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"I don't know who you guys think you are, or what you are doing trying to act like ninja, but let me tell you something," the unknown silver haired jounin sensei said to them as soon as the eraser hit his flyaway hair. "

You are weak. Useless. And most of all, a hazard to the village."

The three genin in the room looked at him in surprise, not really expecting the statement…or really the man who had walked in. He was quite peculiar if one of them were to give their opinion, walking with a slouch and not even dodging a blackboard eraser. If they didn't know that this person was supposed to teach them, they wouldn't even suspect he was a jounin had they walked past him.

Slowly, the man leaned against the wall, giving them all a very intense look, before finally, his lone grey eye settled on the orange clad boy in the room.

"Ah, yes. Uzumaki Naruto. The famed village pariah…So much to say about you that I don't even know where to start. Alright Mister 'I'm going to be Hokage one day', may I ask how you plan on doing that when you couldn't even maintain a D-average in the academy? Oh wait, that might be a bit too much for you. You were so bad that you warranted a whole new grade in my opinion. Maybe something like 'H'? That sounds a bit right. All you really care about is playing pranks on people. I suppose that's what comes from having such care-free, ignorant personality…" He paused, lazily scratching his arm. Sasuke and Sakura were too surprised to even say anything though, because really, they obviously didn't see the belittlement coming.

The slouching man yawned loudly, covering his mouth then pulling out an orange book which had a suspicious looking cover. If Sakura were to take a guess, she would think that it was a R-rated novel. But maybe she was just jumping to conclusions.

They stayed in silence for maybe about five minutes, the only sounds coming from the pages being turned. It was quite awkward, because none of the two genin knew what to say. Naruto, of course, wasn't about to say anything, considering his depressed and crushed state. Not so surprisingly though, the grown-up in the room, didn't look one bit as uncomfortable as the other two.

"Next victim," their new sensei stated, finally breaking the awkward silence. But still, he did not look up from his book. Slowly, almost like he had all the time in the world, he turned the page, and started.

"Uchiha Sasuke…they call you a prodigy…don't they? Everyone constantly praises you, saying that you're abilities are far above average. But really…all I see is a boy with…issues." The single word was enough to transmit everything that the man wanted to say, and the one other genin whose hopes and dreams hadn't been crushed yet could only gap in surprise. Sasuke was so shocked that his normally emotionless visage was reduced to a sputtering mess, yet the rage inside him was clear. One single word it seemed, was all that it took to take the Uchiha down. "Issues," the jonin had sneered.

"And don't think I have nothing to say about you Miss Haruno Sakura…quite frankly, I have tons to say, but I'll spare you the details," he said. "You graduated top of your class, only tying with our favorite Uchiha here…your skills are that of a low class chunin too…Tell me Sakura though, you come from a civilian background, don't you? And apparently your daddy dearest left the village when you were six and some long lost sister came to take care of you? Who is apparently a jounin? My my…doesn't that sound awfully suspicious?" He drawled, sounding like for all intents and purposes, he didn't actually care if she told him or not.

But Sakura did care. What did he know about her? Or her sister? Did he know that Luna was an illegal citizen of the village? And did he also know about Kimimaro? He didn't mention her whiter haired adoptive brother but still…he could be purposely omitting that little tid bit of information. And if he did know the truth, was he going to report them? Tell it to the Hokage? More importantly…the man was clearly waiting for a reply! Should she lie? Or simply not tell him the whole truth? Her sister had taught her how to lie selectively, it was part of her interrogation course that the older girl had put her through, and as great as she was at it, Sakura doubted that this man was easy to trick. Lazy and uncaring as he seemed, he just didn't seem like the type. Alright…lying selectively was the best choice. Because then he-

"Well, I suppose that's not important at the moment…" the charcoal eyed man drawled, cutting off her thoughts completely, leaving the emerald eyed girl to stare at him in surprise. "But, I will find out eventually.

"But despite all that I have just said, I still can't change the fact that I have become your jounin sensei. And the Hokage won't let me fail you like I did all the other teams. So, because I actually have to put in the effort, I will damn well do a good job of it. So, starting tomorrow, I'll put you all through the most brutal training you have ever been through, and I'll make sure that you hazardous useless pieces of lard turn out to be one of the most widely renowned ninja of your generation. Because I can't have my name being tarnished by some moron trio. And the Hokage threatened to strip me of my status if I fail…meet me tomorrow at training grounds seventeen. At four. You'll find a map posted on your backs

Then snapping his book shut, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving three bewildered genin in his wake.

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused, now more or less out of his funk. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other before nodding and experimentally groping at their backs, eyes widening in surprise when they did indeed feel a piece of paper taped there.

"W-what? When the hell did he do that? And how could we not notice?!" Naruto exclaimed, he too tearing off the paper from his jumpsuit. His cerulean eyes perused the contents for a while and at first glance, it would seemed that he actually understood the diagram. That is until his whole face turned into one of incomprehension.

"Sakura-chayyyn!" He whined like a baby. Sakura rolled her eyes in exasperation at his antics.

"Really Naruto, what were you during class? You're holding it the wrong way you dumbass," she said, whacking him up the head and turning the paper around in his hand, making the north arrow face forward.

"Oh! You're so awesome Sakura-chan! Thank you!" He exclaimed, a look of understanding now dawning on his face.

"Hn. Dobe." Sasuke said with more hostility than usual, making their pink haired teammate raise an eyebrow.

"Teme!" Naruto retorted loudly, shaking his fist at him trying to be intimidating.

"Tch," the onyx eyed boy replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets, along with the paper. Sakura was watching him though, and she could see that he still hadn't calmed down. It was amazing what one word could do to a person actually, making even an Uchiha seethe with anger.

'And we all know how emotionless they are…' Sakura thought, thinking back to her brief encounters with Itachi as a child.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow then," Sakura said, she too putting her paper in her pocket and heading to the door. "Naruto, don't sleep late or you might drag us all down during training. Remember, teamwork is key. Even if you don't think so, Sasuke."

"See you tomorrow Sakura-chan!" Naruto called after her, his previous despair forgotten, albeit his tone was a little softer than normal. Maybe what their teacher had said had made an impression.

"Bye Sakura," Sasuke said to her, and giving them both a small but reassuring smile, she left the room, and then the academy.

'Dear Sakura,

By the time you read this, Kimimaro and I would have already left the borders of Fire country. I have held up my end of the deal, now it is time for you to hold up yours.

Do not bother coming for me until you can at least land one hit on Kimimaro.

Luna.'

Sakura put the letter down with shaky hands, not registering the tears which were splashing onto the page.

Already out of fire country? But it took a whole day to do that! But Sakura supposed it wasn't too much of a shock, considering how fast those two were…but it was all so sudden! No goodbyes, nothing to even indicate that they were about to pack up shop and leave! This morning started out like normal, nothing out of the ordinary. So why would they just leave? Had she done something? But she couldn't remember doing anything wrong….

"No," Sakura said firmly, roughly wiping away her tears.

She had done nothing wrong, that she knew. Really, when she thought about it, it was expected. How naïve could she have been to think that her Onee-chan would stay with her forever? The deal was for Luna to train her and make her strong and be one of the best kunoichi, in return for Sakura to be her servant. Her shield and sword and be prepared to die for her, which Sakura would gladly do.

There was no way to describe how grateful and thankful the pink haired girl was to her sister. The white haired girl had shown so much generosity, and kindness, taking her in and caring for her. Always being there, and also molding her into a ninja. Her sister had also taught her many things, from jutsu to fighting styles.

Sakura knew that Luna was only doing this so she could be strong enough to be of use, and at one point in time, Sakura had even wondered if she even cared, if she wasn't just wearing a damn good façade. But even with the possibility of false affection, Sakura still loved her Onee-chan with all her heart, and put her before anyone. Even if she were to kill herself, she would do it in a heartbeat.

Because really, her sister didn't need a useless tool.

So after wiping away her tears and blowing her brains out in a tissue, she stood tall with a determined smirk on her face.

She would become strong. Stronger than anyone, and she would serve Luna, no questions asked.

"The chunin exams are coming up," an only slightly interested voice remarked offhandedly.

"Are they?" Was the nonchalant answer given by the burgundy haired man who was doing some paper work.

"They are," the first voice said. "Will you be attending?"

Now the red head looked up, his bright yellow eyes giving the teen all his attention. Said teen didn't seem deterred though, only shifting to move a green bang away from his face. Not that it made much of a difference, considering his shaggy spiky hair just fell back down. "Why the sudden interest, Kenji?" He asked, slowly putting down his pen and leaning back in his big plush looking chair, looking every bit the important figure he was.

The green haired boy shrugged, his matching sunshine colored orbs looking bored. "Luna's minions will be participating. You remember them, no? The Kazekage's son and that…other girl."

The other man in the room stood, and regally walked to the window, overlooking the whole parish. He remained quiet for a while, tracing patterns on the window, the big empty white circle displayed proudly on his back.

Kenji watched patiently, shifting deeper into the comfortable couch. Once more, he wondered what was going through the older man's red clad head. Did he miss their sister? Was he curious about her whereabouts? Personally, yes, Kenji could admit that he missed the white haired girl, if only a tad, but he "saw" her often. Being sent on missions a lot and all. Sometimes they crossed paths, other times he heard news about her from his contacts…she was seventeen now, wasn't she? He hadn't spoken to her for about two years give or take. Last time he saw her, the green haired boy was on a diplomatic mission in Konoha, and even if she was henge'd, he could recognize her telltale yellow eyes anywhere. They had nodded at each other but that was as far as communication had gone between the two siblings.

"Perhaps I shall make a brief appearance then," the other man finally said, slim fingers drumming against the windowsill. "Just to see if she hasn't been wasting time."

"Oh, but she hasn't," the green haired boy pointed out. "She has made many diplomatic allies during the past few years. The Kazekage being one of them."

"The Kazekage's alliance will soon be useless," the diplomat in the room stated, turning away from the window and walking the few paces back to his chair, but stopping just behind it, his hands resting on the seat.

"What do you mean by that, Sozai?" Kenji asked, now actually interested, seeing that he finally called the older man by name.

"You shall see in time," he stated. " You must get started on preparations then. After all, we only have five months left. Things need to be done. You of course, shall be my personal guard. I need no one else…I'm in the mood for something sweet. Go get me a muffin." .

"I am not your servant," Kenji said, rolling his golden eyes but standing up nonetheless.

"True," Sozai said with an amused smirk on his face. "But you are my younger brother. And you are my tool. In both cases, I rank higher than you."

"Nice to see how humble you are, oh honorable brother of mine," the green haired boy said, bowing mockingly.

"Just go get the cake you imbecile," the burgundy haired man demanded, throwing a pencil with enough force to kill a lesser man.

Kenji just chuckled and disappeared in a swirl of dried flowers.

"Good morning my ugly little ducklings!" The silver haired man exclaimed sarcastically once he appeared in a puff of smoke. "My my my…don't we all look quite chipper today ne? I hope all that enthusiasm will last the whole day!" He said to the three genin who looked like they were about to pass out.

At six o'clock in the morning. Two hours later than scheduled.

"YOU'RE LATE!" A fact which Naruto didn't neglect to mention. The silver haired man in question just waved his gloved hand carelessly.

"I saw a kitten all alone this morning," he said to the three genin, "and it looked so helpless, so I just had to take it back to my place and give it a bath and some food. Poor thing didn't even want me to leave."

It was silent for a while. The trio pondering in their heads whether or not to believe their new jonin sensei. There wasn't any particular reason not to…BUT! His excuse sounded a tad bit fishy to them. In the end, they just decided to let it go and nodded halfheartedly.

"Um, sensei, Sakura pointed, changing the subject to something more simple. "You never did tell us your name."

"Oh. I guess I didn't," he said, walking forward towards the big giant gates in front of them, blocking the genin's view of the training grounds. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. But really, that's the least of your problems." They watched, curious as he put his hand under a chakra scanner then punched in a few numbers. So they gathered that this place must be dangerous if it had such tight security.

"Welcome to training grounds seventeen!" He exclaimed brightly, turning towards them with what they assumed was a grin on his face. "This will be your new home for the next two months. I hope you'll come to love it as much as I do!"

"What?" Sakura asked confused but before she heard the reply, Kakashi appeared behind her in a flash and before she could register anything, she was out, the last thing she saw being the falling bodies of her teammates.

Next thing she knew, she was crumpled uncomfortably under a pile of bodies feeling like a piece of crap.

She roughly shoved off the still slumbering Naruto and Sasuke before standing up and taking note of her surroundings. But as soon as she saw them, she was convinced that she was still knocked out because this was surely some messed up dream.

All around her was barren dry land. No trees, animals or water in sight. Even the absoulutely clichéd tumble weed just rolled past.

How could a place like this even exist in a lush and tropical village such as Konoha anyway? Did Kakashi expect them to survive here for the next two months? Well, they'd probably be dead before the end of the week. Sure maybe there were some lizards and snakes around that they could eat there would be the water problem. Luna had taught the pink haired girl many water jutsu because it was her second affinity (she had two because of her absolutely perfect chakra control), but she didn't have the chakra capacity to make water out of thin air. That was beyond her. Maybe someone like Naruto with the Kyubi's chakra could but she was pretty sure he didn't know any water jutsu. Or any other jutsu except the academy basics.

She walked around a little bit, leaving the two unconscious boys behind her to get a sense of the environment and she was right when she assumed that there was nothing. And it was so hot that you could see the heat sizzling above the ground. There were a few cacti scattered here and there and the occasional lizard also scurried by once in a while into patches of dried grass, but other than that, no matter which direction you looked, it was just dry rock. She supposed that this was a test Kakashi was giving them to test their worthiness.

She quickly turned back before she walked too far and possibly got lost and arrived just in time to see Sasuke roll out from under Naruto and stand up. He noticed her as soon as she came into range and tensed a bit, most probably thinking it was an enemy. He saw her pink hair soon after and relaxed.

"Sakura, where are we?" He asked looking around and prodding at the ground with his feet. Sakura took one more look around before shrugging helplessly.

"Training ground seventeen I suppose. But I don't understand how a place so barren could be in Konoha. It doesn't make sense to me." Sakura said to him, walking forward and picking up a stray stone which she started tossing up and down.

"I know," Sasuke said, plopping onto the ground cross legged. "Kakashi expects us to survive here for two months?"

"Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke," the emerald eyed girl suggested, sitting across from him, though wincing when her bum was poked by a sharp stone. "Show some respect. But yes, I think he does want us to. How though, I do not know. I suppose it's a test of some kind."

"Hn…" Was the simple response from the coal eyed boy. They remained in silence for a few minutes, both thinking about their current predicament.

"You know Katon jutsu right?" Sakura asked, just to make sure that at least they would have food in this barren wasteland.

"Yeah, some. Being part of my clan made sure of that. Why?" He asked, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"To be able to at least eat, no? Now the only other problem is water. I'm sure if we look hard enough we can find a source an-" But the pink haired girl was interrupted by a pitiful groan loud enough to wake the dead, curtousy of one Uzumaki Naruto.

"Sakura-chyyyaan! Where are we?" Naruto asked pushing himself up and rubbing his neck, looking dazed and confused.

"Obviously we don't know, dobe." Sasuke answered in her stead. Sakura tuned out the rest of their bickering and pulled out a scroll from her kunai pouch. The pink haired girl was just happy that she hadn't decided to leave it at home that day.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" She called out, swiping the scroll with her bloodied finger and soon after, a puff of smoke appeared, drawing the attention of the two boys.

"What do you want this time?" A lazy but irritated cat asked, lazily grooming its black paw. Sakura just rolled her eyes and ignored the rude tone.

"Well, I was wondering if you could please search out a water source for us," Sakura asked trying to be polite. "As you can see, we really need it."

"Whatever," And after that, the little feline was off.

"Woah…" Naruto said in awe.

Sucky chapter, I know...Really sorry about that too but people, it's spring break! No one has the time to stay indoors! And I sure hope you are all enjoying your's as much as I am!

THANK YOU ALLLLLLL SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCHOOOOO FOR THE REVIEWS! OH MY GOSH! FOURTEEN! I'M SOOO HAPPY \(^0^)/

I feel appreciated you know? I'm just glad you guys actually like this! And, to my new favorite guest reviewer, well, I'm weird too, so I don't mind. As for who is Luna's brother in the political sense? Well, I'm not telling, but we did get a little glimpse of him this chapter so I'm pretty happy.

As for Kimimaro? Well, considering the fact that he is from one of the most wanted clans in Mist, and he is being hunted by his own village, well, the poor thing can't be ALWAYS roaming the streets of Konoha can he? Poor thing, I know.

For you Gaara fans, not to fear for the Chunin exams will soon be here, and boy will you all be in for a surprise!

I made Kakashi harsher than normal because really, for such a widely known shinobi, he was pretty weak no? I decided to actually make him strong so that he wont be defeated by a few well placed moves. Did you all like the intro? It was an idea I got from another fic. Actually, did you like the chapter in general? I know it was short and I'm really sorry about that, I promise I'll maek the next one longer!

Once again, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! I would kiss you all if I could.

And, I can't forget my trusty Beta! Ashley, you're a star!

Now...Don't forget to review again, to give this author a little ego boost and don't hesitate to leave me PM's okay? I'm all for conversation.

PUMPKIN. So, I put that word there to see if anyone actually reads my long ass authors notes. The gist is to leave a review with the word in it(and whatever else you want) and I'll see if you all read my notes! 'K?

Also, isn't Empire of the Sun just awesome? I sure think so!

Review!

Lots of love,

Bluetopianprincess^o^