Do not under any circumstances expect constant updates because those will one day be my downfall. Here's the next chapter!

'Beep, beep, beep!'

"No." Takami moaned from her bed as the shrill of the alarm clock filled her ears and woke her from her slumber. "Five more minutes."

A tan hand rose from under the pile of comforters and knocked the alarm clock off of the table, effectively silencing it.

"Isn't that how you broke the last one?"

Takami poked her out from under her covers and stared at her brother who leaned in the doorway.

"Shut the hell up Katsu." She had just woken up and wasn't in the mood for his crap this morning.

Katsu held his hands up in surrender. "Jeez, calm down Taka-chan. I just came to warn you that Suzume was attempting to make pancakes but I guess I could tell her to make extra just for you."

Takami shuddered at the thought. Since their mother was heavily pregnant and into her seventh month, Takami and her siblings helped out around the house to lighten her load. Although somehow the task of cooking fell upon their older sister who couldn't tell salt from sugar if her life depended on it. Suzume was definitely skilled (she had to be to graduate at the top of her class in the academy) but she certainly was not skilled when it came to the culinary arts.

"You wouldn't dare." Takami glared.

"Oh Suzu-" Takami leaped from her bed with a burst of unnatural speed and clamped her hand down over her older brother's mouth.

"Alright fine!" Takami groaned in defeat. "I'm sorry!"

"For what?"

If the well being of her stomach wasn't on the line Takami would've strangled him.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Katsu smiled. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Takami rolled her eyes. "Whatever," She shoved Katsu out of her doorway. "Now get out, I gotta get dressed."

"So cruel Taka-chan!"

"Shut up, i'll bring you something back."

"Yakisoba and a milk tea please."

Takami slammed the door.

~o~

Ayato sighed as he grabbed a bottle of ice tea off of the shelf. At five forty-seven in the morning the convenience store was starting to fill up with early risers such as himself. He turned around to head to the register when he collided into someone else and they both went sprawling across the dingy white paneled of the convenience store.

"Fucking hell..."

Ayato sat up to see Takami, one of his teammates standing up and brushing herself off. She picked up what looked to be a plastic bag full of items that she had just bought and offered him her hand.

"Sorry about that." She said. "I was kinda distracted and I guess I wasn't looking where I was going."

"It's alright." Ayato replied as he was hauled to his feet. "I was distracted too."

He picked up his forgotten tea and headed to the register to pay for his drink. It was already five fifty-three and their sensei said to meet her at the trainning grounds by six.

"That'll be ten ryo." The cashier drawled as he blew a bubble with his gum, he was obviously trying to savor peacefulness of the store before the morning rush officially started.

"You're not getting anything to eat?"

Ayato ignored the urge to jump and turned his head instead to see Takami leaning over his shoulder, judging his purchase with hardened hazel eyes. Her face reminded him of the look his mother would give him when he would skip meals to train.

Ayato was brought out of his thoughts by the crinkling of a bag of seaweed chips as it was set down next to his tea.

"You like seaweed right?" Ayato didn't even have a chance to voice his answer before the cashier rung up the chips and his total was brought up to fifteen ryo.

What. The. Hell.

Ayato searched around in his hip pouch for the stray coins he'd put in there before he left and pulled a hand full of coins back out.

He was two ryo short.

He was about to put the chips back when Takami handed five coins to the cashier.

She turned to Ayato. "hurry up and pay so that we can get there in time. The training grounds are pretty far and by the way it's looking now we'll barely make it if we run."

Ayato nodded and handed the cashier his money, he then stepped outside of the shop just in time to see the sun start rising.

"Shit! We need to hurry!" Takami exclaimed, her mouth full of the melon pan she'd just bought and Ayato wondered if her cursing would be a regular occurrance.

She took off towards the trainning grounds and Ayato followed. He looked at Takami as she ran ahead and then at the bag in his hands that held his tea and the chips she had forced him to buy.

Troublesome.

~o~

Harume cheerily skipped onto the wide field just as Ayato and Takami arrived.

"Good morning!" She yelled as she broke into a run with the intent to tackle-hug Takami. Takami quickly sidestepped her advances and Harume was met with the ground. Ayato looked at her in disbelief as he sipped his tea.

"Takami," Harume whined "You're so cruel!"

Takami shrugged. "So i've been told." She then helped Harume up. "Besides, I told you to stop doing that yesterday."

"But it's fun!"

"Well it's not fun for me!"

Ayato slowly inched away from his teammates and sat under one of the many trees that littered the training grounds. He looked at the bag that held his chips.

He didn't even like seaweed.

"Are you gonna eat them or what?"

Ayato quickly fought the urge to jump for the second time this morning as Takami appeared next to him. Seriously, How did she keep doing that?

He shook his head. "I'll eat them later."

His mother had taught him to always be polite, especially when something nice was done for him and even though seaweed gave him a stomachache it was still a nice gesture.

Takami smiled and sat down next to him. "Just don't forget about them."

Ayato frowned in confusion. "What?"

"O-oh i'm sorry!" Takami exclaimed, her face red with embarrassment. "It's just that every time my brother has chips he loses them and when he finds them they're beyond stale."

Ayato nodded. "Where's Harume?"

Takami shrugged. "She's probably around here somewhere."

Ayato was about to nod again when a scream was heard in the distance.

The two genin shared a look before jumping up in worry.

Before they could even make it two steps they were met with a poof of smoke and their jounin sensei standing before them, a giggling Harume hugging her legs.

"Note this for future reference brats," She growled "I am not a morning person and this," She pointed to the still giggling genin hanging onto her. "is not allowed to be around me until at least 11am."

Ayato and Takami nodded, not wanting to get on her bad side. "Yes Mai-sensei."

"Alright then," Mai smiled while shaking her leg in a vain attempt to send Harume flying. "Get this thing off of my leg and we can get started."

~o~

Ayato stood at the edge of the clearing as Mei and Harume matched each other blow for blow. He could barely keep track of their punches and kicks as they fought. He startled out of his thoughts as Harume miscalculated their sensei's next move, her arm had risen to block another punch but Harume was instead met with a kick to the stomach. Harume quickly jumped away to avoid another kick.

"Pretty good brat," Mei smirked. "But it'll take more than a few hits to take me down!"

Mei then turned to Ayato. "How about you kid? You wanna try?"

Ayato shrugged, surged forward at a speed that would've been deemed impossible if it wasn't for the yondaime being faster and dug the kunai in his hands into Mei's shoulder. He would've been successful if it hadn't been for Mei's quick reflexes.

Ayato dodged a kunai strike to the head and aimed for her leg. Mei blocked again. This was going to be harder then he thought.

The objective was simple, beat Mai-sensei in a fight or get sent back to the academy. They could use any means necessary as long as they stayed within the borders of the training field and didn't receive outside help.

"Ayato get outta the way!"

Ayato barely managed to get down before Harume flew over his head, attempting to send a punch towards their could-be sensei.

Mai caught her foot and sent her flying to the ground. Harume jumped up as if her back hitting the hard ground didn't phase her and went in for another attack.

He sighed as Harume was thrown to the ground again. From observing her he guessed that Harume wasn't really one for planning out attacks, she hit first and asked questions later. He couldn't really get a grasp on Takami's fighting style because she disappeared into trees that surrounded the field a while ago and he hadn't seen her since. Ayato pushed the thought to the back of his head, worrying about Takami wasn't gonna help him beat their sensei.

Ayato's train of thought was cut of as Harume was thrown into him and they both went crashing into the grass.

"Ow..." Harume moaned as she sat up and rubbed her arm. Mai-sensei punched her so hard that she flew and if her arm wasn't broken from the force of that punch it was at least sprained.

Her battle plan wasn't working. Mai-sensei was just too fast for her and it didn't help that she kept predicting her moves. She needed someone to distract her so that she could have time to form the handsigns for the jutsus she wanted to use. She'd have to stick to the academy basics.

"Harume get off of me." Ayato said in a clipped tone from under her. Harume quickly scrambled off of his back, she didn't want another hurting arm.

Ayato got up and brushed the grass off of his pants and stared at Mai-sensei who stood observing them, a bored look in her eye.

"You brat's done or are you looking for the third member of your trio?"

Harume perked up at the mention of their missing teammate. She turned to Ayato, "Hey where's Takami anyway?"

Ayato shrugged.

Takami looked down at her teammates from a vantage point of one of the many trees on the training field. It was time to make her move.

She reached into her hip pouch past the spare change and kunais rattling around and pulled out a spool of chakra wire she had "borrowed" from her sister. Suzume hadn't been on a mission in months and Takami doubted she would notice that it was missing.

Let's do this. Takami set the wire aside and pulled out three kunai with explosion tags tied to the ends. She then laced the stolen wire through the holes in the handles of the kunai and tied it.

Takami smiled at her handy work and swung her creation around. She swung it until it was spinning at a reasonable speed and then through it towards her sensei. With practiced hand movements she flew through a couple of handsigns and detonated the explosion tags.

Screams and gasps of surprise were heard as Ayato and Harume covered their faces and scrambled for cover.

She waited until the smoke covered the area and then pulled out a small square piece of paper.

Here goes nothing. Takami thought as she looked at her thumb in fear. She reluctantly bit down on the tip until it bled and then wiped it on the seal that was written on the paper. The whole biting your thumb thing really unnerved her. It was one thing to slice your thumb with a kunai but it was a whole different thing entirely when you had to bite yourself so hard that you bled.

Takami formed the handsigns for the summon and with a poof of smoke a small dove appeared before her.

"Hi Takami-chan!" She squeaked. "Hows your mom doing? I hear the baby's coming soon."

Takami attempted a bow. It was kind of hard considering that she was perched in a tree.

"Hi Shiro-chan. My mom's doing really good actually! She's hoping for another girl."

"She doesn't know the gender?"

"Well you know my mom, she's really old-fashioned and loves a good gamble."

Shiro laughed—well she came as close a bird could come to a laugh, it sounded kind of like a high-pitched squawk. "That's great! Now, is there anything you summoned me for?"

"Oh yeah, can you check that spot over there?" Takami pointed to a small crater in the middle of the training field that still had smoke rising from it's center. "I detonated an explosion tag and I need to see if my sensei's still alive."

Shiro nodded in understanding and flew in the direction of the smoke. After a few minutes she came back with a worried expression across her face.

"Takami are you sure you detonated them correctly?"

"Huh?" Takami asked with a frown. "What do you mean?"

"She probably means," A kunai was swiftly put across her neck. "That you shouldn't underestimate your opponent and expect them to be dead after a poorly aimed explosion."

Takami barely saw Mei's smiling face before she was pushed from her perch in the tree and she crashed into her startled teammates below.

Harumi moaned in pain as Ayato's elbow dug into her stomach and Takami dug her nails into her arm in an attempt to get up. This was harder than she thought it would be.

"You brats aren't really earning your keep." Mei said as she gracefully jumped down from out of the tree. "In fact, I have half a mind to to take away your headbands right now."

Harume let out a soft growl as she struggled to her feet. Bruised stomach and injured arm be damned, she wasn't done just yet.

"No more games!" She yelled as she surged forward and went through a flurry of handsigns. "I will become a shinobi!"

Harume lost patience. She didn't have the time to sit around and wait for a distraction anymore.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Fire spewed from Harume's mouth as she sprinted towards her sensei. This was one of her strongest jutsu, if this didn't take her down then she was sure nothing would.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

Harume's fireball was met by a large stream of water spewing from her sensei's mouth and Harume could barely contain her dread as steam spread over the field.

It happened quickly.

First Ayato was feeling his way through the steam and then in an instant, when the steam cleared he was tied to a tree along with his teammates.

"What the hell?" He heard Takami growl to his left. "What the fuck just happened?"

"We lost." Ayato said. And it was the truth. With all their hands tied behind their backs and an additional rope keeping them pressed against the bark of the tree there was no way the fight could continue.

"Fucking bullshit! Are you serious?"

"I'm sorry." Harume said quietly, it sounded like she was about to burst into tears. "I just got so angry and I wasn't really thinking when I did that last jutsu."

Takami sighed. "It's ok Harume, I was kinda overconfident in my skills and I made some mistakes too."

Ayato felt his teammates stares and sighed for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Don't sigh at us Ayato," Takami said as she somehow managed to maneuver her elbow to catch him in the ribs. "You're a human being too so you probably made some mistakes too."

Harume giggled.

Ayato ignored the throbbing pain in his side (Seriously how sharp was this girl's elbow?) and thought back to the fight. Had he made any mistakes to confess?

The way he gripped his kunai.

Flawless.

He took care as to not slip on the grass that was still fresh with morning dew.

An excellent use of observation skills.

He remembered his fight against sensei and how he waited until Harume was out of the way to begin fighting and how he gave her the same courtesy.

Oh.

"I tried to beat sensei on my own." Ayato muttered. "I didn't inform you of my plans or the strategies I made."

The three genin went silent as realization washed over them.

"Oh my goodness." Harume muttered in shock. "None of us even attempted trying to work together."

Ayato was tempted to bang the back of his head repeatedly against the tree for his stupidity. It was a test about teamwork.

"Are you kidding me?" Takami yelled and Ayato was surprised that she didn't curse. "It was a fucking teamwork test?"

The surprise was gone.

"Took you brats long enough." Mei smirked as she jumped down from her perch within a tree. "I thought I was gonna have to keep you guys out here until well after midnight."

She reached down and untied the genin, freeing them from the tree. She looked at them with a smile.

"You pushed me out of a tree in the name of teamwork." Takami deadpanned as she brushed off her shirt. "What kind of shit is that?"

"That, oh-so-very-annoying student of mine is ninja shit. Get used to it because stuff like that happens everyday."

Takami muttered some very colorful words under her breath as Harume jumped in excitement.

"Does this mean—"

"Yup, you guys passed the test!"

Harume screamed in joy and Ayato had the urge to cover his ears with his hands so that they wouldn't pop.

"We're ninja!" Harume cheered. "We're real ninjas now!"

"Alright, settle down kid." Mei laughed. "I got something to say."

Harume immediately quieted and Takami stopped muttering things to herself. Ayato just turned towards her.

"Now," Their sensei started. "I really don't feel like giving this speech to you guys because it's too long and also because I only remember part of it so i'm just gonna give you the gist of it. Being a ninja is hard so don't get uppity just because you can do a few jutsu, teamwork is important, and I "

The genin nodded their heads, understanding the short explanation.

"Alright then, tomorrow we'll meet in front of the mission room at eight o' clock to take our first mission so get a goodnight's sleep."

And with that, their sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke.

~o~

"Do you think the other teams' tests were as hard as ours?" Harume asked her teammates as she examined the apples on a nearby fruit stand. "I mean, we can only assume that every sensei gives a test right?"

The three newly-turned genin had all decided to walk home together after realizing that they all lived in the same general direction and after the minutes of awkward silence that had settled over them Harume decided to break it.

"Who knows?" Takami shrugged as she sipped the milk tea she bought for her brother (She was thirsty and she doubted her brother would remember their agreement anyway). "It would most likely depend on who takes the test but I think that ours was probably the hardest."

"Oh look!" Harume said as she pointed to three people walking down the street towards them. "Isn't Makoto's team?"

Ayato looked up as Team 5 came closer. As they came more into his line of vision he couldn't help but notice their tomato-red faces and the sweat coating their faces as they gasped for air. He also couldn't help but notice how Makoto was carrying Hitomi on his back and how Satoshi was leaning onto him for support.

What the hell? Weren't those two bitter enemies?

"Uh...Are they ok?" Takami asked with uncertainty. "They look like they're about to collapse."

Takami's observation rang true as Satoshi tripped over his own feet and plummeted towards the ground. Ayato surged forward and caught him in his arms before he could hit the ground.

His teammates quickly ran towards them, worry written on their faces.

"Are you guys ok?" Harume exclaimed as she grabbed hold of Makoto's arm to keep him from falling and taking Hitomi with him. "What happened?"

"No...more." Hitomi whined. "No m-more!"

"What does she mean?" Takami asked as Makoto snatched her tea out of her hands. She would've yelled at him but his predicament made her pity him and the fact that he could still hold Hitomi in place on his back with only one arm left her in awe.

Makoto took a long drink of the tea and gasped for breath.

"Sensei—he challenged us to a spicy ramen contest." He started. "If we won we got to stay genin but if we lost we had to go back to the academy."

Takami felt the urge to punch them. Ichiraku's spicy ramen was nothing to cry over.

"We ate about twenty seven bowls each."

Takami paled. That was just as many bowls as the bright orange boy who was always at the ramen stand when Takami went with her brother to escape their sister's cooking.

Ayato suddenly felt respect for Team 5, they went through all of that to earn their keep as ninjas.

Hitomi lifted her head up and Harume could see tears falling down her cheeks. "No more ramen!" She cried. "My tummy hurts."

Makoto handed the almost empty tea bottle back to Takami and shifted Hitomi on his back, he then motioned for Ayato to push Satoshi towards him.

When he did Makoto maneuvered Satoshi's arm to hang around his neck and they started walking. "Thanks for the help you guys." Makoto smiled through his spicy ramen induced state "I gotta get these two home so see ya later."

Harume and her team waved as Makoto carried his team down the road.

"Wait!" She called and Makoto turned around with a questioning look on his face. "Did you guys pass?"

Makoto smiled. "We still got our headband don't we?" He said as he turned around and continued down the street.

"Man, i'd rather fight Mei-sensei a thousand times over in a no-holds-barred cage match then to go through what they went through." Takami sighed as she eyed the tea bottle in her hand.

The rest of her team could only nod in agreement.

It took an annoying amount of time to finish due to school and procrastination but I did it!

Please don't expect regular updates because it won't happen. Don't trust people like me to be on top of that stuff. I will take you to museums, and parks, and monuments, and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible, and when you leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people.

I'm still accepting ocs for cameos! Civilian ocs are welcome too. :-)