The next morning, Hisa was down at the training ground two hours early. This was always the spot where she trained, and she needed to improve her skills if she was going to beat her sensei. The whole Rinnegan issue was at the back of her mind right now.

She knew that if she was the only one with a chance at getting a bell. Nawaki was good, but not good enough, and although Oki was her best friend, Hisa didn't think she was skilled enough. She would have to do it on her own.

Her father wouldn't tell her how exactly to pass. But it seemed simple enough. Defeat the sensei, get the two bells, give one to Oki so that she would pass and let Nawaki fail. It was flawless.

Two hours later, the other three members of her team arrived. Once the genin were all gathered together, Konahamaru explained the test.

"Ok, so basically I have these two bells that you have to try and get. One of you will definitely fail, and get sent back to the Academy. Um… I went over the test last night but I've forgotten the rest. It's got something to do with lunch and these poles, but I thought that was boring so I made my own version. We're doing the test in the Forest of Death."

He grinned proudly, before seeing the horrified looks on the genin's faces.

"What? You don't think this makes things more interesting? Come on! I had to get special clearance from Hanabi and everything." He shuddered. "Scary lady."

"Are you serious?" Hisa finally yelled

"So you agree? Great let's go!" He ran off before they could say anything else.

"Our sensei's a nutjob." Oki whispered

"He's just a bit… on the odd side." Nawaki said defensively "We best follow him."

The three of them set off after him. After a few minutes walking, they realised something.

"Where the hell is the Forest of Death anyways?"

So they made their way back to the training ground and had their lunch while they waited for their sensei to realise that they weren't following him.

It took him half an hour before he came storming back.

"Fine then!" he yelled "If you want to keep it boring so be it! You have until sundown to get a bell. Begin!"

Hisa immediately rushed off into the forest, without sparing a glance at either of her teammates.

Oki and Nawaki looked at each other.

"What do we do know?" he asked.

Konahamaru stood in the middle of the ground with his hands in his pockets.

"Are you going to talk all day or are you going to attack me?" he yelled

"Let's team up." Oki suggested

Nawaki nodded.

"Stand back." he warned

He took a deep breath, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

A giant fireball erupted from his mouth and raced across the field towards Konahamaru. It destroyed half the field in its path.

When it had disappeared, they saw Konahamaru running off into the forest. Unknown to them, Hisa was also watching from behind a tree.

Nawaki and Oki ran after him, and Hisa trailed behind.

"That was amazing!" she heard Oki say.

Even from a distance she could see the blush on Nawaki's face. You weren't that good. she thought You were lacking control. Besides, no one ever gets hit by that jutsu. It's practically there just to look cool.

To her surprise, Nawaki seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Thanks, but I wasn't that good. I lost control of it at the end."

"It's still better than any jutsu I know." Oki argued

"Oh yeah, what would you say is your strongest abilities?" Nawaki asked "Anything you're good at could be used to defeat sensei."

"I'm not good at much." Oki admitted "I know the three basic jutsu, but I prefer using my sword." She showed him the tanto on her back.

"What about you?" she asked

Hisa didn't bother listening to what he said. He would be gone by tomorrow anyways. She continued trailing them through the trees, until something caught her eye. Nawaki and Oki were wearing the exact same thing, black shirt, black pants and black sandals. How dumb is that? she thought They should try to have a little creativity.

Her musings were cut short when the two stopped on a tree branch.

"There he is!" Oki whispered.

"I see him." Nawaki replied.

He made the hand signs so fast, Hisa could barely see them.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Hisa's eyes widened. Another Fire Technique, shethought, that's pretty impressive.

Once the fire had died down, Oki and Nawaki scanned the area.

"Where did he go? Did I get him?"

Hisa saw a figure move through the trees until he was directly behind them. His back was turned towards her and he was focusing only on the other two. Perfect.

"Hard luck you two." Konahamaru said "But your teamwork is quite good."

He was completely distracted. Hisa jumped across, kunai aimed at his back. This is it, she thought.

The kunai lodged in the small of his back. Oki screamed as he crumpled to the ground.

"Got him!" Hisa yelled triumphantly.

The man on the ground disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Dammit, Hisa groaned It was a shadow clone.

Konahamaru's voice echoed through the forest.

"That was pretty good teamwork you three." he said. Hisa couldn't locate where his voice was coming from.

"What do you mean 'teamwork'?" Nawaki yelled "Hisa didn't tell us anything!"

"I knew you two couldn't beat him so I used you to distract him while I stole the bells." she snapped.

"We're more than just distractions." Nawaki snarled

Hisa shrugged "If you can't even beat me than to most opponents that's exactly what you are."

"Who says I couldn't beat you if I tried?" he yelled

"You never have before." she pointed out.

"This time I'll actually try!" he yelled.

He jumped across the tree branch, fist extended. She jumped straight at him to meet him in the middle. Oki sat a little way away watching them. I've a feeling something like this has happened before she thought should I try to stop them? Nah, they can handle it.

Just as the two of them were about to collide, someone grabbed both of their wrists and flung them away from each other.

Yep. Definite Déja vu. Oki thought to herself But why do I feel like this?

Konahamaru stood where the other two had been about to meet. He did not look happy.

"Everyone meet in the centre of the field." he yelled "I'll say who passed and who failed then."

Three minutes later, the three genin sat in the centre of the clearing.

"Alright well, you all did so badly in the test that I felt the need to end it early and just tell you the results."

Hisa frowned. She didn't think she'd done to badly. Her plan had almost worked, and she could have tried it again if Nawaki hadn't lost his temper. Perhaps he and Oki would fail because they hadn't even come up with a half decent plan.

"Alright, I've made my decision." Konahamaru announced. "Nawaki and Oki pass. Hisa fails."

There was a stunned silence.

"What!" Hisa screamed "How could I fail? I came up with the best strategy and I would have gotten a bell if it wasn't for him." she pointed at Nawaki, who was looking very confused.

"You still don't get it do you?" Konahamaru sighed "This test wasn't about skills or strategies, it was about teamwork."

Hisa was stunned. She had been tricked. A shinobi was supposed to see through deception, and she had failed. Her sensei had outsmarted her.

Well, looks like I'm going back to the Academy, she thought. It wasn't that much of a big deal. She'd just graduate next time, and work on her perception skills until then. Next time, she would guess what the test was about, and would play along.

This test was ridiculous anyways. she fumed Teamwork is important, but it can sometimes be useless. He should have based the test around something different.

She was brought out of her internal fuming by Oki. She had stepped forward and was confronting Konahamaru.

"You can't send Hisa back." she said "We're a team, and this was about teamwork. What's the point of this if we aren't allowed stay as a team?"

She has a point. Hisa realised, surprised at Oki's shrewdness.

What surprised her even more was when Nawaki stepped forward.

"If you're going to fail her you might as well fail us too." he said. "My teamwork wasn't good either. I got in a fight with her at the wrong time."

At least he knows he was wrong. Hisa thought, completely missing the fact that he was defending her.

Konahamaru looked at them.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

When they all nodded back at him, he sighed.

"Fine then." he said slowly "YOU… ALL…GET… to stay as genin. See ya!"

He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Hisa blinked.

"Did we just… pass?"

That night, the Hokage and his wife were currently in his office, exchanging stories about their day.

"How did Hisa get on?" Hinata asked.

Naruto grinned. "She failed miserably. But her teammates bailed her out, so she didn't get sent back."

Hinata was surprised at this. "It's not like Hisa to fail. Do you think Konahamaru went too hard on her?"

Naruto shrugged. "He mentioned something about the Forest of Death. So maybe it was too tough."

He saw the look on his wife's face and stopped.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Hinata looked ready to kill.

"You're telling me that he sent my six year old daughter into the FOREST OF DEATH?"

Naruto thought about it.

"Oh yeah! He came by my office to ask me if he could. I wasn't really paying attention so I just said yes."

When felt the Killing Intent radiating off Hinata, Naruto felt like he might have said something wrong. He wondered what?

"You… said… YES!"

Oh, that was what.