Through My Eyes

Thanks again for the reviews, well review, and here's the next chapter.

-----------------------------------

Chapter 3: Becoming Genin

Well before I start telling you about the next chapter in my life I guess you'd want to know what happened next. It really wasn't anything all that interesting but here you go anyway.

"Well anyway your test is… Complete," Asa-sensei said in a cheerful and happy tone. "And of coarse you all pass," he quickly added in.

I raised an eyebrow, "That's it?" I asked. I was a little surprised by finding the fact that we had gone through quite a lot in the past hour or so and that it simply ended.

"Yep, you all passed," Asa-sensei said once again.

"You really think we did that well?" Toshi asked a little curious on what our sensei really thought.

"Well I knew that you would do well physically, I wanted to know whether or not you could work well as a team and how you'd do mentally," Asa-sensei simply replied shrugging. "And you did better than what I expected. That plan was pretty good I guess the only problem was Kagami didn't keep an eye on her back," he then stated and I nodded slowly.

He had a point after all. If I had kept an eye on my back I probably would have seen him coming and I probably wouldn't have had to use a kunai to help defend myself. But I guess that was the whole part of growing up is learning from our mistakes and fixing them, to make sure we don't get caught out the next time.

"Hey Kagami," Toshi said waving a hand in front of my face. "Are you ok?"

I was a little startled at first but I realised I had spaced out and was just standing there looking into space. "Yeah, I'm fine just I little tired," I replied only half heartedly. "Wait a second who are you?" I then asked the mysterious kunoichi that had been standing there quietly all along.

"You'll find out soon enough," she simply replied a small smirk forming on her lips.

I simply nodded I guess she was a part of Konoha so I'd see her around sometime. And I guess she kinda did stand out with the dark red hair but I don't know it was dark and a bit hard to see and on top of that I was tired.

"Come on Kagami we'll talk another time I really need to get some sleep," Toshi said and I turned to see him rubbing his eyes and yawning. "See you later, Asa-sensei," he then said before making his way out of the training grounds and to my house.

"Oh ok, bye Asa-sensei and… Miss Kunoichi," I said following Toshi. "Hey Tamasine you coming?" I then called over my shoulder.

Through the dim light I saw that he nodded or something and said something to Asa-sensei and the kunoichi before walking over to us. I wonder who that was, I continually thought as we made our way home in silence.

-----------------------------------

So our team had passed and could become Genins, right? Wrong. As you may know Team 7, Team 8 and Team 10 had also passed. This meant that were twelve who had the potential to become great shinobi. And it meant a problem for us. Three people would have to be cut due to the rule of only nine becoming Genin. It was unfair we had all worked through the academy and through the last few days of training to get there but due to a silly little rule three of us would have to stay back and wait another year to have another shot at becoming Genin. The Hokage and our Jounin sensei had thought of a way to choose the nine. Here's how the next chapter of my life played out.

It was a week after our test and we had found out about the other three teams passing. Toshi, Tamasine and I spent our time training. We each had individual styles of fighting, because remember Toshi uses mainly genjutsu, Tamasine was mainly ninjutsu and I was mainly taijutsu, but we all did our best to help each other out. I put in all my effort into each training session because I knew that I didn't want to perform as badly as I did in the test that was a week back. I was going to improve and continue improving no matter what it took. I was going to become an ANBU, I was going to become braver, and I was going to prove to everyone and more importantly myself that I could do it. I just needed to stay focus and put in 100 all the time. So whatever challenges the Hokage and Jounin sensei's had plan for us, I was ready. I would still be very scared, I know, but I would do anything to hide it and continue on. This is what I thought to motivate myself to push that little bit harder and last that little bit longer.

Anyway, the day came and we all waited in a small room in the Hokage's building. Toshi and Tamasine were talking just about casual things and I sat a metre or so away from them just to think for a bit. In my mind there were all these negative thoughts and I couldn't seem to block them out. There was doubt of me making it as a Genin and even though I was afraid at times, it was still what I wanted.

"Good luck today, Kagami," I heard a voice say from above me. I looked up and met with Kiba's dark eyes. It was the first time I heard him so sincere, but to be honest I probably didn't talk to him that often, and whenever we did we were always making jokes.

"Thanks, I'd wish you luck too but…" I said smiling at him sweetly.

"But… What?" He said sitting down on the ground next to me.

"But… You don't need it… You'll do great," I said still smiling and I kissed him on the cheek. "But there's a kiss for good luck anyway," I said.

"Th-thanks," he said nervously. And even though his cheeks were covered by the red fang marks that all Inuzuka's had I could tell he was blushing.

We sat there in silence for a few moments and I saw out of the corner of my eye Kiba open his mouth as if to say something but right at that point the door opened and in walked the Third Hokage with two Chuunin, Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu. Kiba quickly closed his mouth and got up. He then offered me a hand up which I politely took.

"Thanks," I said once I was up to his level and we then moved off to join our groups.

Once we were all in our groups of three the Hokage started to talk. "Before I tell you the rules, appoint one member of your group to have the weapons. The only weapons allowed are kunai and shuriken. The others give your weapons to Izumo," he said.

I quickly turned to Toshi and Tamasine. "I say Toshi," I said quickly.

"Ok, I guess he is the one that often uses those anyway," Tamasine agreed. Toshi nodded also in agreement and Tamasine and I handed our weapons to Izumo.

Once we were all back in our positions the Hokage explain to us our task. "You will all have to complete a maze. In the centre is you Jounin sensei, the first three teams to get to their Jounin sensei will become Genin. The other team will unfortunately have to go back to the academy or retire from becoming a shinobi. Also, you will all enter in different parts of the maze and no shinobi will be put next to their team mates. As a matter of fact you won't know who's next to you. Now if you follow me to the training grounds," the Hokage said.

We all did as instructed and followed the Hokage and the two Chuunin down to the training grounds. It was amazing what we saw. There they had actually managed to do some kind of jutsu to build walls about two metres tall it was amazing. It looked like it had spread across four of the training grounds so it truly was a large maze.

"One more rule, you are not allowed to jump onto the wall. If you do that you'll be disqualified and making it so your team can't complete the task. Now everyone place your forehead protector over your eyes and once you're in position you'll be instructed to take them off. When you hear the bang that's when you go," the Hokage explained. "Now good luck to you all."

Placing my forehead protector over my eyes I was guided by someone into an entrance. "You can take your forehead protector off now," I heard a female voice say. I took my forehead protector off an tied it back around my forehead and looked over my shoulder to see who it was and it was none other than Kiba's older sister, Hana.

"I'm surprise you had time to do this, Hana-san," I said to her looking into the maze and while tying up my hair into a messy bun. "Haruko told me you were really busy, being a veterinarian and all." Haruko and Hana had been on the same Genin team after they had graduated from the academy and they were still close friends.

"Yeah, I was but I had some free time today so I was able to come and help out," she replied. "Good luck, Kagami."

"Thanks," I said turning to her one last time and smiling before getting ready to run into the maze.

Bang! I started running as fast as I could. The first turn was clear I could only go right. Still going forward I met another end which only allowed me to go left. Right, left, straight ahead, right, left, right, right. I was starting to lose track it was all too confusing turn after turn. I hadn't met a dead end just yet but I guess I was just lucky. I continued running forward.

Left, right and now I was met with a challenge. Right or left… Left or right… I listened closely to see if I could hear any footsteps or if anyone was near by. I think I heard something from the left so that's the path that I decided. I ran through only to find a dead end. I was wasting time. I then heard something behind me and saw three kunai flying in my direction. Not having my tessen to shield myself I did the only thing I could… Duck. The kunai narrowly missed me and I quickly ran out and followed the right path.

Now the walls were a lot further apart. I was met with a straight path that had no turns in it what so ever and I was starting to wonder whether there was a genjutsu on it or something. Genjutsu was always my worst subject… I ran up a little further and I saw a turn just up ahead. So there was no genjutsu after all and I sighed in relief. It turned in left so I was sure it was going into the centre.

I was just about to turn into the left when all of the sudden someone ran into me. We rolled on the ground for about a metre or so and we were just a tangle of arms and legs. I obviously didn't see anything because I kept my eyes shut from the impact and now I felt a heavy weight on top of me. I opened my eyes slowly and I saw a pair of black eyes look back. Suddenly I felt a jolt on the ground beneath me and before I knew it I was lifted into the air and so was the person who was just on top of me. Now that we were hanging up in a tree I could see who it was. It was none other than Uchiha Sasuke. What were the chances out of all the people I got stuck with I was stuck with Uchiha Sasuke. I thought to myself. Well I didn't exactly hate him but I probably didn't like him because I never got to know him. He was someone I kept my distance from. Two reasons, his fan girls and umm… Actually that was it his fan girls they kinda annoyed me… Cause really I had nothing against him it was more the people that followed him… The fan girls got pretty scary when it came to Sasuke so I decided it was best to stay away from them.

"How are we going to get out?" I heard him ask and it seemed that his hands were caught on something behind his head.

"You have any weapons?" I asked and he nodded. And I saw that his hands were tangled in the rope just behind his head.

"My hip pouch," he said simply. "My kunai holster came off when we were lifted into this thing," he then added in.

"Ok, I'll get a kunai out of your hip pouch and I'll cut your hands free," I said leaning over to reach for his hip pouch.

I still couldn't reach it so I moved in a little closer. Still I couldn't reach it. I leaned against his chest had I could feel his heart rate quicken. Now I placed a hand on his back trying to find where his hip pouch was. My hand hit something hard and I found what I had been looking for. I quickly opened it and pulled out a kunai.

"Ok, I've got it," I said taking out the kunai. "Sasuke, could you move your head forward a bit?" I asked. He did as I asked without any objections and I reached up to cut his hands free. This was a lot easier than what I thought it would be and in no time at all Sasuke's hands were free.

"Thanks," he simply said when I handed the kunai back to him. "Now to get out…

"We could cut a hole at the top and climb onto the tree and then down to the ground," I suggested looking at the three metre fall. Wait a second, three metre fall… Two metre walls. I thought and I quickly looked up and over the walls.

"Well let's get going," Sasuke said handing the kunai back to me.

"Sasuke, wait look," I said pointing the path that we could take to get to our Jounin sensei. "How about you and me work together just this once?" I then asked.

He seemed to consider the question and he then slowly nodded. We then got to work to cut through the rope. Once we cut it open Sasuke climbed out onto the tree first and offered me a helping hand up. I looked over the route that we needed to take.

"So… We go straight then right then left, then straight again and another left…" I said trying to remember the path.

"Ready to go?" Sasuke asked getting ready to climb down the tree.

"Wait a second, is that… Oh, don't worry," I said shaking my head and Sasuke paused for a second before processed to climb down the tree. I followed him down and he picked up his kunai holster and tied it around his right leg before I led the way. What I saw was the familiar hair colour of the mysterious kunoichi from the test but when I turned back she had disappeared. So I simply shook my head trying to forget all about it.

Straight, right, left we went and then straight again. It was all as I had seen it when we were up in the tree just a few more turns then we would make it.

"Why'd you help me?" Sasuke asked as we continued to run. "You could've taken a kunai and let yourself free."

"Maybe, I just thought it was the right thing to do. I couldn't just let you stay tied up there," I replied. No matter how much I wanted to become a Genin I thought it would be unfair if I had left him there unable to get himself out.

"Thanks, anyway," he said and we made a left turn.

"No prob," I said smiling. "We're almost there."

We now where left with a straight path leading to a small clearing where the Jounin sensei stood. We both started to sprint the last few metres and we made it to our sensei.

"Well done Kagami," I heard Asa-sensei say when I stopped in front of him.

I looked up at him and smiled. "Thanks," I managed to say through gasps of air. I looked around and it seemed that Sasuke and I were the first ones to make it to our Jounin sensei.

I walked around in a small circle trying to catch my breath and I saw Sasuke sitting down on a log to the back of small clearing. I walked over to him and took a seat on the log next to him; I made sure I still kept my distance though, just in case Sakura or Ino arrived.

"You guys going to enter the Chuunin Exams in a few months?" I asked suddenly.

"Maybe," he replied not even turning to look at me. "How about you?" He asked.

"Dunno," I shrugged. "Maybe if I can improve to your level," I said and this time he looked at me. It was only for a brief second because right then someone else had come.

I looked up to see Kiba. I had a feeling he found this task easy because he could get Akamaru to smell out where the Jounin were. He said something to Kurenai and then walked over to us.

"Hi Kiba, I see you made it," I said offering him a seat on the log.

"Of course, what else would you expect from me?" He said grinning and taking a seat on the log.

"Hi Akamaru," I said scratching the back of his ear.

"When'd you get here?" Kiba then asked.

"Oh just a few minutes before yourself," I replied. "I'm sure your team would definitely become Genin. Hinata has her Byakugan and Shino with his bugs. They'll find this place easy."

"Well you found it pretty quickly I'm sure the rest of your team could too," Kiba said trying not to make me feel bad.

"Yeah, I found it because I got caught in a trap with Sasuke and the only way out was the three metre drop or into a tree taller than the walls," I said and at the mention of Sasuke I saw him tense it was only for a second but it had happened. "We made our way from there."

He nodded thoughtfully for a second and we just sat there in silence. A few minutes went by and sure enough Hinata and Shino arrived. So the first of the Genin teams were decided. Kiba had gone to join the rest of his team and I stayed sitting on log hoping that someone from my team would come next.

We continued to wait as the time ticked by. The others might have found it a lot more difficult not really having much to aid them. And then again I guess if Sasuke didn't run into me, I never would have been caught in the trap and I never would have seen the route to get to the Jounin. I just wanted to know where my team mates were. But I guess I could just wait; there wasn't anything else I could do. A few more minutes and Shikamaru strolled in casually looking as lazy as ever. Not too long after Ino and Sakura arrived at pretty much the same time on opposite ends of the clearing.

"I beat you, Ino," Sakura yelled across the small clearing.

"Are you kidding me? I was here first!" Ino yelled back

I shook my head they were arguing over a small matter once again. I sighed and stood up from the log I couldn't take it anymore. Where are my team mates? I screamed inside my head and it was almost as if Tamasine heard me because at that moment he arrived.

"You made it Tamasine, well done," Asa-sensei said at the sight of him.

"Hey Tamasine," I said. "You know where Toshi could be?"

He shook his head from side to side. "I only found this place because I heard them," Tamasine stated jerking a thumb at Ino and Sakura who were still yelling.

"Oh, ok… I guess anyone could hear them and find this place," I said nodding.

Naruto, Chouji and Toshi were the only members remaining who had to arrive and they were each from different teams. And to make matters worst we weren't allowed to leave until everyone arrived. Half an hour passed and yet nobody came. I was starting to get frustrated but I did my best to contain myself. An hour went by and I now I really couldn't deal with it.

"Where the hell are they?!" I yelled throwing my hands up into the air. I was sitting cross-legged on the ground and a few people turned to me. I sighed and turned my back to them, I sat there staring at one of the two possible entrances that Toshi could come from. Because I remembered the Hokage saying we wouldn't be near our team mates. So, people on the same team would be on different sides of the maze. I could have been wrong but it made sense. I was then covered by a large shadow and looked up to see Tamasine standing just a little behind me also looking at the entrance. Then it hit me, I had an idea.

"Hey Tamasine, how tall are you?" I asked getting up and standing next to him. He was probably 7-8cm taller than myself so I had an idea of how tall he would be.

"Maybe about 155cm," he replied looking at me with a questioningly look.

"Do you think you could hold my weight?" I then asked ignoring the look on his face.

"Yeah, I guess so…" Tamasine said. And before he could really finish I pulled him into the entrance.

"Hey Kagami, what are you doing?" Asa-sensei asked as he saw us leave.

"Don't worry we're not going very far," I called over my shoulder to Asa-sensei.

We then went around the first corner and I finally let go of Tamasine. I then turned to him and said. "Put me onto your shoulders so I can see over these walls."

He looked at me for a moment but he then did as I said and helped me up onto his shoulders. I then slowly, making sure to keep my balance, got up onto a standing position on his shoulders.

"You right there Tamasine?" I asked looking down on him.

"Yeah, like I thought you're really light," Tamasine replied looking straight ahead.

"Ok, hold in there just for a bit," I said.

I then looked at the area in front of us. I scanned the place for any sight of Toshi. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. And it turned out to Chouji; he was close to the clearing so we had to hurry. Damn it he's almost here, I said to myself continuing to look over the maze. My eye then caught something bright orange a little further away but still somewhat close to where we were. It was obvious that it was Naruto and if we didn't hurry it would mean that our team wouldn't be able to become Genin. I scanned the area again and I saw him he was just a little way off. Left, right, right, left I said to myself.

"Ok, can you put me down?" I asked and Tamasine carefully placed me onto the ground. "Ok, I found his position and I'm going to go get him and bring him here. The other two are close so I'm going to have hurry. Get back to the clearing and just wait for us ok?" I explained.

"Ok," he said and I started running through the maze.

In no time I found him. "Toshi, this way," I said and grabbed his arm and started running to the clearing.

Right, left, left, right I went and now we were up to the final corner. We made it back in next to no time at all but guess what… Naruto and Chouji had come in just a few moments before.

"Damn it," I said under my breath letting go of Toshi's arm. "They beat us…"

"Hey Kagami, don't be too bummed out you did well," Asa-sensei said coming over to Toshi and I with Tamasine not too far behind.

"I'm really sorry… I just have no sense of…" Toshi started to apologise but I held up a hand to stop him.

I then turned to him and forced a smile. "Don't worry about it. Everyone has a weak point and I guess I would've been lost as well if I didn't get stuck in a tree," I said laughing slightly.

"Stuck in a tree?" Toshi repeated with a questioning expression and Asa-sensei too had the same look.

"Oh, well when I was running Sasuke ran into me and we landed on a trap. To get out we had to climb into a tree and it was taller than the walls so we were able to see were the centre was easily," I explained to the two of them. They then nodded and Toshi looked at me still with a questioning look.

"How'd you find me?" Toshi asked.

"Oh, yeah I forgot to mention that. Well we were told that we weren't allowed to stand on the walls but he never said we couldn't stand on each other's shoulders. So I stood on Tamasine's shoulders and I found the route to you. There was nothing to it," I said shrugging the matter off as if it was nothing.

"Well you really thought it through didn't you Kagami," Asa-sensei said a small smile appeared on his face.

I nodded and looked over to the group that would now become Genin. I was upset I'll admit. I really did try hard to become a Genin I just guess it was never meant to be. The jutsu keeping the walls up was then taken away leaving us in a large clearing in the middle of the four training grounds. Seeing as the teams that would become Genin were now decided it left us with nothing to do. While the other three teams made their way to the Hokage building we had no where that we needed to be.

"How about I treat you guys to lunch?" Asa-sensei asked. "After all you did try your best."

"Yeah that sounds great," Toshi said smiling.

"Ok," Tamasine replied in a calm voice.

I could feel my eyes well up with tears and my vision went blurry. I wiped the back of my hand over my eyes to get rid of the tears but some still managed to fall down my cheeks.

"Kagami, how about you?" Toshi asked in a quiet voice.

"N-no, I just need to go home I don't really feel like going out, not today," I said slowly trying to hold back the tears. I started walking back to my house my head down so no one saw the tears that had escaped from my eye and were now running down my cheeks.

"Ok, we'll see you then," Toshi called but I didn't turn back to him.

I had been walking rather slowly so it was about half and hour or so before I made it back home. I pulled out the keys to the house from one of my front pockets and opened up the door. When I walked inside I quickly passed by the living room where Haruko was doing some paperwork not wanting to talk to him at that time.

"How'd it…" Haruko started to say but I quickly ran up the stairs and into my room.

Once I closed the door to my room I leant against it a slid to the ground pulling my knees to my chest. I couldn't hold back the tears anymore, so tears started to run down my cheeks with no way of me stopping them. I went to run a hand through my hair, something that I often did to think on the positive side of thing or calm myself down, but I felt the cold metal of my forehead protector. In a fit on anger I took the forehead protector off and threw it across the small room. There was a loud clatter as in hit the floor and then I placed my forehead on my knees trying to think of something positive and forget about the events that just occurred.

-----------------------------------

So that was the third chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I tried my best to add the emotion in the end, it would be great if you tell me how I did. It might take a little longer for my updates now because school holidays are coming to an end. I'll do my best to update every week but I don't know what might happen.

Until next time

Liteflame