Chapter Cover: Ren is farthest away, with her arms crossed and a mean look on her face. In the background are Shichigatsu and Anadoru talking with Tobasu.

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"I don't wanna know you," Ren said. Anadoru piped in immediately.

"Hi Tobasu-sensei. I'm Piri Anadoru, this is my friend Saki Ren, and the only guy on our team is Shichigatsu Sanjuichi." Anadoru said.

"Ana," Ren poked her friend in the shoulder. "don't talk to him. He's a loser."

Tobasu laughed a bit before turning to leave.

"Well, when you get over the shock of having a sensei who will train you, I'll be waiting outside," Tobasu walked out.

"Saki, come on, we gotta go." Sanjuichi spoke up. "You may not like him, but I think he can teach us what we need to know."

"Yeah right," she retorted. "He's barely as tall as we are. He's probably some wuss like you."

"Well, say what you want, but being a shinobi is more than how you look," Sanjuichi said. And with that, he left to meet his new sensei outside.

"S-Saki," Anadoru said, poking her fingers together, looking down." Maybe we should just go see Tobasu-sensei. If he was good enough to become a jounin, then maybe he's good enough to make us chuunin."

"Grr..." Ren clenched her teeth. Anytime Anadoru called her by her family name, she knew she had a point."Okay. But I won't like it."

The two female genin met up with Sanjuichi and Tobasu outside. The jounin snickered a bit as Ren huffed her way past him, then stopped, facing away from him.

"I'm my own person, but I guess if the Hokage felt sorry enough for you, then I'll play along," Ren said. Tobasu laughed again, this time, crossing his arms.

"You know Saki, out of all the students chosen, it was you who had the worst grades. If anyone is to be felt sorry for..." Tobasu purposely left the sentence unfinished, knowing she could finish it herself. Ren cringed a bit before responding.

"Whatever. Let's get going," she waved her hand.

"Now, we can go," Tobasu said, leading the group to Ichiraku Ramen.

"Anyone hungry?" he asked. Sanjiuichi and Anadoru nodded, and Renwalked to a booth. She was joined by the other three a few minutes later, and Tobasu began to speak.

"Today, we'll get to know a little each other. I'll start," Tobasu said. "I'm Tobasu Tatakai. I come from the Tatakai Clan. I like candy, writing and kunoichi. Sanjuichi, you're next."

"Well, I'm Shichigatsu Sanjuichi, from the Sanjuichi Clan. Everyone in my clan was born in July, except me. I was born on the last day in June. But, I like competition, especially tag. I know it's a little childish, but I like it."

"I'm Piri Anadoru. My best friend is Saki Ren. She's really nice. I like sweets, and making sweets too. My whole family lives in the same house, even my great-grandparents."

Ren looked around at the faces of the table-sitters. Anadoru, even though she knew Ren, was eager to hear what she had to say. Sanjuichi was eating his ramen, but waiting to hear her. Tobasu waited as well. She sighed, then introduced herself.

"I'm Saki Ren from the Saki clan we make ginger ale and I like to beat people up and Anadoru is my friend and I want to be a strong kunoichi blah blah blah..."

"Now that we know each other, it's time to tell you what my goal is for you."

"To become the best genin, and eventually chuunin, right?" Ren replied. Tobasu shook his head.

"Actually, to fail," he said. All three jounin were shocked.

"Fail? What's wrong with you?" Ren asked, nearly jumping over the table at Tobasu.

"You see, when you fail, you become more focused," Tobasu said.

"Bullcrap. What does focus do?" Saki asked.

"Have you ever failed before?" Tobasu asked. All three genin nodded.

"How did you feel?"

"Pretty bad,"Sanjuichi said.

"I wanted to cry," Anadoru said.

"Like beating someone up,"Ren replied still in an aggressive position.

"But, whatever you failed at, did you quit, or keep trying?"

Sanjuichi perked up, as did Anadoru. Ren gave him the same look as she sat back down, but got the point.

"To drive the point home, if you fail with me, you can always get another chance. Fail on the exam, or a mission as a higher ranking ninja, and you may not get another chance. Get it?" he said. The three genin nodded.

"Speaking of missions," Ren started. "When do we get one?"

"When one opens up. And, that shouldn't take long. There are more C-rank missions than anything, so young teams like you can get to interact with each other, and see how to work as a team." Tobasu said.

"C-rank? What's the highest rank?" Sanjuichi asked.

"S-rank missions. The most dangerous missions anyone can undertake," their sensei replied.

"Oh, so you have A and B-rank, right?" Anadoru asked. Tobasu nodded.

"But, let's focus on the C-rank missions right now. They may not involve as much fighting as you'd like," Tobasu said, looking at Ren purposely. Ren flared her nostrils before looking away. "But they'll help you more than you think."

"So Tobasu-sensei, what do we do today?" Shichigatsu asked.

"I think we've done enough for today," he said. "The three of you should hang out though. The more comfortable you are around each other, the better you'll perform. Right now though, I have a small mission involving the Hokage that happens tonight. Gotta get prepared for that."

The jounin left the three genin to themselves-which he hoped was a good idea.

"So, what do we do?" Shichigatsu asked. Ren drummed her fingers on the table, and Anadoru looked back and forth.

"may-maybe we can go see if any of the othergenin are around," she spoke. Ren immediately smiled, and Shichigatsu put up his hands in protest.

"If that's what you're thinking, count me out," he said. "The last thing we need is trouble."

"Well, we are genin, right? And we need to get stronger, right? Why not have a little tussle with the people we may meet at the exam?" Ren said coyly, sliding out of her seat. Anadoru knew that tone. Sometime today, Ren would be egging someone on to fight. She hoped that sometime, she'd run into the person that would humble her. She'd never told her this, but she hoped it would happen.

Especially before the exam.