Hi again! n.n I'm really sorry XD but this is like, half a chapter. I was at 4000 words, with no sign of coming close to where I had wanted to end it, so I decided to cut it off at about 3000 something XD n.n;; So I apologize if it's freakishly long, if the next one's really short.

I apologize in advance for all the craptastic cheesiness that is this chapter.

But please enjoy! and please review n.n it really makes my day.

Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto

Kotone's eyes fluttered open reluctantly, as her partner shook her shoulder. She propped herself up on her elbows, blinking stupidly at the boy kneeling next to her. He rolled his eyes as she flopped back down, pulling her pillow over her head stubbornly, groaning her disapproval.

"Kotone, don't be an idiot. Come on."

"No,"

"We should be practising-"

"They gave us the day off. Why don't we relax for once? Or go to the village! Zabu kun, it's been three years. Actually having some fun for once won't kill us, will it?"

"You know it might." He sighed, the muffled reply coming from under the pillow had been frustrated, and weary. As always with this time of year, their teachers were inexplicably distracted, and the training had been easier, but the months of backbreaking lessons and training were clearly taking a toll on the little nine year old. Himself as well, though he hated to admit it. "This is a good chance to improve. If we get stronger, this'll all be easier." When that yielded no response, he changed his tactics, smirking, and inclining his head slightly. "Besides. Your chakra control sucks. I think I've seen the first years do better." A pillow smacked him squarely in the face, his partner lazily getting to her feet, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She glared at him for a moment, before sighing and giving him a feeble smile.

"You're a real jackass, you know that?"

"I know. Isn't it great?" He dodged another toss of the pillow, turning, and taking off as his partner chased after him, laughing, as neither of them had done in a long while. He felt a weight collide with his back after a few paces, as she tackled him, his shoulder connecting painfully with the cold, hard ground, and he found himself pinned by a still-laughing Kotone, who was looking down at him with her best Cheshire-cat grin. "Gotcha."

"Ok, ok, you've got me," he frowned when she began to laugh harder. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," She got to her feet, allowing him to sit up, as she stifled a giggle with her hand. "You smile so rarely, Zabu Kun. I forget how pointy your teeth are. It's cute."

He grimaced indignantly, clearly taking offence at being referred to as 'cute' in any way. "Let's grab some food, then go. We should get to work, the others are all out at the training grounds already."

"Ok, ok," She answered defeatedly, as she strode over to the now almost empty table on which they found food, and tossed him a slightly stale piece of bread. "Aw man! This's all that's left."

"That's what you get for sleeping in, lazy."

She sighed, finishing the bread quickly, before skipping off down the hallways. "I'm going to go take a shower! I'll meet you there."

He nodded curtly. "I think I may do the same." With no set schedule, It'd be nice. Not to mention that the other boys were probably out already, and that would make things infinitely less awkward.

"You should, Zabu kun. You kinda smell bad." She shot over her shoulder, much too happily.

'You smell worse!' He shook his head, as the childish words died on his tongue. He wouldn't dignify that with an answer. Tearing a chunk off his breakfast, he started down the hall, other hand jammed in his pocket casually.

His footsteps echoed down the cold stone corridor, as her's faded, his pace slowing as he mentally appraised the condition he was in. Better than usual. Not too exhausted, a few bruises, and healing cuts, but otherwise, okay. His partner was still suffering a sprained wrist from a few days earlier, that had never been given the chance to heal, but otherwise she was alright.

He chuckled to himself weakly, wondering when 'Not in total agony' had become his standard for 'alright.'

But Zabuza was a profoundly stubborn being. It wasn't a case of "failure isn't an option" with the soon to be ten year old. It wasn't even a consideration. He told himself he'd do something, and he did it. End of story.

At least, that's how it had always gone before.

Now, he felt himself begin to falter. The perpetual aching, and pain, that on some days became almost unbearable, but he trained through it anyways. The constant cold, that might actually have been worse than the pain. And the panic. To keep up, to succeed to make sure that he didn't wake up dead the next morning. Somewhere at the back of his mind, he'd began to wonder if that would be best. To simply succumb to the fatigue, and the anguish. It would certainly be the easy thing to do. Occasionally, there'd be a hazy look in his partner's eye, one that he knew meant she was contemplating the same thing.

But no. He wasn't the type to give up. And didn't think she'd be, either.

The boy did what he always did when things got difficult. Pushed on. Continued. Kept going. It was simple, but it had never failed him before. Put one foot in front of the other, keep kicking, keep going, breath in, breath out. Hang on until it's all over. Refuse to fail.

If there was one thing Momochi Zabuza hated, it was losing. And death, as far as he was concerned, was simply losing in it's highest form.

'It's worth it. When this is all over, when we're genin, this'll have been worth it.' He couldn't imagine how many times he'd repeated that to himself, as he lay awake at night, too sore and stiff from the day's training to possibly have any hope of a peaceful night's sleep. It helped considerably. It was enough to keep him going.

Even the boy, who had never set so much as a foot outside of Mizu no kuni, could see the plain fact of it. Their village was, quite simply, in shambles. They were the smallest of the great shinobi nations, and by far the poorest. As they'd been told on their first day of training, three years earlier, The ninja were the village's main asset. The shinobi's strength was the village's strength.

Perhaps, he had hoped, if the village's shinobi became strong enough, their situation would improve. They'd get more missions, their country would get more money, and their people could finally stop starving, and freezing to death, as he almost had before being picked up by the academy. If they- if he - became strong enough, maybe things would get better. He liked to think that. That he could be of some good to the village, help fix things.

Of course, he'd been angry at the harsh treatment they'd received, but it seemed less shocking now. Wether he'd rationalized it, or simply dulled himself to it, it was no longer infuriating. He'd been horrified when the others had first started dying, but looking back at it, what did it matter? They'd died on their own, it was their stupid faults for allowing themselves to be killed, after all. A ninja's life isn't for the weak. And besides, all of the kids who had been living in the street would have died come winter, anyways. They'd been given a chance to survive, and they'd lost it.

In his short life, he had learned quite a bit about how the world worked. First and foremost, that life guaranteed nothing. A person had to fight for what they wanted, be it food, a home, or simply survival. They had to get it for themself, with their own blood, sweat and tears. Of course, when he thought about it, occasionally, that wasn't the case. Sometimes things were simply dumped on you, wether you wanted them, or not. In his own life, he could only think of one such thing.

It was small, loud, and wore pigtails.

He sighed at the thought of it, and it was something he hated to admit, but through all the brutal training, he was always thankful for his annoying little partner. He often called her stupid, and he knew that wasn't exactly true, it seemed that during classroom work, she had proved to be unusually bright, and usually figured things out fairly quickly- which only made her often foolish behaviour even more irritating. But nevertheless, her talents balanced his out well, and they'd managed to pull themselves out of everything the academy's training had to throw at them. They kept each other warm, they kept each other sane, and most importantly, they kept each other alive. In his three years of study, he'd actually gotten pretty attached to the vexing little, aspiring-Kunoichi. The bemused smile that had found its way to his face dropped, as he heard hushed voices from around a corner.

"Why the heck did I get stuck babysitting? I wanna watch, damnit!"

He peeked around the stone wall, darting back after taking a quick scan of the scene. Two jonin, one female, and a chunin were huddled in a deserted corridor. It was the male jonin who had spoken, the other snapping at him immediately.

"Quiet, idiot! Do you want one of the brats to hear you?"

Zabuza stopped dead, taking a slow, tentative step closer, before flattening himself against the wall in the shadows the lights from the hall cast. Nothing made a conversation quite as interesting as the knowledge that he wasn't meant to hear it. He was always ready to test out his stealth skills, and knowing that he got the drop on three full-fledged ninja would by highly satisfying. So he slowed his breathing to a deep, inaudible pace, as he had learned to, straining his sharp ears for the harshly whispered conversation.

The chunin shuddered, teeth gritted. "Five years, and I still haven't gotten over mine." Zabuza could see the older boy, perhaps fifteen, shifting nervously.

The woman shrugged. "It was easy for me, I couldn't stand my stupid partner. Good riddance."

"There'll be how many this year?"

"We've got a hundred, so, fifty. At the most, that is. I've seen two kill each other before."

"Damn it. We're probably gonna lose more of next year's too. Less than thirty, then. Stupid kids, keep freaking dying. Weak little morons... We're getting less and less who... graduate, each year."

Zabuza's frown deepened, as he continued to listen to the older shinobi, in confusion. 'What are they...?' He listened for a while longer, his blood turning to icewater, as the true meaning of their words sank in.

vvvvvvvv

Kotone sighed, kicking her feet distractedly as she sat perched on a fallen log, besides their training grounds. Sometime during the tail end of their second year, each pair had been told to find a place within a certain range, to steak out as their own, for a training area. Her partner had instinctively wandered to the very edge of their limit, finding a little spot directly near the water's edge. It was quiet, and secluded, which had made him happy. And it was pretty, which had made her happy.

There was a fair drop between the grassy cliff edge, and the waves below. It was a good obstacle while sparring, something to be mindful of, but not dangerous enough to be a real hazard. They knew this, as both had fallen off a fair number of times during practice, and were always alright. Not to mention that the close proximity to water was invaluable, for practising the suiton jutsu they were being taught.

On days like that one, the fog rolling off of the waters made the fall seem endless, white sea foam fading into pale grey mist and black storm clouds overhead. It was going to rain again, she noted gloomily, inwardly cursing the island's frigid, humid, maritime climate. 'Some summer this is turning out to be,' She muttered. 'Summer' meant very little in Mizu no kuni, the July weather more closely resembling February, that day.

She pushed herself to her feet once again, trotting over to the edge of the small slope where the trees grew denser, hoping to catch a glimpse of her still-absent partner. He was late. Incredibly late. Not that she wore- or owned- a watch, but she knew it had been several hours since she had reached their training spot, and being late for anything was so unlike her often unbearably serious friend, that she was sincerely worried.

She glanced over at the thick, splintering target, fixed to a tree off to the side, that they'd made the week before, using the cheap, shoddy materiels they'd been given. Senbon and shuriken stuck out at various angles, mostly around the centre area, but her focus was on the single kunai embedded to the target's left, within the tree itself.

Another example of the boy's particularity was his habit of leaving his kunai ( for budget reasons, the third years received one kunai each, to be repaired as often as possible, and only replaced if absolutely necessary) stuck there, wether for safekeeping, or as he had replied sarcastically, after she asked him about it several times, 'To keep myself from killing you in your sleep.' Had joking, empty death threats not been common between them- and most other students- she might have found this insulting.

Her clear blue eyes had returned to the dark clouds overhead, and she crinkled her nose disapprovingly, as a single, cold, rain drop landed squarely between her eyebrows. Kotone gave up waiting, and started back, deciding that if he wasn't there by now, he wasn't going to be. Something would have held him up at home. The raindrop hadn't travelled alone, obviously, and it's companions followed after, in quickening succession, as it began to rain in earnest. The girl pulled the hood up on her sleeveless, purple sweater, exhaling noisily as she tucked a stray strand of dark hair inside. It would do little to keep her warm, but at least her hair would stay dry. She quickly broke into a run, the sooner she got back, the sooner she'd be warm again. Of course, the cold, she could handle, but cold and soaking wet? Hypothermia was not at all appealing to her.

Luckily, the rain stayed light as she raced down the dirt and gravel paths, now growing muddy, reaching the main cliff side where the academy's entrance found itself. Their training ground was simply a small outcropping, but this place seemed to be built into the side of the island itself, ridiculously high up. A moderately wide pathway, more resembling tunnel, which was open on the ocean's side, winding it's way downwards, to the only way into the academy. The height and exposure of the path had terrified her at first, but three years later, it's danger had somehow become less impressive.

She smiled in relief, finally finding herself out of the rain, as she found herself now in the dark, cool stone hallways, making her way expertly between countless, identical hallways, which snaked in to the cliff side, soon finding herself approaching the dormitory her year had been assigned.

Her face brightened, as she spotted her partner, sitting on his mat, amidst the other children who had returned to escape the rain. "Oi!" She giggled happily, taking off in their area's direction. He had a reason, of course, he certainly wasn't one for playing hooky. He had gotten in trouble, she assumed, smiling lopsidedly. One of the teachers must have made him do some menial task, like cleaning shuriken, or tidying a classroom, for some small offence. Bumping into a jonin, perhaps. They were incredibly irritable, some days.

"Zabuza kun, where were you? Aw, I tried working on that stupid Mizu Bunshin jutsu, but I still can't do it. I think I got something, but it didn't hold up. I really need your help with that one, you got it right away! It's so unfair!" Her rapid pace, both of speaking and running, slowed, and died, as she reached the boy, who was sitting propped up against the wall, deep-brown eyes downcast, his dark hair shadowing his face. He hadn't looked up, or reacted to her presence in any way, and was whispering to himself fervently.

She knelt next to him, leaning down to see his downcast face, blinking at him intrusively. His eyes were listless, and dull, not really focussed on anything as he continued to stare through her. It was unsettling. She could only really catch bits of what he was muttering lifelessly. "They can't... It's not fair...Damn them... damn them all..."

"Zabuza Kun...?" She sat back nervously. "Are you... are you alright?"

A smile twitched across her partner's face. "I heard some of the jonin talking." His voice was a dry, unnerving sort of quiet. Almost mocking. "Do you know where everyone is today? Why we're not training? Hm?"

"No, I don't." She answered hesitating. "But I had wondered." She knew to be patient, and not to aggravate his obviously fowl mood. Zabuza rarely rambled, and when he did, there was always a point. She just had to wait for him to make it. However, the slightly disturbed smirk on his face was beginning to make her question the intelligence of this.

"The fourth years. They're taking their final exam, today."

"Oooooh, that makes sense!" Kotone beamed, though now thoroughly bewildered. "But isn't that a good thing?"

It was as though she had inadvertently made some sick joke, which the boy found frighteningly entertaining. A bemused chuckle escaped her partner, and grew, until his head lolled back against the wall, and she found him to be quietly cackling maniacally to himself, sharp, predatory teeth exposed. Somehow, it didn't seem cute anymore. "You really are stupid, aren't you? Do you have any idea what the exam is?" She just stared at him, looking hurt, and on the verge of tears. Something he noted with no small amount of disdain.

"I get it now. It all makes sense... It's ingenious, when you think about it... Why do you think they pair us up like this? Did you honestly think it was random? Look around. What did you call them... Shinju and Hiraku, right? Brother and sister. I think there's a set of twins in the second years. Look at the rest of them. Look at us. The kids from ninja families are together. They paired the pitiful little street brats like us together, as well. People who had something in common. They wanted us to get along. They wanted us to be as close as possible."

"I still don't see how that's bad-"

"We're nothing to them. Nothing. We live, we die, it's all the same. They're actually just waiting for us to kick the bucket. Makes no difference them one way or the other. Because we're only useful if we're strong. And we're only worth something if we're useful. We can't do anything right, either. We can't succeed. Because if we do, we're only meeting expectations. A kunai can't do well, but it can break. That's how ninja are. We can only fail. We're tools. Weapons. That's it, that's all. I get it now. Our lives mean nothing to them."

It took Kotone a moment to recover enough from her own confusion to realise that he had gotten to his feet, and was stalking away towards the door. "H-hey! Wait, where are you going?"

"Don't know." He grunted, without looking at her.

"Hey, you shouldn't go out alone in this weather, wait for me-"

He turned around suddenly, his left hand clasping her outstretched wrist, his other grabbing her by the front of her shirt, yanking her forward, and off balance. She let out a small breathy gasp, glancing hesitantly at the boy's face, which was set with a cold sort of fury. There was a fierceness behind his eyes, which were narrowed into a steady glare. His grip on her arm tightened, and she winced, "Z-Zabzua kun... please stop...you're...you're hurting me..."

"Leave me the hell alone,"

His teeth were clenched, and his voice shook with rage, as he released both his hand's hold on her, letting her crumple painfully to the ground.

"Pathetic,"

He turned on his heel, and continued as he had been going, without so much as a glance over his shoulder.

This seemed like a good place to cut it off XDD Yeah... So he's gone kinda crazy XDD sorry If I overdid it. Oh XD And yes XDD I know that the Mizu bunshin no jutsu is definitely above academy student level XD I was kinda trying to illustrate how hard they're being pushed, or something like that XDD n.n;;

Anyways! Thank you so much for reading this XD I hope you're enjoying it. Please review, and have an awesome day!