Special Chapter

The Start of Team Four

Haruno Kyo did his best to keep his normally calm façade, but he couldn't help a small grin of excitement from spreading rapidly over his still slightly boyish features. Today was the one year mark of his becoming a jonin of Konoha, and that meant he was now officially qualified to take on a team. It was still a bit early to be up, even for him, but he just couldn't sleep any longer. So, rather then stare aimlessly at the ceiling until six o'clock, he had gotten up and jumped in the shower, ignoring the red numbers on his clock as they steadily flashed 4:42 am.

Once he had finished with his shower, Kyo reached into his drawers and pulled out his usual attire. Laying the clothes out on his bed he swiftly towel dried his slightly out grown sapphire locks1 before he donned the uniform.

Knowing that it would be rather stupid to head off to the academy now, seeing as it was only five am and even the teachers wouldn't be arriving until eight-forty-five anyway, he headed off into the lower levels of the Haruno estate where the element chambers were located. Through the one way glass of each chamber he could see several of them were occupied by early risers beginning their five o'clock training sessions.

He walked by the earth and fire chambers, continuing down the corridor towards the water chambers. On the way there he passed by the 'Blank Room' which was named for the absence of elemental forces. This was a room were any Haruno could come to practice normal taijutsu with out having to worry about accidentally unleashing their element. At the moment the blank room was being used by only two people: His mother Akina and his uncle Takeru, who also happened to be the clan head.

His mother was the original heir to the clan but she stepped down and gave the position to her younger brother as she found that she was just to flighty to be a clan head. Most believe Hyuuga Hizashi to be correct that her personality was fated to take on the manifestation of her element. Kyo couldn't help but agree that his mother was a bit of an airhead at times.

Haruno Takeru on the other hand was the exact opposite of his elder sister. He was calm, calculating, and often times quite reserved, seemingly taking after the earth element he commanded. Still he was a powerful leader and he held a great love for every member of his clan, most especially for his wife and daughters.

Kyo shook his head as he left the purple and green haired siblings to their spar, opting instead to continue on his way to a water chamber. Finding the nearest empty one he pressed his thumb against the pad next to the door and watched it slide swiftly open. He sighed deeply as he entered the water filled room; easily walking across the deep pool to quickly begin his training.

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Kyo panted heavily as he flopped down onto the water to rest, his arms out behind him to keep him up right. Absently he looked down at his watch to check the time. 7: 29. He groaned and counted down the seconds as they ticked by, wishing his little cousin didn't get so upset when the maids woke her in the morning. 5…4…3…2…1…7:30. The lights blacked out and Kyo found himself launched into an abyss of eternal blackness.

"HIKARIIII!" Hundreds of voices could be heard shouting at once before the light returned and Kyo could see again. He cursed as he blinked trying to disperse the spots that swam heavily in his vision. "I hate seven-thirty…" he muttered.

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At long last eight o'clock rolled around and Kyo made his way up to his room to shower and change before heading off to the academy to be assigned his genin team. He finished quickly before he once again pulled out a clean uniform. Pulling it on he quickly checked is equipment pouch before he nodded in satisfaction. He was just about to slide open his door and leave when the shoji screen suddenly slammed open and a white bullet shot through the open door way and attached itself onto his black pants.

"Ahh!" he exclaimed as he stumbled slightly. "Hikari-chan! What's wrong?"

"Save me Kyo-nii-chan!" She squealed in terror. "Nanashi-kun won't stop getting me wet!"

Kyo's eye twitched in irritation. 'I don't have time for this…'

"Alright, Hikari-chan," Kyo said as he placed a hand on her hair. "How about I walk you to school so you don't have to worry about Nanashi?"

"H-hai, nii-chan…" Hikari responded uncertainly.

Kyo sighed. "I won't let him get you wet, 'Kari. I promise."

This seemed to be enough for Hikari because she instantly released her hold on her older cousin and smiled brightly. "Hai!" she said as she grabbed his hand. "Ne, ne, nii-chan! Let's go!"

"Hai, hai."

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The trip to the academy didn't take very long normally, but seeing as he was escorting Hikari at a walk Kyo found that the distance seemed to have lengthened greatly. "Ne, Hikari-chan?" Kyo asked as he looked down at the light user below him. "Would you object if I were to carry you?"

Hikari looked a bit surprised by this question as she turned her head up to look at her cousin. "Why do you ask Kyo-nii-chan?" she asked in return.

"No reason," Kyo said as he looked ahead. "I just thought that we may be able to go faster is all."

Hikari giggled. "Well why didn't you say so?"

Kyo glanced down to reply only to be taken by surprise as the white haired girl took off at a dead sprint. He yelled out in surprise as he watched her disappear as she refracted the light around her unconsciously.

"Ok," he said. "I guess I didn't need to carry her…"

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Hikari was almost to the academy when she realized that Kyo wasn't with her any more. "Ah? Kyo-nii-chan?"

"Well, well," A voice said from behind her. "If it isn't the ghost girl."

Hikari flinched as she turned to face the person addressing her. "O-ohayo, Yamataro-san…"

Yamataro Makoto was the academy bully and was about four years older then Hikari, though that didn't stop him from singling her out to pick on. Or in some cases, beat on.

"Now is that how you greet an old friend?" the older boy asked as he sent a sharp kick to her gut. "I'm hurt Hikari-chan! Now why don't you say sorry for hurting my feelings?"

Makoto's right hand man, Umikawa Shishini, snickered as he watched the white haired girl double over in pain. "Yeah!" he added with his own kick. "Say sorry to Makoto-kun!"

Hikari coughed heavily. "G-gomen Makoto-kun…"

"Now that's better. Isn't it Shishini-kun?" Makoto asked rhetorically as he grabbed Hikari by her hair. "Now was that so hard?"

"N-no Yama-Makoto-kun…"

Makoto frowned and dropped the younger girl onto the ground. "Judging by that correction you still don't see me as a friend," He growled. "Now that really hurts my feelings." He grinned maliciously. "I suppose I'll just have to show you how much of a friend I really am, ne?"

"That's right Makoto-kun!" Shishini jumped in. "Would you like some help?"

"Yes Shishini-kun," Makoto said as he pulled back his leg. "I believe I would."

Hikari whimpered and waited for the kick to land. It never did. Instead she heard the sounds of two bodies hitting the ground hard. "Hey you little brat!" Makoto shouted. "Now that wasn't a good idea!"

"Yeah!" Shishini added.

"Now mind your own business!" Makoto continued. "This has nothing to you with you!"

"Hn," a cold voice remarked. "I'm making it my business."

Hikari lifted her head just in time to watch her savior lift Makoto off the ground and land a hard punch onto his left cheek. Makoto yelled in pain as he slid on his back a few meters. Sitting up part way he flinched at the glare the raven haired boy gave him. "C-come on Shishini," he stuttered. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah…" Shishini agreed as he helped his friend off the ground.

"Now don't think that this is over ghost girl!" Makoto shouted back.

"Yeah!"

"Geez," Hikari's rescuer said as he rolled his eyes. "Is that the only word he knows?"

"Ano," Hikari stuttered as she looked up at the boy. "Arigato Itachi-kun."

"Hn," Itachi scoffed. "If you weren't so weak you wouldn't have needed to be saved."

Hikari's gratitude faded faster then Uzumaki Yume could eat a bowl of ramen. "Nani!" Hikari shouted. "I'm not weak Itachi no baka!"

Itachi turned away from her. "Then how come you needed my help?"

"Grrr," Hikari's anger began to get the better of her and the light around the two seemed to be leaking away. "I didn't need your help! You butted in before I could do anything!"

For a moment Itachi was silent before he looked back at the young Haruno girl with an irritating smirk. "Now you're a weak liar."

That was it for Hikari. She couldn't control her anger any more and Itachi cried out in alarm as the light was suddenly sucked away from the surrounding area. Not knowing what was happening he stumbled around before he tripped backwards.

Itachi's pain filled cry snapped Hikari out of her rage and the light instantly returned. For a moment Hikari wasn't sure why Itachi cried out until she noticed she didn't see him any more. Confused she glanced around quickly before she finally spotted him trying to pull himself out of a thorn bush that sat along the side of the road. Hikari, who found the image of Uchiha Itachi sitting stunned in a sticker bush rather amusing, couldn't stop herself from doubling over in a fit of wild laughter.

"Haha Itachi-baka!" she cried as she turned away. "Looks like I'm going to beat you to the academy!"

"Matte, Hikari!" Itachi cried out. "Help me out!"

Rolling her eyes Hikari complied and grabbed the hand Itachi had held out for her. "There," she said as she began to walk away. "Now we're even."

Itachi said nothing even as he tried to hide the embarrassed flush on his pale cheeks.

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'Hokage-sama must hate me…' Kyo thought as he watched his assigned team from where they were waiting in their classroom. Apparently one of the boys became bored very quickly because he started tugging on girl's left pigtail, ignoring her cries and threats for him to stop. He sighed. 'Well, at least it's a team…' With that last thought he disappeared in a puff of smoke only to reappear just outside of the classroom door.

Sliding open the shoji door slowly Kyo savored his last moments of sanity before he thrust himself into mental suicide.

"Konichiwa Kyo-nii-chan!" Hikari greeted her cousin brightly as she extracted her elbow from the pigtail puller's head. "What are you doing here?"

Kyo sighed again. "I'm you jonin instructor."

The room was silent for a few minutes before Hikari broke it. "Yaayyyy!"

Kyo flinched and resisted the urge to rub his poor ringing ears. "Alright, come on everyone," he called to his team. "Let's go to the roof…"

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Once on the roof Kyo leaned back against the railing gently and turned his attention to the three seven year olds seated on the steps in front of him.

"Ok, why don't we all introduce ourselves? Just tell everyone your name, likes, dislikes, dreams, hobbies…you know, that sort of thing," he told them. "I'll go first. My name is Haruno Kyo, I like my family and friends, and I don't like those who will hurt my precious people. My dreams for the future are just to do the best I can and my hobbies include training and reading."

The kids all nodded in acceptance before Kyo gestured towards the boy that had been tugging on Hikari's pigtails. "Me?" he asked and Kyo nodded. "Ok, my name is Yotaro, I like my sister Tenten and I don't like bullies that hurt her. My dreams for the future are to always help my sister and find out who my parents were. My hobbies are taking care of my sister and cooking."

"Me next nii-chan?" Hikari asked, excited. Kyo nodded. "Kay! My name is Haruno Hikari! I like my cat, my room, rain, the moon, white, purple, pink, green, orange, yellow, and blue and I love Kyo-nii-chan and my imouto2, Sakura. I don't like bad people, big dogs, thunder, black, gray, brown, or when my cousin Nanashi-kun uses his powers to get me wet. My hobbies are playing with Kyo-nii-chan and Sakura-chan, reading, and training. My dreams for the future are to be the flower girl at Kyo-nii-chan's wedding when he marries Kairi-nee-chan-." At this Kyo blushed and began stammering out denials, all of which Hikari readily ignored. "-And to protect Sakura-chan from that mean snake, Orotomato."

Kyo, too caught up in denying that he was going to marry his old teammate, didn't hear the last part of his little cousin's sentence. After a few more seconds he finally managed to calm himself down enough to signal Itachi to go next.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi. I like my parents, my friend Shisui, and my otouto3, Sasuke. I don't like girls that talk too much or my dad's cooking. My dreams for the future are to become a jonin early and join the ANBU. My hobby is training."

"Really?" Hikari asked. "What girl do you know that talks too much? I don't know any. Oh! Unless you're talking about Michiko, she does have a tendency to talk a lot. Miko does to a little bit. You can't be talking about Rei though cause she doesn't say any thing. Orihina either..."

Itachi's eye twitched as he listened to the Haruno girl continue to blabber on and on about who he may be talking about. At long last he couldn't take it any more. "I was talking about you, baka!"

Hikari gasped her eyes round in shock, suddenly her features softened and she began to giggle. "I know," she told him. "I just wanted to see how long it would take before you cracked."

Kyo dropped his head into his hands. 'I'm going to kill Sandaime-sama…if this doesn't kill me first….'

"Alright, report for training here tomorrow and I'll take you to our field," Kyo told them. "Don't be late!"

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The next afternoon it was all Kyo could do not to cry in exasperation as his team passed his test…

End Special Chapter

Kaliea: Ok, so you all know a little more about team four. Next chapter will take place a year after the corner kids all begin their training, so be prepared. Oh, and please, please, please! Leave a review! I really love it when you do.

Kinda like Trunks' hair from DBZ.

Little sister

Little brother

Review Answers:

Dragon Man 180: Well, maybe…you'll just have to wait and see.

RedAngel06: Thank you! And thanks for the review!

Jays Arravan: Yeah, I used to take martial arts and gymnastics for a while but that was a looong time ago.

Bittersweetdreams: Pretty much the same stance. There were minor variations seeing as how they were never properly trained in it.

Animefreak-shinobi: At least one of them and that's all I can say.

Kakashiclone1120: Will do! Thanks!

Sasuke9999: 20! Really! Wow…most people just stick with 11! That's really great of you, thanks! And don't worry. Gaara and Ichigo will not be sitting on the side lines. And as for a manga reel, do you really think so? That would be soo cool!

Kaliea: Domo arigato to all of my reviewers! Please write again! I enjoy the feed back! Until next time, ja ne!