Chapter 3

"What?!" Sakura and Naruto yelled in unison.

Kagome, who had been leaning back up to the point Iruka had called her name, flinched at their yelling. No one else seemed too leased at the outburst. Even Iruka was showing signs of annoyance and he was one of the few that could handle Naruto. Her only hope was to push on with her training and go through the exams as fast as she could on her own. Still, why had Sakura stood up? Naruto and Sasuke had it in for each other but as far as she knew Sakura had no problem with anyone that that been place on their team.

"Why does a star like me have to be on a team with a loser like him?" Naruto yelled.

"Yeah! Why is Kagome on my team? There is no way she passed!" Sakura yelled as well pointing back causing Kagome to raise her eyebrows. The petal haired girl turned to glare at her with a strange amount of jealousy. So that was her problem, she thought Kagome was competition.

Iruka growled. "Naruto, Sasuke is the top of the class where as you are dead last. The teams are meant to balance strengths and weaknesses of the members." He sighed and turned to Sakura. "As for Kagome, she did pass; she tied with Sasuke for the top score. I know why you think she failed, Kagome does not participate in class on a regular basis but she has shown great proficiency in the physical side of being a shinobi and she has passed every test in her time her in the Academy. Sakura, you have not. You show almost no physical skill. On the other hand you have shown a great deal of intelligence and a great deal of improvement since you started."

Both genins sat down and Kagome leaned back again. The true moment she'd relaxed was when Asuma had been paired with a different team. She didn't want to have to deal with him in that type of situation. No doubt the Hokage had thought about their past and put that into his decision. Still their jounin instructor hadn't been announced yet thanks to the outburst of her teammates. Sasuke looked back at her with curiosity like he had ever thought someone might catch up to him in scores. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Your jounin instructor will be Kakashi Hatake." He moved on to other topics. He named off the other teams and then gave them instructions on where to meet their jounins after lunch.

As soon as she could she left the room for the training courts behind the Academy. Unless a class was using the courts they were empty which allowed Kagome to practice there as much as she wanted. That day she decided to only run through her taijutsu techniques instead of wasting chakra on ninjutsu or genjutsu. Midway through she thought about working on her kenjutsu but then realized that her sword was sealed in a scroll at home and there was no way to get it in time to practice with it before meeting their sensei.

Sasuke followed the Academy enigma to the training courts. No one had ever really spoken to or about Kagome Higurashi since the incident two years before she started the academy. From what he'd heard her adotive family had been murdered while she was out. Everyone believed she'd killed them until a shinobi spoke for her. He watched as she ran through moves he'd never even seen before with speed that was almost unheard of for low level genins like themselves. At one point her foot slipped and she fell. Even in the moment of failure she seemed completely in control; exercising the prefect technique they'd been taught to catch herself and roll into a position that would allow her to attack again if she were really in a fight. He left before she could catch him watching her.

Moving herself up from the fall, Kagome did a small cool down before going to get the lunch she'd packed. She settled in a tree to reflect on her new team. Sasuke was a capable shinobi but his hatred was strong. The rumor mills around Konoha let her know that it was his brother, Itachi, that had killed his clan and she could assume that it was this that caused his hatred. The pink haired fan girl, Sakura, was almost worthless. Perhaps she'd be good as a spy or even as a medic but not as a fighter. And then there was Naruto. Since that first day when she'd seen him on the swing she'd learned more about him. The most important was that he had a demon sealed within him. The spirit, his father, had helped her to find out even more and so she knew that he was no real threat to anyone unless the seal was broken.

"Kakashi Hatake…where have I heard that name?" She whispered.

Maybe Asuma had mentioned it during the good times she'd had. The truth was she didn't remember and she didn't care to. Anything she needed to know about this Kakashi Hatake she would learn this afternoon when she actually met the guy. Movement near the actual training ground used by all shinobi caught her eyes and forgetting her meeting with her sensei she followed it. A silver haired man walked the path to a diamond shaped stone. She remembered then that she had met him before with Asuma not to far from that spot. They hadn't truly spoken but she had met him. She could feel his sadness so she left him and returned to the Academy.

Sakura was yelling at Naruto for something as she entered. When she pulled the door an eraser fell but she caught it. Naruto gulped and Kagome just shook her head silently. Not a minute later Kakashi strolled through the door way. He and Kagome made eye contact for a split second until she looked away.

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura yelled together, they were doing that a lot lately.

"My first impression of you is….you're all idiots. Meet me on the roof." He teleported the moment he was done talking.

Kagome jumped out of the window onto a tree branch and then on to the roof. The rest of the team came up the stairs slowly and out of breath. The three sat next to Kagome on the ground looking up at Kakashi waiting for him to start. Remembering the yearbooks she'd seen in the Library she knew that he had trained under Naruto's father, Minato Namikaze. She wondered if that was why he had this team or just Naruto and if everything Iruka had said was irrelevant.

"Okay, let's start with some introductions." Kakashi said leaning against the metal railing at the edge of the roof.

"What do you want us to say?" Sakura asked.

"Well…how about your likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies, things like that."

"Why don't you go first?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, you look suspicious." Sakura said narrowing her eyes (got it from the manga…hehehe…I thought it was kinda cute for me least favorite character).

"Me? My name is Kakashi Hatake. I don't want to tell you about my likes or dislikes. Dreams for the future…? hmmm…Well, I have lots of hobbies…" He said looking up thoughtfully. "Now it's your turn, from right to left."

Kagome rolled her eyes. So mysterious, he only gave us his name. She thought sarcastically. He could have just said he didn't want to tell us anything. It would have been faster.

"Me! Me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like cup ramen. What I like even more is the ramen Iruka-sensei buys me. What I dislike is waiting the three minutes for the cup ramen to cook. My dream..." by this time the other four were rolling their eyes waiting for another ramen comment "is to surpass Hokage! And then have all the people of this village acknowledge my existence! Hobbies…pranks, I guess."

An admirable dream, Naruto. Kagome thought with a light smile.

"Next." Kakashi said nodding at Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And…I don't want to use the word 'dream' but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and…to kill a certain man."

I thought so…Kakashi thought sadly.

He better not mean me…Naruto thought inching away.

So cool…Sakura thought with a light blush.

He must mean his brother, Itachi Uchiha. How to explain to him that revenge won't get him anywhere, though? Kagome thought.

"Alright, now for the girls."

"I'm Sakura Haruno the thing I like is…" blush…"Well the person I like is…" blush… "Ummm…should I say my dream for the future…?" blush… "Oh my! The thing I dislike is…Naruto. My hobby is…" She blushed deeper than she had the whole time.

Fan girls, Kagome thought rolling her eyes. "I'm next right?" she asked leaning forward. "My name is Kagome Higurashi. I don't like anything in particular, I absolutely hate spiders and weaklings, I have no hobbies and my dream…well that isn't really any of your business is it?"

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed. He had gotten more out of Sakura than he had her dark haired counterpart. To top it off her tone led him to believe that she was hiding something and if she was pressed she would let none of it go. All he knew about her he knew from rumors around the village. He knew most of them to be false but they were based in the truth of her past. She had been brought half dead o the village by a group of ninja on a different mission and then she was put into the care of a small family. A family that had later been killed. The scene had been bloody and horrible.

"Tomorrow we will start our duties." Kakashi said.

"Duties?! What kind of duties?" Naruto asked jumping up.

"First we are going to do something with just the four of us. Survival training."

"How is training a part of our duties?" Sasuke asked.

"We did enough training at the ninja academy." Sakura complained.

"I'm your opponent, but this isn't normal training."

They all looked up. "What is it?" Naruto asked speaking for the group. Kakashi just laughed at them.

"Hey what's so funny sensei?" Sakura asked completely confused.

"No...Well…it's just that…When I tell you this you guys are just going to flip." Kakashi paused becoming serious. "Of the 27…excuse me, 28 graduates only 9 will be chosen as genin, a chance of 10. The rest will be sent back to the academy. This training is an exam with a failure rate of over 66%." The other three paled. "See, I told you you'd flip." He laughed.

"What the hell?! But we worked so hard! What was the point of graduating?!" Naruto yelled.

"Oh…that? That's just to select those that have the chance to become genin. Anyway, tomorrow you will be graded on the training field, bring your ninja tools." He turned to leave. "Oh, and skip breakfast, you'll probably throw up."

A/N: most of the conversation in the second half is paraphrased from the actual manga, I'm typing it as I read it.