"Graduating from the Academy usually consists of taking both a written exam and a practical exam, administered by a chunin instructor, to earn enough marks to pass. Upon graduating, students will receive a forehead protector, proof of their achievement. Graduating students are then separated into squads of three genin and assigned to a jounin-sensei to instruct them further. Students who don't pass the tests set by their chunin-sensei may be held back for another year," Iruka explained to us all as I stared out of a window, utterly bored.
We were currently in the middle of the written exam. I sat, bored out of my mind, having already finished the questions. Eriko knew a jutsu to make herself shrink, and then she hopped from desk to desk looking at the likes of Shikamaru's, the spikey haired guy, and Sakura's, an annoying pink haired girl, work, then coming back and telling me the answers. I only needed a couple of answers, I knew most of them. I wasn't an idiot.
Speaking of idiots... I side glanced at Naruto, who, in the meantime, was practically tearing his hair out. I kinda felt sorry for the guy. I mean, he couldn't help being stupid, right?
When the test was over, we then had to perform the clone jutsu. It was pretty simple, and I passed easily, but stayed to watch the rest. I watched with interest as some succeeded and some failed. I eventually began to doze off when I heard yelling and exclaimations. My eyes shot open and I saw a beautiful blonde girl standing there with a seductive smile on her face and long blonde hair. She was completely nude, with clouds to cover her... parts.
I sweatdropped, noticing the whisker marks on her cheeks.
"Oh, Naruto," I sighed, shaking my head.
What. An. Idiot.
I stood up and left, walking outside and seating myself under a tree. I took out a book and began reading it, absent-mindedly biting my bottom lip.
"Hey there pretty lady," Kiba's voice sounded, as he jumped down from a branch of the tree I was sitting under.
"Is the cheesiness necessary?" I muttered.
He slung his arm around my shoulders. "No need to be like that, gorgeous."
"Get off me, mutt," I hissed. He held his hands up in defence.
"I'm sorry, jeez! What's got you all wound up?"
"You!" I shouted, losing my temper. "You're annoying!"
"Fine, I'll just stay away from you then!"
"Fine."
"Fine."
"Good."
"Good."
"Whatever."
We stormed away in opposite directions. It didn't do when I was in a temper. I could go into baad tempers sometimes. AND hold grudges.
I noticed Sakura staring at me as I stormed past her.
"What?" I asked, glaring at her. She shrunk away so I just carried on walking until I reached the same tree I'd slept under last night. Then Eriko bounded up happily.
"Where've you been?" I snapped irritably. Hurt filled her eyes, and I picked her up and hugged her, my bad mood vanishing.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. So where've you been?" I asked, adopting a less.. agitated tone, setting her down.
"I've been with Akamaru. The Kiba boy's dog!" Eriko barked, her eyes filling with dreaminess. I stared at her. Great. My dog had fell in love with my new-found enemy's dog. Well that was just perfect.
~~~~The Next Day~~~~~
Today was the day we were going to be put on our squads of three. Naruto had let me stay at his place until I got my own house. He may have been annoying and a complete idiot but hey, the kid had a good heart, so I accepted. His house was... undescribably messy. When I had first walked in, the sight that greeted me almost made my eyeballs shrivel up and die. Same goes for my nose. The smell was horrific. He didn't seem to notice it though; I supposed he was used to it.
I had managed to get rid of the smell while he was out somewhere with Iruka, and, to my surprise, had returned with his own leaf village headband. I kept most of the mess though. It made the place seem more like a home. I'd never been able to stand impeccably tidy rooms or houses; it was unnatural.
Luckily Naruto had always had a spare room in his house which he used for random junk. With the help of Hinata - who, by the way, was crushing on Naruto, and it was painfully obvious to everyone except Naruto himself -, we managed to clean everything out, then set up a bed, wardrobe, dresser, etc in there.
I went to my wardrobe and pulled out a black hoodie, black shorts and stripy black-and-white over-the-knee socks. I didn't tend to wear the standard shinobi sandles. I hated exposing my toes or heel when wearing shoes, I just found it weird. Instead I wore black combat boots that went mid-way up my calf. I attached my weapons pouch to my left thigh and tied my leaf headband round my right. I usually had my headband either round my neck or round my thigh; I didn't like having it on my forehead because it usually slipped down into my eyes, somehow. I couldn't tie it right, and was too proud to ask any one else to tie it for me.
I grabbed the cup of ramen Naruto had just waited three minutes for, grabbed a fork and left the house, eating it on the way, hearing loud complaints from Naruto behind me. It was his ramen. I turned round and grinned at him, showing my unusually pointed teeth.
I threw the almost-empty cup away as I neared the academy along with my fork - we had lots of cutlery - and then made my way into the academy and to my classroom. The only other people who were here yet were Hinata, her pale eyes darting around nervously, and the raven haired boy who I had bumped into on my first day in this village, who's name, I had been told, was Sasuke Uchiha. I'd heard about the Uchihas. Apparently his brother killed the whole family and left him alive for some reason. Pretty depressing..
I took my seat at the back - or top, whichever way you look at it - of the classroom and sat there stroking Eriko's soft golden fur and staring out of the window absent-mindedly. Soon the other students began pouring in, and I stifled a growl that threatened to let loose when I heard someone sit in the chair beside me. I knew who it was. He stunk of dog. It wasn't actually a bad smell...
Iruka stood at the front of the classroom and began explaining the basic facts about the ninja squads and how they worked before announcing our teams.
"Team Seven is, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and-" he was cut off by a loud fangirl cheer from Sakura, obviously thrilled that she was on Sasuke's team.
Please don't say me, please don't say me! I thought, crossing my fingers.
"Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto cheered as Sakura slumped on the desk in defeat. I sighed with relief. Thank god for that..
"Team Eight is Hinata Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka, and..."
Oh god. Please. Please PLEASE don't say me. I'd rather be on the team with the annoying blonde bimbo and the chubby kid, I thought urgently, to no avail.
"...Eira Kihara."
"WHAT?" I shrieked, shooting Kiba a death glare. Why why why?
"I'm sorry but that's the way it is. If you don't like it, deal with it," Iruka told me. He was still pretty sore about my lack of respect towards him. Or anyone superior to myself, for that matter.
"You'll be meeting your new Senseis soon, go to your assigned rooms and wait there."
He put emphasis on the word Sensei whilst looking at me, as if daring me to spit on the floor and declare my utmost disrespect. I smirked back at him.
We were waiting around in a room, bored as hell. I was sitting on a table with my legs crossed, Kiba was lounging about on another table nearby, occasionally giving me dirty looks which I returned, Shino leaned against the wall and Hinata stood in the middle of the room nervously.
The door opened to reveal a jounin who looked like she was in her late twenties with long, unkempt hair and strange eyes that were red in colour.
"Hello, my name is Kurenai-sensei. So you're my new squad, huh?" she smiled at us. "Why don't we introduce ourselves? I'll start. My name is Kurenai Yuhi. I have a lot of interests and I dislike students who are rude. I like a lot of things and care for my students deeply, once I get to know them. Now then, anyone who wants to go next?"
"My name is Kiba Inuzuka," Kiba piped up. "My favourite things are dogs, I dislike cats and my interests are training with my dog and best friend Akamaru!"
Kurenai looked at me.
"I'm Eira Kihara. I'm, or so I've been told, a nasty little girl who tends to disrespect people until they have earned my respect. I care for only one person, my little dog Eriko. I like dogs and sincerely dislike cats, nasty creatures. I have a lot of interests."
Everyone eyed me with a strange look in their eyes. They probably thought I was crazy. "You next," Kurenai said, smiling at Hinata.
"M-My n-name's Hinata H-Hyuuga," the poor girl stuttered. I kind of felt sorry for her. Kind of. "I like w-working hard t-to achive m-my goals and I d-don't really d-dislike anything e-except mean people."
"And you?" Kurenai asked, nodding at Shino.
"I am Shino Aburame. I like a lot of things, including my bugs. I dislike a lot of things also. I have a lot of interests like the others and the one thing I care about most are my bugs."
"It's nice to meet you all," Kurenai smiled at us. "Quite a mixed bunch, you are. anyway let's get cracking shall we?"