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Her Father's Daughter

Chapter 5: What now?

The entire Jonin-sensei force of Konoha, along with the entire academy teacher staff, was in the Hokage's office, waiting for the announcement. The Hokage blew smoke out of his nostrils and began.

"As you know, the chunnin exams are to be held in Konoha this year. Which of you will be allowing your teams to participate?" The Jonin instructors stood, one by one, nominating their teams. Then, it was Kakashi's turn.

"Hatake Kakashi; jonin instructor of team seven; consisting of Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Uzumaki Noriko. I decline the nomination of my team for the chunnin exam." Collective gasps were heard throughout the room, along with a not-so-audible sigh of relief. Even Sarutobi was surprised.

"Are you sure, Kakashi?" He asked.

"Hai, Sandaime-sama. They aren't ready." Sarutobi nodded. The meeting continued until all were ether nominated or declined. Only one team was not taking the exam, Team seven. After everyone left, Sarutobi called Kakashi to him.

"Kakashi, why are you not nominating your team? From the reports I've read, they are clearly ready." Kakashi sighed.

"No, Sandaime-sama; they aren't. The reports you read only stat that all missions were successful. You don't know what's really going on.

Kakashi spent the rest of the hour explaining everything. Sarutobi left slightly shocked and ready to change his smoking habits.

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Waiting at the bridge like usual, team seven was surprised to see Kakashi arrive only four minuets after the designated meeting time. Noriko looked up with anxious eyes.

"Well, tou-san? Are we in?" Kakashi shook his head.

"No, you're not going to the chunnin exam this year. Instead, were going on a training journey." Noriko's eye's got real big. "Before you bug out, let me explain. This year the exam is not going to be normal. Orochimaru is on the move, and rumor has it, he's after the sharingan. That make's both Noriko and Sasuke vulnerable, seeing how Orochimaru doesn't seem to discriminate between male and female." They all nodded. "Be packed up and ready to go in fifteen minuets, I'll be at the gate. Bring the weapons I gave you." That was directed at Sasuke, he almost never carried the katana he received as a birthday present from Kakashi. (How he knew his birth date was a mystery to Sasuke; he never told anyone. Damn Fangirls.)

Fifteen minutes later, team seven stood at the gate, ready to go. Kakashi had indeed been waiting for them, much to their surprise. "Everyone ready?" They nodded. "Oh, and Noriko; you can wash your hair out once we reach the first cross point. Let's go." And Team seven walked into a figurative sunset, courtesy of Gai.

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Noriko did indeed wash her hair out after they left Konoha's inner forest, crossing into the near deadly outer forest. This part of the forest was the place they procured the creatures in the forest of death; which, Kakashi explained, was where the second exam took place in the chunnin exam. But it still wasn't as bad as it could be. To ample shivers, he told them that this was also the former home of Kyuubi, along with many other demons. But not to worry, they rarely come out of their lairs.

"So why did Kyuubi attack?" Sakura asked.

"No one knows the reason, most believe there isn't one." Kakashi replied. He pulled several scrolls from his travel pack. "These are summon scrolls, each a different animal." He tossed one to each genin. "For Noriko; foxes. For Sasuke; wolves. And for Sakura; cats." They each opened their scroll. "Sign your name in blood." They did so.

"How do you summon?" Sakura asked.

"Like this." Kakashi took out a kunai and slit his thumb. Performing the seals, he called out. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" He slammed his hands into the ground, resulting in a puff of smoke and an adorable pug. "This is Pakkun."

The little dog raised his paw in a salute. "Yo." This caused both Sasuke and Sakura to drop their jaws, and Noriko to leap forward and hugged the little kawaii dog to death.

"Pakkun! Your back!" She cooed. The pug did a full-body twitch.

"Kakashi…why!" Kakashi sweatdropped and dismissed the pug. Noriko found herself clutching only smoke. She pouted a bit and sat back down.

"Ok, now, you try." He said. Noriko jumped right up. Performing the seals, along with the blood, and was rewarded…

…with an orange fluff ball. It looked at them with those big chibi eyes and said. "Ohayo, I'm Shippo. Did you summon me?" Noriko nodded, clearly resisting the urge to glomp the poor little kit. "Cool! I'm gonna tell dad that you have our summon scroll!" He vanished in a puff of smoke. Sakura tried next, and produced a kitten so cute that even Sasuke smiled at it. When it was Sasuke's turn, he managed a puff ball, with little needle teeth. That hurt like heck, according to Sasuke. (The pup enjoyed chewing on his leg.) When they stopped for the night, Kakashi gave them each another scroll.

"These are scrolls that outline what techniques would be best for you. Noriko and Sasuke can use their sharingan to copy me doing them, so I can spend more time training Sakura. Any questions?" They shook their heads. "Good. Let's get started."

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They spent a year in the outer forest, learning and discovering. But they still did not return to Konoha. If they had, then maybe the most awful thing that could happen (In Kakashi's mind. Worse things could happen.) wouldn't have happened.

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Tsunade was worried. She had been appointed Godaime Hokage almost three years ago. Four years ago, one team of genin and their jonin instructor had left on a training journey. She had hoped they would be back soon, mainly because said jonin instructor was desperately needed. She read over the teams info file again.

Team 7:

Jonin instructor: Hatake Kakashi.

Genin: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Noriko.

Info:

Hatake Kakashi: 26. Last Hatake. Saringan no Kakashi, elite. Incredibly powerful when unprovoked, near sannin power when provoked. Near impossible to provoke. Will kill anyone, as long as under orders. Possesses one Sharingan eye.

Uchiha Sasuke: 12. Last (sane) Uchiha. Powerful, but vengeful. Will stop at nothing to kill Uchiha Itachi. Easy to provoke. Hard time with killing. Possesses two sharingan.

Haruno Sakura: 12. Last Haruno. Weak, but incredibly smart. Can use the simplest techniques to combat much stronger foes and come out on top. Medium difficulty to provoke. Will only kill when needed. Possesses 'Hitokage omoi.' (Soul shadow mind.) WARNING: PROVOKE AT RISK OF SANITY AND/OR LIFE.

Uzumaki Noriko: 12. Only Uzumaki. Powerful, but dense. Can use incredible jutsu without fear of over taxation. Easy to provoke. Will only kill when absolutely necessary. Possesses no kekkai genkai. Holds an s-class secret.

Tsunade sighed.

'We need you here. Why did you leave?' A sudden commotion outside her door brought her out of her musings.

"Hey! Dog-face! We're here to see Hokage-jiji!"

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So? What do you think? The next chapter will contain crack and some flashbacks. Bear with me.

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