A/N: Hello, people! COVER ART BY: Niyuu_Trickster_Kat!

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I have no beta.

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TAGS for this Chapter: SWEARING and HINTS OF SASUNARU.

7,000 Ryo = about $638.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, Kakashi, you have to take a team this year. You'll be getting the team with both Sasuke-san and Naruto."

Kakashi grumbled but didn't protest. He knew it had been coming some time soon, he'd just hoped he could wait it out for longer. Giving him his sensei's son was the smartest move though. And he supposed having the last Uchiha was smart too seeing as Kakashi was the only other person he could learn practical use of the Sharingan from.

"Don't be that way, Kakashi," the old Kage chided. "Your team shows much promise in various areas. And because of the Academy's curriculum being brought up to date and improved upon, you won't have to take the time to teach them how to walk on water or how to learn their Chakra Natures."

Well that certainly was a bonus. He could just throw team-building exercises and jutsu scrolls at them. That'd be nice. Kakashi was a genius, but the problem that many didn't realize, that came with being a genius, was that most geniuses weren't that good at teaching others. Being good at something didn't mean he'd be good at teaching that something to a child.

He was very aware of his own faults and that was just one of many.

"You team also have an even build for Chakra Nature that could make for some interesting combination jutsu in the future," the Hokage added, looking down at a piece of paper. "Sakura-san has Suiton, Sasuke-san has Raiton and minor Katon, and Naruto has Futon and minor Raiton."

Kakashi's mind immediately provided various options in battle for those. He knew jutsu from each of the Natures so it wouldn't be difficult to make the Genin learn them. Especially if their Chakra Control exercises had improved as much as Gai insisted they did.

So maybe it would be better than he assumed it would be.

"See? Even though you didn't graduate early because you want to be on Sakura's team, I appreciate you waiting."

Naruto flushed. "I haven't had a crush on Sakura in forever, Yuuki! I may have failed the first two graduation exams that I had taken in an attempt to try and impress her, but the other one was purely because I realized half-way through that I wanted to just hang out with my friends before we have work getting in the way. So no, I did not fail the last one for Sakura. I just like looking at her now."

She pinched his cheek. "You're very sweet regardless of your tastes. Now go and kick this exam's ass."

"YATTA!"

"Didn't he suck at the Bunshin?" asked Shikamaru as he leaned back, his hitai-ate on the table in front of him because he refused to put it on yet. Apaprently he'd wanted it somewhere that made sense and didn't get in his way.

"I taught him a better type of Bunshin. Turns out he's got too much chakra so illusionary clones are just too hard. More chakra intensive Bunshin are easier because so long as he has a good imagination he could load them with however much chakra he wants. More chakra means longer lasting Bunshin or stronger elemental attacks for the elemental types."

"When did this happen?"

"A year and a half ago I guess. I've learned another type of Bunshin and made him learn another because I figured they'd be more useful in the future."

"Here I thought you were as lazy as me," the boy said with a yawn.

"Oh I am, I'm just employing use of the Lazy Man's Load. As in I'm doing more work now to avoid wasting my time later when I have a Jonin sensei on my ass. This way they'll have to teach me something worthwhile instead of relegating me to meaningless personal time so they can get out of doing their job. I've even got ahead on my Chakra's Shape Manipulation and can shape it decently well by now."

Choji paused in his crunching and blinked up at the ceiling in confusion. "I honestly think that even as one of the laziest students here, you might be the hardest working person in the class, Yuuki."

"Nah!" she said, shaking her head. "You haven't seen Naruto and his wack ass healing factor that lets him have weird stamina and low pain receptors. That's true hard work since he never knows when to actually stop. I like to stay in the middle for physical fitness. All the work I do, I can do while sitting down. You won't get me moving if I don't absolutely have to."

Naruto was the superior hard worker in their class because he wasn't naturally talented and had to work extra hard to be so good at what he did. The blond had taken all the time in the world to hone his own skills and discover what he excelled at. People like Sasuke and Hinata had great benefits on their sides to be so ahead of everyone else. Naruto, being a clanless orphan who was poor, had done very well for himself despite how many setbacks he faced in life.

"Speaking of not moving, I made this awesome tool that I think could be very useful. Now while I had it in mind to help me not have to get up and walk around my kitchen, I have come to realize that it's a pretty ingenious invention that could really help disabled people out!" She pulled out one of her sealing scrolls. All important things were kept on her person at all times now to protect against theft these days. She didn't trust the manager of the complex and for many reasons she might get into at another time.

"I got a long ass tree branch that I hollowed out and using some springs and wires I got from an old toaster I disassembled, and two smaller sticks that I stabbed with rubber. I have created the Extendable Arm." The tool was released from the scroll and while it was obviously was a draft model, it was still nice in her opinion.

"The bits on the end act like claws and can grab things a good distance away if you squeeze this part right here. If I had access to better materials it would be retractable with a crank to bring the clutched item in close. So far this is what I have and I can open my fridge from the other side of my kitchen with it. And if I put a rag on it, I could clean the ceiling and the parts of the walls I can't reach even with a chair."

Shikamaru shook his head. "I don't know how you keep coming up with these things. My dad might know how to help with this too. The Nara are involved in the medical business of the village and get a say in a lot of things after all."

"Oh, yeah!"

It was nice to have friends who took her wacky ideas seriously. Especially as she had no explanation for where the ideas came from or how frequently they came.

How did 'dreams' and 'visions' sound to normal people after all?

Yuuki's name put her at the very end of the class list. With no surname of her own she was just put all the way at the bottom and forced to wait while everybody else took their turn and got their hitai-ate. She wasn't worried that she'd fail, it was more of the fact that everyone watched as the very last student went into a separate room to complete her practicals.

First it was the weapons which she aced perfectly and then, without moving to get them herself, she extended her hand and sent out a chakra thread to wind through the holes of the weapons. It wasn't a very thin thread, could probably be called a rope at present, but it was decently done. When the end of the strand returned to her palm, she gave a good yank and all the weapons slipped free and returned, dangling from an invisible string in her hand. Like light strands that were used for decoration.

She hadn't perfected this method yet but was doing pretty well. Hinata had already gotten it down and could make several threads at a single time from each fingertip. Yuuki liked to think that for her level, along with not having a Kekkei Genkai on her side, she was doing well.

Iruka whistled. "Well done. Now make a Bunshin, use the Henge, and then Kawarimi with something."

She ran through the signs for the Katon Bunshin and blew out a small puff of flame that grew with the chakra she loaded into it and morphed into a perfect copy of herself. The Bunshin then transformed into Naruto, and Yuuki swapped places with the copy instantly.

Iruka made some notes on his clipboard. "Where did you learn an elemental Bunshin?"

Yuuki sent the man a darling smile that probably looked weird on her bland face. "Ask me no questions, I tell you no lies, sensei."

The man rolled his eyes and gestured to the large tree off to the side of the practice area. "Demonstrate your chakra control by climbing that tree without hands. I then expect a roundoff while keeping perfect control."

Ugh! Exercise.

She girded her loins and got it over with.

"Now step into the provided pool. I'd like to see a roundoff, a back handspring, and then a cartwheel. The less water you get on yourself the better the score."

As expected, she came out totally dry. Chakra control was her area of expertise. After years of forcing herself to get good because her only job options involved perfect control, she better damn well be good at it.

"Last is a quick spar. You have three minutes to land a hit on me. I will be fighting at Genin Level. No chakra punches may be used. This is so I can grade your style and forms, not your strength."

One Vs One matches were so annoying. She was decent at Taijutsu but she just didn't like doing it. She wasn't the best but she wasn't the worst and if she actually used chakra in application she would technically be the best in class, so why try all that hard?

She rushed the man, their hands meeting frantically as she moved to dodge or redirect she strikes. The clapping and slapping noises were jarring to the ear. He defended his middle very well, so her best bet was a hit somewhere less defended. She tended to go for the middle a lot and he knew that from grading her spars for years.

He didn't say where she had to hit so even a toe would count. And just because Yuuki wasn't allowed to punch him with chakra didn't mean she couldn't kick him with it. Or that she couldn't use chakra to speed herself up.

With a quick burst for good measure, she slipped into his guard with a raised fist, just as he brought his arms up to shield his torso. In that split second she whirled and kicked him hard in the shin, making him stumble a bit and grab his leg. "Time!"

1 Minute 35 Seconds. Not the best time on the list by a long shot, but also not the worst by a long shot. That was good in her opinion.

Iruka straightened, wincing when he moved his leg. "You did well. It's obvious you passed, so you can take the last hitai-ate, I just need to calculate your scores and class placement if you'll give me a moment."

"Sure." Where the hell was she going to wear it? Not on the forehead because it looked tacky as hell and she didn't like the blue of the fabric. A headband would be nice. Some of the other girls were doing that. And her spiky locks could block out the color of the blue nicely. Or maybe a necklace? If she removed the fabric entirely and threaded a cord or something through the holes? Yeah, that would be better. Less of a chance at it flying off that way if it was fastened on. Fabric ties were less trustworthy than metal ones.

Now if only she could get her hands on some kunoichi grade shoes. The black would go quite nicely with her mesh and hair. And she would be aiming for black in her new outfit too.

"Well done!" Iruka man said with a lighthearted grin, the scar on his face wrinkling. "Combined with your theoretical exam score you've come out in fourth place overall in the class. Shurikenjutsu was 10/10 for both weapons. 10/10 for all the Ninjutsu showed with an extra point on the Bunshin for having an elemental one. A 10/10 each on Tree and Water Walking. A 6/10 for Taijutsu as it still isn't seamless enough to flow just yet. But if we were to factor in your chakra usage it would be an 8/10 for the possible damage you can inflict even with impaired kata."

That was all pretty good.

"Your theoretical work came out to a 198/200. You only missed two questions and that was because you mixed up the answers on a multiple choice section. You tied Hyuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino for Second Place of overall class ranking, right behind Haruno Sakura who was in First Place. You did a splendid job and I'm honored to have gotten the chance to know you."

He patted her spiky head, his smile turning nostalgic.

"Thanks for not being a biased asshole," she told him frankly. "That's why you're the fave."

Any sputtering of embarrassment was left in the dust as she rejoined her classmates, swinging the hitai-ate around. "I've done it!" she announced. "Bring on the missions 'cause now I got bills to pay for fuck sake!"

As she had been promising for ages, Yuuki finally got off her ass and went clothes shopping for a new wardrobe. Her entire closet was just filled with things that did not fit any longer so the best thing to do was donate everything but a single outfit for when she did household chores, and buy some new clothes.

The same shop she preferred was her destination and the lady at the counter sent her a smile when she came in. "Fresh graduate?"

"Yep. I need a lot of things but news bras and underwear are a must right now over everything." They were honestly digging into her skin. Red lines on her sides and thighs that burned. She'd made it work long enough but now she was an adult in the eyes of Konoha law, and she had to dress appropriately.

"The limit it 7,000 Ryo for this."

She got measured for both underwear and bras, and found out that she'd gone up two cup sizes since the last time she'd had to get bras. She was about to be thirteen and had weight issues thanks to wacky hormones, so it wasn't that shocking. Hinata was like a step behind her, and Ino was right behind Hinata. She decided ages ago that breasts were annoying and grew way too fast for her liking. She gained weight and they got bigger, she lost that weight and they didn't shrink at all!

The sports bras she got were heavy duty and she was warned against doubling up on them because that could hurt her still-growing body. Which sucked.

Yuuki and the sales associate proceeded to rummage through the clothing available for shinobi. Yuuki's only description was 'black and white'. They were a good combination and wouldn't clash.

Mesh armor was a necessity for extra protection, but she was sticking with the sleeveless version of the body suit now. The organs needed the most protection. The only reason she wasn't limiting herself to leotard version was because the mesh looked cool against the legs.

She found a good shirt/skort set that were made of the same, stretchy material that would be useful while her weight went up and down. The half-shirt was high-collared and sleeveless, with black trimming around the white of the fabric. The skort was black, high-waisted, and reached mid-thigh. Basically it was a pair of black shorts with a black piece of cloth sewn to the left side and then pulled across the front and hooked to the right side by three white buttons at the top.

A pair of fingerless gloves in the same color as the skort, were added next. They came with leather straps around the wrists to keep them in place. The buckles were silver.

Yuuki decided to forgo sandals entirely and got a nice pair of black, studded, ankle boots. The heel was short and chucky and added 2 cm to her height. They looked awesome!

The bulk of her purchase was actually the new coat she got. It was white, double-breasted and had a wide, furred collar. The buttons were black and the fur was a light shade of brown. The best part was that it had pockets! Not just random buttons placed to look like it had pockets! Also, the sleeves stopped at the forearms and cinched in a bit so they wouldn't move up.

Her new wardrobe was for ease of movement and was meant to make her life easier overall.

She really liked her new style. And it was beneficial that the shoes would compliment the studded earrings stretching up her right ear.

She couldn't wait until her friends could see her new threads. Then they'd finally get off her ass over it!

Two weeks of nothing to do but train. Naruto never thought he'd actually miss his time in the Academy. But it had been a schedule to follow and there was never a dull day with all the drama of being shinobi-in-training. He got to see his friends every day too and it had made everything so much brighter!

The one thing to do was formally register as shinobi. That meant paperwork and getting their registration numbers and stuff. Yuuki had talked him out of painting his face with war paint, which sucked. He felt it would have struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. She said he was too small to be anything but laughed at if he did such.

And while he was aware of the fact that he was the shortest of the new Genin graduates, that didn't mean he appreciated people bringing it up! He'd grow! Some times in the future he was going to be taller than his classmates! He just... had to keep faith.

Still though… Yuuki was a lot taller than him. It could be because she was seven months older than him, but seeing as others who had been born before him, were still taller than him, he knew he couldn't excuse it that way. Maybe it was in his genetics to be short?

No! He promised himself he'd think of it positively!

Ichiraku Ramen gifted him with a large serving of ramen for his graduation present. It had been super awesome and while it wasn't enough to fill him, it was something that held meaning. The old man and Ayame had smiled upon him and told him they were proud of him and 'knew he would do it'. It warmed his heart.

Naruto couldn't waste money as much as he wanted because he had to budget. With Yuuki's help of course. Now that he was an adult in the law of ninja, he didn't get the orphan stipend any longer and had already gotten his first rent bill. It had been waiting on his table when he'd gotten home right after getting his hitai-ate too! They didn't waste any time!

Being an adult wasn't fun when it was ruined by annoying responsibilities.

In his heart of hearts, Naruto was jealous that his classmates never knew the fear of not having food or not having a place to sleep. Of having to skip two meals a day. Being so blind to the world outside their cozy homes and families that they didn't know that people in their own village were going without all the time!

It wasn't that he would wish misfortune on anyone… he just wished there was someone other than Yuuki in his life who understood the exact lengths the poor had to go to just to keep on surviving. And it annoyed him that someone poor, like Yuuki, was doing more for charity than any of the wealthy citizens. Yuuki was literally donating half of the profits she made from her own creations, to charities, when she was poor and could make better use of the money for herself! Especially now that she no longer had so much money coming in every month!

It just didn't seem right, the system in Konoha.

Having the Hokage on his side meant nothing if he couldn't even get the man's attention as often as he'd like. Being Hokage meant having an important job that needed all of your concentration and Naruto didn't want to get in the way of that. It had taken many years for him to fully understand just what the old man had to do every day, but he got it now.

It was okay to be jealous. It was not okay to be cruel because of it. Yuuki had taught him that. She'd used Sasuke's Fanclub as an example and it had made sense then!

"What are you doing here?"

Naruto whirled around, finding none other than Sasuke standing at the edge of the Training Ground, staring at him blankly.

He shrugged. "Thinking. Training. Plotting. You?"

"Surprisingly, I've been doing something similar," the Uchiha stated. He didn't insult Naruto or mock him for training. Sasuke hadn't been like that in years. Not since the massacre.

Naruto looked away, feeling awkward over where his thoughts had gone. He didn't like thinking about that night and what it put Sasuke through. Yuuki'd had to explain what was common knowledge and then what her assumptions were based on circumstantial evidence. He didn't like any of it and he tried to distract Sasuke by being loud whenever possible.

The fact that Sasuke was so devoted to this ambition of his that he refused to enjoy himself in any other way, made Naruto's heart hurt. Like he couldn't just be happy now and then. But a distraction was something Naruto could be!

"Want to train?" Sasuke offered, still staring him down evenly.

Naruto blinked and nodded as he thought back to all the times they'd sparred outside of class times and flushed a bit. He was going to end up being pinned a lot. That was Sasuke's go-to move when fighting Naruto. He didn't know why since Sasuke never did it with anyone else!

Shikamaru looked up from his shogi board to find Yuuki standing at the doorway leading to the engawa. His mother must have let her in since she wasn't wearing shoes on the tatami covered floor.

"Hey," she said, tipping the box in her hands as a sign of greeting.

"Do you need help with that?"

She proceeded to place it down, meaning, no, she didn't need assistance. "I wanted to test this out with you. Naruto does not have the patience for this kind of game and I figured you and your dad would be the best chances I have immediately, at seeing a reaction. Hinata's busy and I doubt her clan would want someone like me coming around."

Yuuki proceeded to pull the lid off her box and reveal a piece of square cardboard that had a pattern of black and white squares of paper glued to it. She then pulled out a small bag full of erasers that had strangely cut shapes of paper sticking out of them. "A game of strategy," she told him while setting the pieces up in a way that vaguely reminded him of shogi.

"Here is the introduction, the instructions, and the rules," she added, tossing a small packet of information his way, with incredibly small writing that also reminded him of the one he had to learn for shogi.

"Chesu," he said carefully, looking up to see if his pronunciation was correct.

She nodded. "It's somewhat like shogi, but also not with various differences. Chesu would be like the beginner's version I guess you could say. Start off all the baby Nara with Chesu and when they've mastered it, then you move them on to shogi. It could help train up their minds ahead of time."

As he flicked through the book, Shikamaru wondered just how she managed to get all of these thoughts out. The maneuvers were different. The pawns were different. The way the pieces captured others were different. Overall though, it was like a more simple version of shogi but that didn't mean it was less interesting.

He was fascinated by the Bishops and Knights the most though. Their movement patterns interested him the most.

"Walk me through a game," he told her.

She beamed. "Thanks!"

A/N: Another chapter is done!

How was it? Let me know.

Ja ne! :D