the boy in question was currently crouched in front of him, squinting.

This made her pause, she was sure he'd failed the ninjutsu test, almost went to give him words of encouragement before Mizuku showed him away.

She did a once over and noticed that his headband was not the same as the other students, it was worn, did he steal it? On one hand that would be very characteristic of the boy, on the other, stealing a ninja's headband was quite the feat, almost enough to warrant allowing them to be a ninja.

It was at that moment that somebody knocked them into each other, causing them to accidentally kiss. Her faint giggles were lost in the chorus of boos and shrieks from the other girls, honestly, why do they care about 'first kisses; and the like. It was ridiculous.

The boys in question fake gagged, faces red.

Eventually, Iruka made his way to the front, leaning on a crutch, signs of a tough fought battle clear on him.

That was strange, she was sure that he was not on active duty anymore, was he attacked?

He tried getting the class' attention but was unable to pierce the din, Tsuchi put her hands over her ears.

"PAY ATTENTION GENIN!"

The class cringed but took their seats dutifully.

He cleared his throat and readied himself for his promised speech.

"What happened to you sensei, you look like you got in a fight with a bear."

The class filled with chuckles as Iruka frowned.

He composed himself.

"No, this was no animal, I was injured protecting the village from something far worse than an angry animal, one of our own betraying the will of fire and attempting to sell our secrets to the highest bidding." He looked over the room. "I hope you understand that from this point forward it will be you in my place, what comes next is o more test, it is the bitter face of reality. You have all learned well, and I am thankful to call myself your sensei, I hope you feel the same." He bowed.

After that he took out a piece of paper and began assigning teams.

"Team seven: Uchiha Sasuke," The class perked up at that, "Uzumaki Naruto," He cried out in despair as Sasuke sighed in annoyance, "And Aburame Tsuchigumo." Most of the particularly arachnophobic classmates cheered at that, the sighs of disappointment of the girls who wanted to be on Sasuke's team almost drowned them out.

Iruka continued with the assignments but Tsuchi instead looked towards where the two boys sat, it was a somewhat unfortunate team if she was honest, both boys difficult to work with for different reasons. The team composition did make some sense however, capture and interrogation perhaps? Once Sasuke unlocked his sharingan, the legendary and utterly broken dojutsu was supposedly great for pulling information from captured nin if her Uncle was to be believed.

Alternatively they could be a frontline combatant team, Naruto and Sasuke as the heavy hitters and her to prevent unexpected attacks and protect bind spots.

They certainly had the chakra for it.

It was one of the perplexing things about Naruto, the sheer volume of chakra he possessed.

Tsuchi had taken to subtly using her kikachu to siphon her opponents chakra during spars, she'd be a horrible ninja if she was not cheating extensively.

In addition to weakening her opponents it gave her an insight into how much chakra they possessed, some, like Sakura needed only tens of the bugs to significantly weaken, Sasuke was only slightly winded with hundreds of kikachu sapping his chakra.

But Naruto?

He was something else, showing no signs of exhaustion even when she had nearly a thousand of the tiny insects crawl inside his suit. She'd actually gotten in trouble with Mizuki sensei for that one, reprimanding her for being caught.

However much chakra the boy possessed, it far exceeded the amounts of her classmates, possibly even their instructors. In short, he'd be an excellent ninjutsu specialist, which begged the eternal question, why wasn't he?

It was a contradiction, how he failed the ninjutsu exam despite having so much chakra at his disposal. And how did he get that headband if he failed the exam.

At least she would have plenty of time to quiz him.

-x-

Slowly Jonin, came through to pick up their teams, leaving only her, Naruto, and Sasuke.

Seeing as their sensei was determined to be late, she pulled out a novel and began reading, perhaps he was held up by a mission.

He approached her only a few minutes into opening her book.

"Heya, I'm Naruto." He nearly shouted. "I guess we're teammates huh?" He held a hand out.

Strange, people never offered to touch her.

She took the hand uncertainly, not actually sure how handshakes work. His grin brightened substantially.

"Yes, I look forward to protecting the village with you Naruto."

"Hehe," he chuckled "You too..uh." He scratched his head uncertainly.

Tsuchi gave him a deadpan stare, not helping him recall at all.

"Shiny something?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Its Tsuchigumo, but feel free to call me Tsuchi."

He sat on the desk next to her.

"I'm surprised you're willing to touch me."

That shocked the boy, not expecting the question.

"Most consider those of our clan to be repulsive."

He looked mad at that.

"What, why?" He was strangely expressive for a ninja.

"You don't know?" he shook his head.

Tsuchi pinched the bridge of her nose, figures he was not aware of one of the villages sacred four clans, probably did not even bother attending class that day.

"What do you know of the Aburame clan?" He scratched his head in thought before he perked up.

"Oh right something about eating bees."

Eating bee- oh right.

"We did gain fame for defeating a rival clan that controlled bees but no we don't eat bees. We do control various insects however." She demonstrated by having a large beetle crawl up her finger.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool!" She smiled imperceptibly. "Reminds me of when I used to drop centipedes on the other kids as a prank."

She tried not to react too much to that, she did remember him doing that.

"Wait a minute." His face scrunched up in thought before he pointed a finger inched from her face. "You're the girl that said thanks when I did that weren't you!"

Tsuchi nodded, it was a nice centipede after all.

"But how do you control them, can you speak to insects? What do they say?"

"We do not speak to the insects, but we control them much like how you control your hands and feet, like an extra limb, it is hard to describe and I am forbidden to share clan techniques like that." He nodded exuberantly, if a bit put out at not learning her techniques.

"What I can say is that at birth we become the nest for various insect queens and their hives, they share our bodies and chakra and in return we form a mental connection, it allows us to mentally command them to a degree." He was looking at her wide eyed.

"But, others are generally put off by us for this reason, few people are willing to shake a hand that houses insects under the skin."

The excitable boy had gone quiet, a pensive look on his face, it did not suit it.

"I understand."

The response was unusually subdued but genuine.

"Who cares what other people think! You're my teammate now and I won't treat you like that, believe it!"

She smiled, Sasuke was still a toss up but maybe Naruto was not a horrible choice for a teammate.

"My first impression of you all is, you're far too loud."

Their sensei had arrived.

"Meet me on the roof in five minutes, or else."

Sasuke scoffed. "Hypocrite."

-x-

Once seated in front of her new instructor, Tsuchi took a moment to assess him, he wore a regulation flak jacket and standard ninja attire beneath.

More striking was his head, a shock of grey hair and his headband obscuring his left eye, likely lost to an injury. This theory was supported by the mask that covered most of the rest of his face, the only skin visible there was around his singular bored looking eye.

"Well, why don't we introduce ourselves one at a time. We'll go with… your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future and hobbies."

"Why don't you go first sensei, show us how it's done!"

"Hmm, very well, my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes and dislikes? that's kinda personal. Dreams for the future? I guess I've already done those, and my hobbies? You wouldn't understand."

The three teens sweatdropped.

That told us nothing!

Tsuchi broke the silence when Kakashi motioned to her.

"My name is Aburame Tsuchigumo but I prefer Tsuchi. I like reading and finding new uses for insects, I dislike horrible books, people who kill insects senselessly, and those who do not take being a ninja seriously. My dreams for the future..." she stopped, she had not actually considered it yet. "I am unsure, for now I wish to become an outstanding ninja and defend the village. My hobbies are reading and collecting new insects."

She nodded towards Kakashi as she finished.

Naruto was second, loudly proclaiming his love of ramen and dream of becoming hokage.

Sasuke's was far more concerning, proclaiming his desire to kill a certain person, likely the man who killed his whole clan, Uchiha Itachi.

"Well, that's great." He managed to divert away from Sasuke's proclamation.

"But the truth is, at this stage you're not genin yet." He waited for Naruto to finish his angry exclaim, Tsuchi just clenched her fist in frustration, a noticeable buzzing piked up around her. "That's right, you have one more test to pass, we'll call it survival training."

His mask obscured his mouth but it was certain he was smiling.

"We will meet tomorrow at training ground seven at 5am, oh and my recommendation, don't eat anything, it will all come right back out." With that he vanished into a puff of smoke.

The silence was palpable.

"Tch," unexpectantly it was Sasuke that broke the silence, "another worthless test, whatever, you two better get in my way."

He jumped down off the roof and walked away.

Naruto chucked sheepishly. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then Tsu-chan" Naruto then jumped down far more exuberantly and rushed off.

Tsuchi took the stairs instead, headed to the academy library, Hatake Kakashi, she was certain she'd heard that name before.

-x-

She stared dumbfounded at the account of the third shinobi war.

Their sensei was an actual S ranked ninja, Sharingan no Kakashi, the man who copied a thousand jutsu. Actual information beyond that was expectantly scarce, villages did not leave lots of information about their prized jonin lying around after all.

But what she had read was enough, plenty of accounts of the man and his actions through the third ninja war and until the Kyuubi attack and then absolutely nothing.

And this man as to be their sensei? It, actually made a lot of sense, his sharingan, though transplanted was the only one in the village at the time, literally nobody else was truly qualified to teach Sasuke.

Whatever test he had planned she better prepare for the worst.

-x-

She almost followed his instructions of not eating before realising that he had not technically phrased it as an order. Besides, her insects required the energy and were more than happy to eat her sick if need be. She stuck to ninja staples regardless, bringing a snack bar just in case one of her teammates was stupid enough to actually listen to the instruction.

On second thought, she brought two bars.

-x-