Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto. If I did this story would actually be in Naruto, and Shino would be mine. I do own my Oc's and the plot. That's about it.

Warning- I looked it up, and it said that about nine months passed from the time they graduated to the Chuunin exams, but I'm making it come a bit sooner, so please don't get mad at me. :D Enjoy!

Decisions and Thievery

Over the course of the week, I quickly brushed off the few thoughts I had about Shikamaru. I reasoned that the only reason I had thought those things was because he was cute and I hadn't actually hung out with my friends I a while. So I would shrug and smile, knowing it was nothing.

Though, of course we had a few D-rank missions that week, and Hiroshi was working us really hard when we trained. Right now we were walking dogs around dogs around Konoha for several different civilians. I was walking two dogs, one a really big one (I'm not sure what he is though) and he was a big sweet heart, and the other one was a smaller terrier looking dog, who kept yipping and wanting to chase things.

Kaito and Roka each walked two dogs as well, and we had almost finished, the homes of the dogs being only a little ways away. In fact, Kaito turned and knocked on a door while Roka and I waited for him. Kaito came back blushing and missing a dog. I giggled.

"You couldn't have taken the poodle? Why did I have to have the damn fluff ball?" Kaito asked me, embarrassed. I laughed at him, and kept walking.

"Because I don't want to look girly." I told him, giggling. He huffed.

"With those attacks of yours I think the last thing people would call you would be girly." I smiled.

"Aww, so you really do like me Kaito!" I joked, and nudged his shoulder. Roka and I laughed when he flushed an even deeper shade of red.

"Shut up!" He glared at us.

Since we had become a team, each of us had changed. Kaito was able to sit still for longer, and joked around a lot now too. Roka wasn't so shy and nervous around us now, and wasn't terrified to crack a joke every now and again. Hiroshi was the same as always, hyper and annoying. Although we could never understand his strange training and mission schedule, we had all developed a fond spot for him.

Roka dropped off his dogs; they both belonged to the same person. Then Kaito delivered his last dog, and I still had mine and we had another block to go. Roka and Kaito were nice and stayed with me instead of going on ahead to the barbeque place where we were going to meet Hiroshi for lunch.

"Hey, how's that little owl coming along?" Roka asked. I smiled, but before I could answer, someone jumped off the roof of the house next to us, on to the street in front of us. I groaned and rolled my eyes when I saw who it was.

"So you decided you like dogs after all, eh?" That annoying voice said. I scowled, and kept walking.

"No, I've always liked dogs. I just don't like mutts." I answered nonchalantly, while smirking. Roka and Kaito followed me, but Kiba caught up and walked on my right. I rolled my eyes.

"What do you want mutt?" I asked, annoyed. I knew he was smirking.

"Just wondering if you all knew about the Chuunin exams coming up." He said.

"Yeah, what about them?" I asked, as I approached the first house of the dogs. A man answered and took the terrier. I kept walking, but put myself between Roka and Kaito.

"Did your sensei put you in them? 'Cause mine did. Told us yesterday. I guess if you weren't told yet, your sensei didn't think you were strong enough." He told us. Two seconds later, Kaito had him pinned against a wall with a kunai at his throat.

"Wanna say that again, mutt?" Kaito snarled. I smirked. Kaito didn't like to be told he was weak. He had had a disease when he was a kid, and everyone had thought he was going to be too sick to be a ninja. That's why he's so scrawny and pale. But he had exceeded their expectations, and had become a genin. I turned to look at them. Kiba looked surprised, but I noticed he didn't have Akamaru with him.

"Come on Kaito, I'm hungry. Leave him alone." I said, walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder. He nodded and walked over to Roka.

"Besides, we don't want to have to put Kiba in the hospital before the Chuunin exams, now do we?" I said snottily as we walked away.

"Like a fatso like you could beat me!" He called out angrily. I froze. Roka put a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. You're certainly not fat." He said comfortingly, while Kaito glared at Kiba. I smiled.

"I know. I'm curvy, and he's jealous he can't have me." I said loud enough for him to hear, and then we walked off before he could respond.

Kiba blinked. What the hell? That retort had always worked! Curvy? She wasn't curvy, was she?

He looked at retreating form and studied closely. She certainly had hips, he noticed. He remembered when she had stood right in front of him. He flushed when he recalled her chest had gotten a bit bigger.

Alright, so what? She was curvy. He didn't care. She was still an annoying little brat. He hadn't even seen her fight, and that was the only thing that mattered. Whether you were strong or not. He shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, and walked the opposite way.

I sat across the table from Hiroshi and Kaito, with Roka on my left. We were eating, but Hiroshi looked troubled. I set my chopsticks down. They all looked at me.

"Hiroshi-sensei, what's wrong?" I asked quietly, staring at him. He bowed his head, and set his chopsticks down as well.

"I-I entered you all into the Chuunin exams." He stated quietly. We all stared at each other amazed. Roka looked anxious.

"Do- Do you really think we're ready? We just became genin not that long ago." If it were a few months ago, I know I would've yelled at him for saying that. But now I couldn't help but agree.

Hiroshi picked his head up, and gave us a look of determination. "I know you all are ready. Whether you realize it or not, you are all strong, smart, and excellent genin. I know you'll make it. Especially since you all have such good team work. I'm only nervous because you all have similar qualities, you won't be able to defend yourself against all of the attacks. Here, these are your applications." He held out three slips of paper. We each took one and studied it. "You don't have to take the exam. It's completely up to you whether you take it or not. Sign it and bring it with you to Room 301 at the academy, six days from now. Oh, at three in the afternoon too." He stood up, and threw some money on the table.

"I believe you guys will do well." He told us, smiling. I was scared, so I stopped him.

"Wait! What if- What if we don't do well? Will you be disappointed?" I asked cautiously. He smiled and walked over to me. He ruffled my hair and I cringed while he laughed.

"What ifs are pointless when you already know what's going to happen. You all know you'll do fine. You don't have any missions so you have time to rest up for the exam. Ja ne!" He disappeared in a puff of smoke. We all looked at each other.

We finished our meal quietly, thinking things over. I finished, and made up my mind. I stared at them both.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm going to make my dad proud. Quitting is for pre-genin who don't know how to throw a shuriken. I'm not a quitter." I told them decisively. Kaito nodded.

"I agree. I'm going." He said to us, and we looked at Roka. I gave him a soft smile. He looked troubled.

"Don't worry Roka. We're not going to pressure you into it. Take your time to decide. Don't go just because we will." I told him comfortingly, putting a hand on his shoulder. He surprised us both when he picked his head up, and gave us hard, determined looks.

"I'm going. I refuse to sit by like a child while everyone else makes something of themselves. I'm tired of being the scaredy-cat." He told us. We looked at each other and grinned. I threw my arms around him, in a hug.

"That's it Roka! We're so proud of you! You'll become a powerful shinobi one day, you know." I told him, as he blushed from the attention. Kaito nodded.

"Well, I'll see you both later, kay?" I told them. They nodded, and I walked out. I smiled as Jun flew down onto my shoulder to greet me. I patted his head, and started for home.

I frowned as I walked down a busy street. What was all that noise? I jogged over to a jewelry store, where a bunch of noise was coming from. Just then, a suspicious person ran out clutching big bags that were jingling. He knocked me over as he ran as fast as he could away from the store.

"What the…?" I asked as I stood up. A big man rushed out of the store, shaking his fist in rage.

"GET BACK HERE WITH MY JEWELRY!" The big man shouted after the mysterious person. I gasped.

"Did that man steal?" I asked. The man nodded as he started to weep. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get it back." I told him. Before he could react, I was chasing the person with Jun soaring overhead. I was the fastest out of my team, so it was no surprise that I caught up to him quickly. But he headed into the forest quickly. He upped his speed, so I did the same. I had to be fast to keep up with our birds, so it was no trouble for me.

He dropped into a clearing, and I followed. I gasped when I saw a little girl tied to a tree. Wait a second! I had met that girl before! She was Kaito's sister! I felt fury rise up in me as the man turned and faced me. He was heavily clothed, so I couldn't see much of him. He held a Kunai at the girl's throat.

"Don't come any closer! I'll kill her!" He warned. I snarled, but stayed where I was.

"What do you want?" I yelled.

"I want the First Hokage's scroll of sealing! Bring it to me, and I'll release the brat." I gasped. There was no way I could do that. I crossed my arms in front of me, and placed my weight on my left leg, smirking.

"And if I say… No?" I asked smugly. He frowned.

"You want me to kill her? I will!" He said.

"Pfft. Like I give a crap about her. Just another whining brat if you ask me. You'd be doing us all a favor." I told him, smirking evilly at Kaito's sister. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she struggled against her ropes. He looked like he was at a loss of what to do. While he was distracted, I moved in a blur and placed a bunch of twigs in the girls place, and jumped up onto the tree with her, while removing the cloth from around her mouth.

The man looked dumb-struck. "How the hell did you do that?" He screamed. I pointed behind him. He looked back and saw "me" disappear in a puff of smoke, and there was Jun instead. I flashed Jun a signal, and I threw down a smoke ball.

"Stay here." I told the girl. She nodded, and I jumped into the smoke. Jun flew at him, which made the guy jump back in an attempt to get away, but I appeared and kicked his chest. He flew into the air. I jumped so I was above him, and threw three kunai which lodged in his chest, and gave him a huge punch so he slammed into the ground.

"Did you get him?" A scared voice asked. I looked up, and saw Kaito's sister looking terrified on the branch above me. I nodded in a satisfied way, and she grinned. I walked over to where the man was, but when the dust cleared, I saw it was just a big stone with three kunai lodged in it. I gasped and looked around. It seems he escaped. I frowned.

"It's okay, you can come down. He fled." I told the girl, and she nodded. She jumped down, while I grabbed the bag of jewelry. Why would he run? If he felt confident enough to kidnap a girl, he must've known he was going to have to deal with shinobi. He would've had to have thought he was strong enough to take on at least Chuunin. Why would he be so easily defeated by a mere genin? I wasn't cocky enough to think I could really be stronger than him.

I shook my head. It was okay. It didn't matter as long as I had kept Kaito's sister safe. I gave her a piggy back ride home, and delivered the jewelry back. The man tried to give me a reward, but I refused.

"A shinobi's job is to protect his village. We don't expect anything in return." I told him with a smile. He smiled and thanked me again. I nodded and went home. I wonder what Kaito and Roka are doing?

Yosh! So, before the Chuunin exams, it seems they gave everyone a test to see if they were ready. Go back and look and you'll see it's true. I admit, I wasn't very creative, because it was a lot like Naruto's test, but whatever, right?

Alright, so I'm postponing the voting thing for now. If you really want to, you can go ahead, but it might be a while before I use them.

Next up: Chuunin exam! (The first part)

P.S. I'd love some reviews! But you don't have to if you don't want to. I totally understand, because I don't usually leave them either. ^-^

-Ash