Chapter Three: Teamwork

I woke up to see it eight o'clock. I grinned.

I'm late.

With the speed of the ninja that I was, I got ready in five minutes.

I take night showers.

Then, I sprinted to the training grounds, then smirked when I saw everyone waiting for me.

"You're late!" They growled. Except Shino. He muttered something about rules.

"Sorry I'm late, I ran into a black cat crossing my path so I had to go the long way." I lied with a sheepish grin on my face.

Kurenai-sensei sighed. "You're clearly Kakashi's daughter..." she murmured unhappily. I laughed.

"Anyway, now that we're all here-" everyone scowled at me and I merely smirked. "-we will begin. You are to climb up that tree for your lunch." We looked up to see two lunches atop two trees intertwined with each other. "But no hands." She added. I shrugged, knowing I could use Chakra to walk up the tree.

I love my Dad for teaching me to control Chakra.

"And you have to avoid my Genjutsus while you're at it. If you don't get your lunch, you will fail and get sent back to the academy. There are only two lunches, so one of you will without a doubt go back to the academy. " At this I sweat dropped. She's a Jonin... Those Genjutsus will be painful. I then realized.

This is about teamwork. I can do this easily - apart from the Genjutsus of course...

I'd gladly help Kiba or Shino.

Only if they asked for it, though. Grovel before me, weaklings.

Slowly an evil smirk crawled onto my face, and everyone sweat dropped.

Maybe I'm so good at my facade that it's becoming real! Shino, with his usual stoic face, turned to me.

"I call being leader for this." I nodded with no complaints. Before Kiba could burst out, I sent him a quick glare.

He's so cute...!

Anyway, Shino wanted to speak, and so I gestured for him to go on.

"Kiba and I will get the lunches. Saya, distract Kurenai." He murmured.

"I can climb trees without hands. I can get the lunches." I told him. He pondered over this, then nodded.

"Saya will get the lunches. Kiba will be a decoy." At this Kiba scowled with such hate I didn't even know he could conjure up. He's still hot. "While Kurenai-sensei is distracted by Kiba, I will attack. We will take turns being the decoy." Shino gestured for Kiba to come closer, and Shino whispered the remainder of his plan. I tapped my foot as I waited. The sky is so blue... How is it always so blue? Look, there's a dog shaped cloud! Hey look there's a bear!

"Begin!" Kurenai-sensei's voice cut through my reverie. I instantly gathered Chakra at the bottom of my feet and ran up the tree.

I ignored anything going on down below. If I looked, I'd get distracted and I'd accidentally stop my Jutsu.

The sound of Kunai whistling through the air made me backflip onto another tree. I landed on a branch and grimaced. I looked down to see Shino and Kiba fighting with Sensei.

"Who threw the damn Kunai?!" I cursed down at them. Shino looked up apologetically before returning to his strategy. Shaking my head, I continued trekking up the tree. Kurenai-sensei appeared before me, blocking my path. My eyes widened, and I snuck a peek to see the Kurenai that Shino and Kiba were fighting was a clone. I scowled at her. She threw Kunai and Shuriken, but I wasn't going to waste any more time and simply ran around her.

'Damn how tall ARE these trees? They didn't look that tall from-'

I stopped running and kept my feet on the tree. I slapped my palm to my forehead.

Genjutsu. I'm stupid. I made the hand sign quickly. "Kai." I murmured. I found myself back at the branch from when I back flipped. I growled in frustration.

This isn't like me to make such a stupid mistake. I took a deep, calming breath before summoning more chakra to my feet. Quickly, I managed to hop over to the lunches and grab them. Carelessly, I jumped back down.

Then promptly panicked. Thinking quickly (and rashly) I summoned chakra to my legs that would (hopefully) cushion my fall.

And luckily it did. My fall created a small crater, but that's not a matter to be concerned with. I grinned and held out the two lunches. I gave one to Kiba and the other to Shino.

"You do realize that by giving them the lunches, you choose to fail, correct?" Kurenai-sensei questioned. I turned to her and gave a small sheepish grin.

"I'd gladly sacrifice myself for my teammates. My father always told me a comrade is far more important than oneself. Those who disobey the law are scum, but those who abandon a comrade is worse than scum." I recited to the best of my ability. Kiba looked shocked that the arrogant better-than-thou me decided willingly to go back to the academy for the sake of the rest of the team.

Shino remained his stoic self. I think I saw some shock, but I'm not sure. You can't easily read someone like Shino. Maybe in truth he has some serious anger problems and curses every second?

Alright that'd be hilarious. Kurenai-sensei smiled at me.

"Congrats you three. You all pass!" Kiba was dumbfounded. We all tried to explain to him what the point of this was... Without much success.

His confused face is cute, too.

The two of them ate their lunches, and I went home to grab some as well.

We were sitting in the training field in silence.

I made an awkward turtle and quickly dropped it before anyone saw the stupid grin on my face. Pushing the emotions from my face, I picked at my food.

Dad told me was in charge of Team 7. They'll soon realize he's a lazyass who is always late. I sort of wish I was put on my dad's team, but I can't do anything about that.

In this team, I feel like the third wheel. Kiba and Shino are good trackers, and I have to rely on my dad's summons. Those dogs have really fickle personalities! I can't even get them to do what I want half the time!

I should really ask dad or an Inuzuka about it. Dogs seem to hate me.

I began spacing out.

"... HATAKE SAYA! Stop ignoring me!" I snapped out of my thoughts and glared at Naruto. Sure, I think Naruto and Hinata would make a cute couple, but I couldn't stand the kid. "Your dad can't get anywhere on time! Tell him to come earlier!" He growled.

Kiba scoffed. "Saya also came late today with some lame excuse about a black cat." Naruto sweat dropped. He was about to complain some more, but he just turned and left.

Prick.

Kiba began laughing at the annoyed look on his face. Kurenai-sensei stood a bit away from us, shaking her head as if deluding herself she wasn't our squad leader.

Shino examined a bug.

The truth hurts, doesn't it?

We packed up our lunches and called it a day.

As I was walking home, I realized... My house is in the same direction as the Inuzuka Compound! He could partially walk me home every day after training.

Suppress that blush, Saya.

Kiba kept grumbling at how his "kibaliciousness is too kibalicious for such a damn quiet squad." I looked over at him and smirked.

Ah the joys of walking home with the guy you like and he can't see past the half-assed facade you hide behind.

"Hey what you said about never abandoning a comrade today?"

I looked at him. "What about it?" I mumbled.

"Were you telling the truth?"

I sighed. "I may think I'm better than all of you, but I'll still fight by your side. One of your strengths could be my weakness, or whatever. Don't think this changes how I feel, pup."

He growled. "Don't call me pup!"

It was so easy to get under his skin.

I laughed and ran home, elated from everything that happened today.

AN: I tried to drag this chapter out (I'm sure all of you noticed). Honestly I don't think this story so far is my best work and I'm not that pleased with it, but it just might be that I'm writing and uploading this on my iPad. Yeah... Review! Or Kiba will never walk you home! Lol...