QUICK CREDITS: Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Kakashi Hatake, along with the series, belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Hana Uchiha is MY character, along with Hikaru and Niigata. Aibara belongs to midnight6606. Ringo Hyuga belongs to Sunsetfire of Shinobi Way.

Don't Wither, Don't Wilt ... chapter 4 - A Year Goes By.

A/N: This is just a narration of what happens over the next year, so sorry it's super short!

----on with the story. xxxxx3!

To Akeko Niigata's disappointment, she went on to mentor the three genin to becoming better shinobi. They went on multiple D-Rank missions the days afterward, and they, time and time again, proved that they could work together. Hana quickly considered Aibara one of her best friends, a term she had only used once before, for Hikaru. Ringo was also becoming a good friend, though the fact that she was short, and an Uchiha, gave multiple reasons for Ringo to tease her. Sakura even suggested that it was because he liked her, but she doubted that.

Near mid July, the Chuunin Exams came, and this time they were being held in the Lightning Country. None of them had ever been that far north, but it was a nice visit, while it lasted.

At the end of the first round, they were given a test. It wasn't to difficult for Hana, because she had helped her brother study most of this stuff two years earlier. But at the end of the test, they were given the option to either take the chance on getting a near-perfect score to pass, and possibly fail and loose their status as Genin, for good, or leave and take the test next year.

Hana and Ringo had both seen how fearful Aibara looked, and decided silently to raise their hands. They wouldn't put Aibara through this, they didn't even want to take the chance. On the way back home, Hana and Ringo received a lecture from their sensei, who was not really happy with their decision. The two didn't care though, they merely sucked it up and nodded when necessary.

When they returned, they had all decided to go to Hana's house for the night. Aibara had already asked, and Ringo didn't want to hear his parents complaining about his failure at the Chuunin exams. Hana didn't know they had planned this, and was welcomed home by Kakashi, Sakura, and Hikaru - it was a surprise thirteenth birthday party, and she was surprised.

Hana spent that night enjoying her gifts: A new outfit from Sakura, this time a red top and white shorts. A book series from Kakashi, one she had been hoping to get. Four glass roses from Hikaru, which she hugged him for. Five Cd's from the boy band that Hana had been obsessing over from Aibara, she also hugged her for this. Ringo gave her a camera that took both film and digital pictures, and she wondered why he spent so much money on this and then hugged him.

What surprised her was the black katana lying on her bed, in a lovely sheath. It was fit for her small size, and had flowers engraved on the hilt, along with an Uchiha crescent in the midst of the flowers. There was a note on top of it, it said: Her name is Hissori Ryuu, or Quiet Kill. I had it made for you, since this would be around the time for the Chuunin Exams. Use it in the future, you'll find her quite useful. Happy Birthday, Baby Sister.

And indeed she did. After that, the team spent more of their time on C-Rank missions. Not many of them involved fighting, but there were the occasional drunkards that kept harassing ladies at night, and someone had to take care of them.

This would continue on for the next year. Ringo, Hana, and Aibara found their love for each other growing into a strong friendship, alongside their increasing skill. Niigata was a harsh sensei, and didn't think their friendship was true, but only a way to convince her that they could work together. But as harsh and strict as she may be, she did a good job at training them. She wouldn't hold back during spars, and rarely helped during the more dangerous C-Rank missions.

By the time of Aibara's thirteenth birthday, on November 10th, she was giving Niigata-sensei a hard time during training. Aibara received a gift of jutsu scrolls from her parents that year, a hug from Hana along with a lucky charm, new kunai knives from Ringo along with a hug that Hana made him give her, and from Niigata-sensei, she helped her figure out her element - which happened to be water - and started teaching her water jutsu.

Suddenly, sensei was teaching the three genin all of these jutsu according to their elements. Along side the suiton or water typed moves Aibara was learning, Ringo was learning futon or wind typed moves, and Hana was learning some well-needed katon or fire typed moves. Niigata-sensei told the Uchiha that someday soon, she'd try teaching her some raiton, or lightning typed moves.

By the time winter rolled around, temperatures had become cool in Konoha. It didn't snow here often, but it was cold enough as it was. Ringo's fourteenth birthday showed up, on December 8th, and he received at least twenty cards from his siblings and relatives. Aibara gave him a bear hug and some new shuriken, while Hana gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek - which made him blush madly, like the girls had been hoping - along with a specially made dagger, which he seemed very pleased to get.

It was passing by to quickly, Hana noted when the team had all slept over at her house that night. It was snowing for once, even though it all melted when it hit the ground. They were all snuggled under a blanket, with hot chocolate in hand, and had decided to rent old samurai movies. They spent that night watching the movies, until Aibara had fallen asleep with her arms around Hana. The two laughed at this, and turned the television off. Neither of them complained when they spent the next few hours talking. They decided to talk to Niigata about the winter exams tomorrow. When Hana finally fell asleep, she leaned her head against Ringo's shoulder. A few months ago, Ringo would have pushed her off, but now he just smiled and fell asleep with an arm around both of the girl's shoulder, and his cheek leaning against Hana's silky black hair.

The next day Ringo and Hana were disappointed. Their sensei refused to let them enter the next Chuunin Exams, which were supposed to be held in Suna that year, saying neither of them were ready. They had guessed this much. Later that day, Aibara promised that she would be ready by the next summer exams, and Ringo said not to worry about it.

Winter passed quickly. Squad 5 spent most of their time training and doing missions, along with sleeping over at Hana's house. Ringo said he couldn't wait until he moved out, because he hated living with his parents. And until Aibara's parents moved to Konoha, she didn't really have much of a home. Hana enjoyed having her friends over, Hikaru even joined them sometimes. Sometimes it even felt like she had a family around her, and she enjoyed that feeling.

Spring came, to Hana's delight, but left so quickly. It would be a hot summer this year, she could tell already. By May, Konoha was getting prepared for the Chuunin Exams. Since this would have been the first time Konoha had hosted the Chuunin Exams since the Third's death, this would be a big deal.

This time, Hana, Ringo, and Aibara wouldn't take no for an answer. They'd enter the Chuunin Exams, along side Hikaru's team who would be entering for the first time. It was their time to shine, and they couldn't wait.

.xx

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It had been two and a half years since he had been in Konoha. How he loved this town, and the people in it. Already, he had to test his abilities to Kakashi-sensei again, and he had 'till the afternoon to prepare. Well, he had had some ramen, and was just hanging around with Sakura. He went through the list of things he could be doing, and picked one out randomnly... Okay, well not so randomly. He loved Chibi like she was his own sister!

Naruto Uzumaki didn't even bother knocking on the door to Sasuke and Hana's house, he just opened it up and walked in like he lived their. There were three kids sitting around a table - they had some snacks out but just seemed to be talking. Two of them, a white haired girl, and a Hyuga, seemed heavily surprised to see him, but not in a nice sort of way. Chibi, on the other hand, jumped up to her feet and literally jumped to hug him.

Naruto yelped, but the force of her leaping-hug made him fall backward on the wood floor. Sakura was laughing behind him and so was Hana, who got off quickly to make sure he was okay. Damn, had she grown up. She was wearing grown up clothes, and was obviously getting a chest... "Geez Girl! You've really grown up!" Naruto laughed. Hana was smiling widely, which he was happy to see. When Naruto left two and a half years ago, that girl never seemed to smile.

"Chibi, who's this?" The Hyuga asked. He had a protective tone to his voice, and he stared at her a little more fondly then he did at Sakura or the white-haired girl. It had to be her boyfriend. Naruto got up to his feet and held out a hand.

"Uzumaki Naruto, at your service!"

The Hyuga didn't even bother shaking his hand, "Hyuga, Ringo," He didn't seem to care, but glanced over at Hana, "Is this really your brother's teammate?" Hana nodded an answer, "Well he annoys me," Hana laughed slightly, like she wasn't surprised by the fact.

"Naruto, you know Ringo, and miss White Haired Wonder over their is Aibara. They're my teammates," Hana introduced her teammates confidently.

"So you graduated! Great!" Naruto said cheerfully, and went over to whisper something to Hana, "Is Ringo you're boyfriend?" The Hyuga shot him a funny look, and Hana instantly went beet red.

"N-no... He isn't, Naruto."

Naruto grinned, "Cool! I think we'll get along great then!"

.xx

.xxx

Niigata-sensei glanced between her three genin. They had all grown a lot since they had first graduated as complaining little brats. She had taught them as much as she could in the past year, so she guessed they were ready, "Okay, you guys can enter the Chuunin Exams," Aibara squeaked and hugged her at these words.

"Oh~ thank you thank you thank you, Sensei!" Aibara squealed. Niigata smiled. If she was excited about this, they were certainly ready.

"You're dismissed for the day. I need to go sign you guys up."

"Hai, Sensei!" The team yelled in unison, and turned to leave. Niigata watched them leave.

Ringo snickered and pulled out a little book, Hana and Aibara glanced to him, "Guess what? I found a book on cheating at the library," He laughed and handed it to Hana.

Hana shook her head, "You? In the library? That's impossible," She flipped through the pages and laughed, "This book is ridiculous," The girl threw it back at Ringo and raced ahead, "First one to the bridge gets to rent the movies tonight!" Hana laughed and started sprinting.

Ringo was after her in a heartbeat, followed by Aibara, who's run could have easily been mistaken for frolicking.

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QUICK BIO: Aibara Okinawa

Birthday: November 10

Element: Water

Family: Two unknown parents.

Appearance: Pure white hair, always brought up in a pony tail, and beautiful violet eyes. She also has a very nice tan.

Clothing: She usually wears tanks, with short shorts that aren't to short. This girl seems to carry around a new weapon every day.

Guess What?: Aibara was only in one post with Ringo and Hana on our forum, she never showed up again. The plot was started over for a second time about a month after it was started over for the first time, and her creator, my precious Midster, just never got around to re-making her. Midster doesn't know this, but she was kept alive by plots in my head, and this is how she got her part in the story.

She used to have black hair with green eyes, and a wicked out fit that I can't even remember anymore. Her personality was different - her and Hana were originally meant to be rivals, over Ringo.