Oh boy.

Everybody began talking with their new teammates and I sighed. Well, I had messed up. But I braced myself and got up, I signaled Shino to come and he got up, following me to sit next to Hinata.

"Alright." I began. "It looks like we're going to be a team." I attempted small talk. "So, I'm not very familiar with you guys." I shrugged. "So, uhm, what's your skill level?" and so it began I realized. My life as a shinobi, well, I still had a chance of failing, but I had a hunch, that I'd not fail. We engaged in a conversation about our clan jutsu and what we knew already, even though I didn't speak to these two over the years, I realized they weren't that bad, I mean Shino was annoying, but still. Not that bad.

Every other team's jonin sensei came and took them, the only remaining teams were Team 7, 8, and 10. We were talking, Naruto being the loud one, he kept blabbering, about how cool his sensei would be. The door opened and a tall man came in, I recognized him instantly, Sarutobi Asuma, the guy that died because of Hidan.

"Alright! Are you our sensei?" Naruto asked with a huge grin. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto! And one day, I'm gonna be Hokage!" but the man didn't bother to look at him. He came in and took out a paper.

"Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino." he read out loud and those three stood to attention. "I'm Sarutobi Asuma and I'm going to be the jonin leader of your squad. We're going to have a meeting now, so follow me." he began leaving. The three began running to catch up.

"See ya!" Shikamaru called back.

"So long!" Choji called as well.

"I'll see you later, Sasuke!" Ino called as well and Sakura exploded.

"Just get lost Ino-pig!" oh so troublesome.

"Oh man, I can't believe they already got their sensei." Naruto whined. "So what? I'll bet the next one will be ours!" he grinned.

The door opened and a woman came in, I recognized her as well, Yuhi Kurenai. The woman who tried to put Itachi in a genjutsu.

"Aburame Shino, Nara Shikanai, Hyuga Hinata." we stood to attention. "I'm Yuhi Kurenai and I'll be your team leader. Pleased to meet you." she began leaving and so we followed.

I took note that both Shino and Hinata were wearing huge coats and there I was, in a simple dark purple hoodie, yup, Ino's favorite color rubbed on me. Well, I definitely stood out... Another link that maybe, just maybe, Kiba would have been better suited for the team… But no, because whoever planned these teams had to mess it up, by mixing me in there, and there I was, feeling awkward and panicking all over again internally about the situation. We followed Kurenai until we were on a training ground, I looked around, but I didn't recognize the place. She told us to sit down and we did so.

"Let's begin with the introductions." she began. "My name is Yuhi Kurenai as you might know. My specialty is genjutsu, my hobby is to have evening drinks, my favorite foods are shochu, vodka, and takowasa and I hate cakes. My goal is to make sure you three will end up as capable jonins." well, I didn't know those about her, she wasn't a character I paid attention to in the show. After all, she put freaking genjutsu on Itachi… Genjutsu on Itachi! Heck…

"My name is Aburame Shino." the only boy in the team continued. "My hobbies are entomology and collecting insects. Insects are part of the Aburame clan, we work with them and they work with us, we let them live within us and they help us, we live in mutualism." Shino was weird. "My favorite foods are wild grass salad and winter melon; I don't like strong-smelling foods. My goal is to fight somebody strong and become a shinobi capable of protecting Konoha." he finished and Kurenai nodded, then she turned to me. Well, that was my cue.

"Name's Nara Shikanai." I yawned. "I have many hobbies. I like some stuff, dislike other stuff." I felt Kurenai's slightly annoyed gaze on me and I realized doing a Kakashi would only get me on her bad side, so I finished honestly. "My goal is to be a strong kunoichi, who's capable to be level-headed in every situation." I shrugged. "And to sleep a little more." Kurenai nodded and turned to Hinata.

"My name is…" she started in a very soft and barely audible voice, gosh! Why was she so shy?! "Hyuga Hinata. My hobby is…" at least she wasn't stuttering like in the anime. "Pressing flowers. My favorite foods are zenzai and cinnamon rolls, my least favorite foods…are crabs and shrimp. My goal… is to be a strong kunoichi and… make my father proud." she finished. Oh right, I kinda liked Hiashi's strict character in the anime, but he didn't show any fondness to her. Huh, maybe I could help with that.

"Alright, as you might know, you graduated, but it's up to me if I want to be your sensei or not, for that reason, you'll have to prove yourselves to me." we all nodded, apparently, they knew as well about the test jonin sensei provided. "I hid a scroll somewhere in the village. Your goal is to find it until tomorrow afternoon." we nodded.

"How does the scroll look like?" Shino asked and Kurenai took out a scroll.

"Just like this one." she tossed it to us and I caught it. "I'll be the one to guard the real scroll, when you'll see me, you'll know you are on the right route. I planted hints around the village, those might help. Good luck!" she disappeared in a swirl of leaves and the hands disappeared as well in a puff of smoke.

That was the real scroll, wasn't it?


"Alright." I said and we began moving.

We had a simple plan, stick together, work together, Shino was using his bug powers and he asked his bugs to spread and look out for any sign of our new sensei. Hinata was using her Byakugan sometimes when she was asked to do so and I was the one that was the leader and the one that should trap Kurenai if we saw her. I pointed out that Kurenai was a genjutsu master as she stated it, so Hinata – since she was the only one that was somewhat better at genjutsu than me and Shino – was alert if she needed to disrupt any genjutsu traps.

And just like that, we were running on the rooftops, jumping and looking around for any sign of Kurenai-sensei.

"My insects intercepted a hint of Kurenai-sensei's chakra." Shino said and we dropped down on the streets and began running between people, after a while the crowd dispersed and I turned to see Kakashi sitting on a tree branch and looking at us with a raised eyebrow, his orange book was in his hands, but he was clearly more interested in us than the book since he wasn't looking at it.

"Hey, Kakashi-niii-san." I waved at him and he waved back. "Have you seen anything out of the ordinary in this area?"

"Is this your test?" he asked and before Hinata or Shino could answer I answered.

"Nope, just a game." I shrugged and Hinata turned to look at me with her big eyes.

"Oh, I see." he didn't buy it and he began chuckling, turning back to his perverted book. I sighed and internally cursed. There goes the help. "I wouldn't want to intervene in a fellow jonins test, that would be traitorous, wouldn't it be?" he asked, not turning to us and I groaned.

"Thanks for nothing, oniisan." I saw him look at me with an amused expression. "Hinata!" I called in a commanding tone.

"Right." she answered and made a hand sign. "Byakugan!" she used her dojutsu and Shino and I waited for her. "I don't see Kurenai-sensei, but on the next street, there is a shop that has the scroll's sign painted on the wall." I nodded.

"Then lead us." she nodded and we began running after her, I heard a chuckle coming from Kakashi and 'cute little genins', but maybe I imagined it all, so I dismissed it and focused on the task at hand.

We ran until we reached the shop and then I entered, followed by Shino and Hinata. There was an old lady, observing her I deduced she must have been the shopkeeper, of the tea shop. Oh boy… In my other life, my nose was really sensible, like really really sensible, if I smelt something with a powerful scent I began sneezing, my eyes began watering, my nose began itching and I couldn't get the scent out of my nose. That trait transferred into my new life and so I was fighting back my urge to sneeze… Perfect, just what I needed… Thanks, Kurenai...

"Good afternoon." I bowed a little to the woman and my teammates followed, the elderly woman only nodded to us. "Has Kurenai-sensei been here?" I asked and she nodded.

"Ah, you must be her team. She talked about you paying a visit." we nodded. "You must be looking for the clue." we nodded again. "For that though, you must help me. You see, I have mixed three different tea types accidentally." How the heck could you mix exactly three tea types 'accidentally'?! "And I need you three to separate the grains and put them in these." she gave us three sacks. "After that, you will get the clue." oh why couldn't I be placed in Asuma's or Kakashi's team?!

"Troublesome." I muttered, still barely managing not to sneeze. Shino got the sack with the mixed teas and we went to a table. "This is going to take us hours." I sighed, but then it clicked in my genius Nara barely functioning brain. "Shino." I turned to him. "Can your bugs help us?" he nodded and he began using his bug powers and so there were hundreds of bugs pairing the tea bits into three little packs. "Nice." I grinned, but then I felt my nose tingle and I couldn't stop myself. Luckily Shino saw what was going to happen and pushed me roughly out of the shop. "That was too close." I mumbled after the sneeze. We were done in no time and after that, the elder gave us the location of the next hint. We took off and we began running on the rooftops again.

After doing all kinds of chores all day for new hints we realized the sun was down and we crashed at the BBQ place shown in the anime while chatting about tactics and plans to work better the next day. We decided that we should all sleep closer to the next clue's location, which was close to the Hyuga clan's location. So we went with Hinata, she was honest with us and told us that she wasn't sure if the elders or her father would let us in, but we said that if that was the case, we'd just have to wake up earlier the next day. It was worth a try.

We arrived at the compound and Hinata led us in.

"I'll go ask fathe-"

"Hinata?" wow, convenient.

"Father." Hinata squeaked as a tall man came to us, he had those cool Hyuga eyes, and his hair was perfectly combed down, his entire posture screamed that he was proud and royal. "I-I" oh no… She stuttered. "I…" her voice died and I sighed internally, damn it, Hinata! So troublesome!

"Good evening, Hyuga-sama." I bowed and Shino followed. "We are Hinata's teammates, I'm Nara Shikanai and this is Aburame Shino." I pointed to Shino, and the Hyuga clan head nodded in acknowledgment. "We wanted to ask if we could spend the night, so tomorrow we could have a jump start to finish our test." oh my gosh! I was speaking to Hiashi in such a cool manner. When did I learn to do that?! I liked it. He was looking at me and at Shino with his unnerving and calculating eyes.

"Is that so." he looked at Hinata, she nodded.

"Y-yes father." she answered timidly.

"In that case, Hinata, show them their rooms." what. Did he agree?

"Y-yes, f-father." she looked taken aback as well.

"Thank you, Hyuga-sama." Shino said in his cool and collected demeanor as he bowed and I bowed as well. After that, we followed Hinata. "That went smoothly." Shino commented and I nodded.

"Yup, I thought it would be more troublesome." I admitted as we followed Hinata, she lead us to two empty rooms, that looked like were guest rooms. They were situated next to each other and it looked like they were kept tidy all the time. With so many branch members, of course, they'd have time to order some to just keep some empty rooms tidy… I sighed inwardly. The Hyuga were screwed up. "Tomorrow at 6?" I asked and they nodded, with that we all went to sleep in different rooms.

I laid down and looked out the window, I saw the moon shining in the dark and I remembered that the following day Kakashi was going to give his famous bell test to his dear little students.

I chuckled, poor Naruto and his poor ass hole.


The anime didn't highlight what kind of test Team 8 and Team 10 got, and that troubled me watching it. So, I took the liberty to make up a test, one that is hard enough, and it is achievable only by working together. Here's the first part of the test, the team is new, but they manage to work together. The anime showed that Team 8 had great dynamics, Kiba highlighted that they were training hard before the Exams, so I'm trying to work with that information.

I don't own Naruto.

Have a nice read!

Oddity Empress: You'll see ;)

ILikeFoxes828: Thank you! And thank you for highlighting the writing errors, if you notice any errors in the future just write them to me, I must admit I'm struggling with the language and that sometimes my eyes jump over the errors.