'You... You what?' Tenten spat out, incredulously.

'You heard me.' Kaiya said, with a shrug.

The day after Kaiya's test with Anko, Guy took his team to the training grounds and, as they took a break from, well, training, Kaiya brought them the news about her testing.

'That's awesome, congratulations! But... can you do that, Guy-sensei?' Tenten asked. 'Change teams?'

'I don't know.' Guy admitted. 'It sometimes happens that teams are changed and so, but I don't know the details.'

'Besides,' Lee said. 'It's not like she's fully leaving this team anyway, right?'

Kaiya shook her head as she rested her back on a tree behind her. 'No, not from what I know.'

'Kaiya Kobayashi, right?' A voice behind Kaiya asked, making everyone jump a little.

Kaiya turned around to see a woman in her early 30's, with dark hair and official Konoha shinobi clothing and headband.

'Yes, that's me.' Kaiya said, cautiously. 'Can I help you?'

'My name's Tonkawa Asura. Please follow me.' The woman demanded.

After a few moments of hesitating, Kaiya got up and obeyed.

'See y'all.' She told her team, before leaving.

The walk was, at first, very quiet. Asura didn't take the girl out of the training grounds, which confused Kaiya a little, but gave her reasons to theorise about who the woman was and what she wanted.

'Here.' Asura said, taking out her red hair out of her face.

They arrived on one of the Training grounds at quite a distance from where Guy and his team were. Seeing the questioning look on Kaiya's face, Asura sighed.

'Something's not adding up in your head, so let me elaborate.' She said, leaning on a tree. 'I'm Asura. You may call me Asura-san or Asura-sensei, I'll leave it up to you to choose. I'm a higher-ranked jonin and I'll be training you. Any questions?'

Kaiya stared at the woman blankly, taken a little aback by her bluntness. 'Yes, ma'am. Why are you training me?'

'Your proctor considers that you have some talent that might go to waste if not developed correctly. They want me to train you for that. Any other questions?'

'No, ma'am.'

'Good. You're the Hatake kid, right?'

'Mhm, that's me.' Kaiya said, with a light sigh. She was getting a little tired of the question.

Asura sighed.

'Weird, but whatever.' She shrugged. 'It's not my cup of tea. Now, let's get down to business- show me every jutsu you can do.'

'Eh... Excuse me? I don't think I-'

'You got that right.' Asura assured. 'Show me every jutsu you can do.'

Kaiya pursed her lips. There were but a few justus that she could say that she mastered. She'll make a fool out of herself for sure, but that's why she was here. She was here to learn.

'Air style: Air spear!'

The jutsu activated, and it played a light cut or two on a nearby tree.

'Hm, don't think I've seen this jutsu before.' Asura said, raising her eyebrows. 'Do it again, on the same tree.'

Kaiya raised her eyebrows in surprise but obeyed quietly. She repeated the justu with her best accuracy, and managed to lay another series of cuts on the same tree.

'Good.' Asura said. 'Again. Same tree.'

Kaiya obeyed, and another cut was laid on the tree.

'Good. Now repeat this move until that tree falls down.'

Kaiya bit her lip in a moment of hesitation, but didn't say anything- the woman must have a plan in mind. It was now only a matter of time until she figured it out.

And she repeated the move. Again, and again, and again, and again until the tree eventually thinned enough to fall down.

Kaiya, who now breathed heavily from exhaustion, sat on the ground for a moment, under the shadows. Who knew ninjutsu was so energy-draining?

'No time for rest, Kaiya. Next exercise.' Asura said, nudging the girl to get up.

'Asura-san, I'm low on chakra.' Kaiya said.

Asura forced a smile. 'That was the point of the last exercise. Now, we'll do something else. Do 50 push-ups. If you can't do that, you'll have to do 2 tours of the village. If you can't do that either, you'll do 20 stand-ups on your hands. Got it?'

Kaiya nodded. 'Yes, ma'am.'

It honestly sounded like something Guy would've said, but Kaiya shrugged it off quickly. Something about the woman reminded Kaiya about her mother, and she knew for a fact that disobeying her would mean instant death.

About 50 push-ups later and 1 tour of Konoha, Asura realised that the girl's stamina might be better than she estimated. She pursed her lips as she looked up- the sun was setting, letting the sky turn an orange-pink shade.

'Take a break, Kaiya. You deserve it.' She told the girl.

Kaiya obeyed immediately. She sat herself down and rubbed off the sweat off her face.

To be fair, today was more of a testing, to see the girl's capabilities. Asuka couldn't lie to herself- she was pleased with the girl. She started to see the potential that Anko was talking about.

'Are you thirsty?' She asked, taking a bottle of water from her bag. 'Here.'

'Thank you.' Kaiya said, taking the bottle in her hands before chugging down half the bottle of water.

Asuka bit her lip. She heard some rumours and various nasty stuff about this girl and her heritage, but she wanted to hear it from the girl. She cleared her throat, catching Kaiya's attention.

'So, Kaiya.' Asuka said. 'Tell me more about yourself.'

Kaiya sighed. 'What would you like to know?'

'Hm.. Tell me, what are your dreams and goals? Any likes or dislikes you have?'

Kaiya looked down, thinking.

'Dreams or goals... I don't know Nothing too grand. I'd like to live a quiet life here in Konoha, and I'd like to have some sort of closure with my clan's problems, y'know? To come on better terms with them. Maybe keeping in better touch with my brother would be nice as well. As for likes and dislikes... I don't know. I like many things, and I can't say I have a particular diskike for anything. Hm, except for people who talk about something without knowing the full story. That's something I don't like.'

Asura nodded with a smile. 'That's quite interesting to hear.'

'What about you?' Kaiya asked. 'Any goals, likes and dislikes?'

Asura chuckled lightly.

'Well, let's see. My goal was always to become a jonin or an ANBU, I guess I achieved it. My likes or dislikes... I guess we're like-minded here. I like most things and don't have a particular dislike. It can't be helped, I guess.'

After that, silence fell between the two- there was nothing left to say. Kaiya took another mouthful of water, before getting up.

'What's the next exercise, Asura-san?'

Asura raised her eyebrows in surprise. 'You're still up for more exercise?'

Kaiya shrugged.

'I still have some energy left, so why not use it as well?' She said, 'I'm used to training for longer periods.'

The jonin sighed. 'Alright, then. I'd still like to work on the basics with you. How about some accuracy throwing? Do you have some shuriken with you?'

'Yes, ma'am.' Kaiya nodded.

'Well, then. Let's see what you can do. Throw your kunais at... that tree. Let me do the marks.'

'Accuracy, 75 percent.' Asura announced quietly.

Night has settled herself quite some time since, and it was clear that Kaiya was reaching her limits. Yet, she managed to score quite well.

'I see you have good stamina and somewhat talent with weapons.' Asura noted. 'But... your ninjutsu seems to be near terrible in comparison with your peers. Do you... how do I say this?'

'If my body can't mould chakra?' Kaiya suggested. The woman nodded. 'I can mould chakra, ma'am. It just so happens that my family isn't good with it, and I had no one to teach me much about chakra.'

'Hm, I think I heard something about it.' Asura said, in thought.

'Everybody seems to hear stuff.' Kaiya mumbled.

She didn't mind much that the word got out- in many aspects, it was relieving. The thing that bugged her, however, was the way that the word got out. Only scraps of the facts were given around, and people seemed to enjoy mixing facts with fantasy.

Asura looked at the girl, and couldn't help but sigh. Before coming to train her, she looked through some files in an attempt to find out more about the girl, but again, new information hardly appeared.

'Maybe you can tell me more sometimes, but for now, training is finished. I expect to see you here again, tomorrow at five.'

'Fi...Five in the morning?' Kaiya asked.

'Did you expect something else?'

'No, ma'am.'

'Then, you're dismissed.'

Kaiya rubbed her eyes a little as she did the lights on in her apartment. She was tired from the training, and entering a room that isn't dark when tired isn't the best choice.

As she looked around, she noticed a small envelope waiting on her kitchen island table. She had no memory of ever writing anything down that day, so it was quite odd.

She opened the envelope, which held an official-looking paper, that had Hokage's signature under it. Weird.

Dear Kaiya Kobayashi,

Congratulations on becoming a Chūunin! You are now able to go on individualistic missions and get more options of helping The Village Hidden in the Leaves.

You are expected to come and pick up your uniform on 27 August.

Greetings,
Tsunade Senju, the 5th Hokage

Kaiya looked at the paper blankly. So I'm a Chūunin, huh? Congratulations to me, I guess.

She put the paperback on the table, before taking a shower, changing her clothes and, at last, going to rest.

As she layed in bed, she felt the presence entering her room.

'Hi.' Kaiya greeted. 'I think you saw the paper, right? About me becoming a Chūunin?'

The presence shifted a little.

'I don't know if that's a yes or a no.' Kaiya laughed lightly. 'Anyhow, it seems that I'm Chūunin level. Funny enough, my father -Kakashi Hatake, you may know him- was an ANBU by now.'

The spirit shifted around a little more active in what Kaiya assumed to be surprise.

'Surprising, huh?' Kaiya asked. 'I don't know, he's like a prodigy or something. Strong, anyhow. Everyone compares me to him. I hardly know him and him didn't take part in raising me -not that I care much, to be honest-, so I guess that I don't have to compare myself to him as well if I don't want to.'

The spirit didn't shift anymore but remained still for a few moments before leaving the room quietly. Not like it could leave any other way than quiet, but it felt quieter than usual.