I couldn't help but curse under my breath, as I heard the alarm bell echoed through the wood. I had failed the first round and it wasn't even my fault! Why did I have to be given such an annoying group of people as teammates!

I made my way back to the three logs and blinked a couple of times, either I was seeing things or not eating breakfast was beginning to get to me.

"Naruto?"

Naruto looked up at me glumly "Hey Tomoko-chan..."

I walked until I was standing next to him "let me guess, you broke the rules?"

Naruto practically had tears in his eyes "I WAS JUST SO HUNGRY, I COULDN'T RESIST!"

I felt a wet drop on the side of my head, we were all in the same situation so it didn't really give him a right to cheat. Sasuke soon walked over completely ignoring the both of us and sat down, Sakura soon followed.

We didn't say anything to each other because practically, we knew we all failed. Maybe I should've have been more pushy with the team work? Then I noticed three lunch boxes on the floor, seeing them made mine, and the other's stomach growl in hunger.

"Your stomachs are growling eh?"

All of us looked up to see Kakashi with his arms cross, if he didn't have that mask on I bet he had a right smug look on his face.

"By the way..." he said cutting me from my thoughts "about the results of this training, none of you need to return to the academy..."

I raised an eyebrow, what?

"What? But all I did was faint. Was that okay?" Sakura asked dumbfounded. She then started cheering, whilst Naruto was grinning like a goon and Sasuke was smirking. But something didn't sit right with me, because we really didn't do well at all.

"So..." Naruto exclaimed in excitement "that we?"

Kakashi smiled "Yep! All of you... SHOULD QUIT BEING NINJAS!" Naruto and Sakura stopped cheering and Sasuke's face turned to stone. "Oh except Tomoko, she passed with flying colours..."

'What?'

"WHAT?" Naruto and Sakura screeched.

"I... passed?" I breathed, how did I pass? I didn't even touch the bells!

Naruto seemed to be trying to find his voice "Quit being Ninjas? What do you mean?" he demanded "We couldn't a bell, but why do you have to say we should quit?"

Kakashi placed his hands on his hips "Because, minus Tomoko, you are just kids who don't deserve to be ninjas!"

That one sentence, seemed to have struck a nerve in Sasuke, because suddenly he started charging towards our sensei. But his efforts were in vain, as Kakashi easily knocked him to the ground and sat on him.

"See?" he jeered whilst twisting Sasuke's arm "You are all just kids!"

"DON'T STEP ON SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura ordered in a deadly tone, which really ticked Kakashi off.

"Do you guys think being ninjas is that easy?"

With the weight of failing and seeing Sasuke getting squash, Sakura snapped and jabbed her finger at me, "How did Tomoko pass huh? All she did was run around and punch me! What makes her so special?" Everyone looked at me, even Sasuke with his face in the dirt with an unreadable expression.

Kakashi stayed silence for a bit before he asked one question. "Why do you think we're training by breaking up into groups?"

Sakura looked stumped "W-what do you mean?"

"In other words, you three don't understand the answer of this test. Tomoko, figured it out straight away even though she's not aware of it".

I was still utterly confused, I tried to think back on what I did different to everyone else. I knew I couldn't have taken on Kakashi alone, that would have been what he expected so I tried to get the others to help...

'Now I get it!'

"I see you've figured the answer out Tomoko..." Kakashi stated in a pleasant tone.

"The... answer?" Naruto repeated.

"That's right" Kakashi spoke turning serious again, "the answer to determine whether you pass or fail..."

"We've been asking what that is..." Sakura confessed.

Kakashi scoffed "Geez, are your brains empty? You don't understand why you're all in a group?"

Naruto finally had it "So what about it!"

I could tell Kakashi was getting more frustrated by the second, so I decided to cut in.

"The answer is teamwork Naruto..."

The others looked completely gob smacked as they mumbled teamwork all at the same time. "You mean, coöperate with each other?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi nodded "That's right, But it's too late for that even if you notice now. If all four of you came at me at once, maybe you could have gotten a bell. Tomoko was the only one who properly analysed the situation, and knew no one on this team would be able to obtain one on their own. The rest of you thought to highly of yourselves to rely on other people!"

It all made sense now, I was right all along! I knew we couldn't do it on our own. "That's why you gave off the lazy personae..." I stated, "to mislead us into thinking we could defeat you easily, this was part of your strategy".

"Very sharp Tomoko" Kakashi mused, "but I will say this, although you are the only one that passed you have one fatal flaw".

Somehow I already knew what he was going to say.

"You found it difficult to keep your emotions in check, and because of that it took you a while to recuperate from your argument with Sasuke..."

Sasuke shot a stare at me, he seemed surprised to hear that.

"Sasuke-kun and Tomoko... had an argument?" Sakura whispered.

I didn't like where this was going "I realise that sensei, and I can assure you it won't happen again."

"Wait a moment..." Sakura suddenly spoke, "why do we need to use teamwork when there are only three bells? If four people worked hard to get it, one person will have to bite the bullet! A group conflict will occur instead of teamwork!"

"Of course!" Kakashi replied "this test tries to put you four against each other". He then began to explain that in this situation, the system selects those who can prioritize teamwork before themselves. "That was the purpose... but the three of you were pathetic... Sakura!" Sakura jumped when her name was called.

"You cared more about Sasuke than Naruto or Tomoko, even though both of them were in front of you and you didn't know where Sasuke was..."

"Naruto! All you did was work on your own..."

"And you Sasuke! Just assumed that those three would just get in the way and did everything yourself!"

As he pressed Sasuke's face further in the dirt, he looked up at me with a softer expression "Tomoko, took the time to come up with a plan to at least work with one other person. I believe you first intent was to team up with Naruto?"

I nodded "yes, but as soon as he showed himself, I thought I couldn't go through with it straight away, so I decided to approach Sasuke. We're not on the same terms but for the mission I would've pushed that aside..."

"And what did you do?" Kakashi hissed,directing his question at the Genin beneath him, "you told her she'd only get in the way and on top of that insulted her! Naruto, she freed you from all the traps that you fell for and in return you cut her off and decided to cheat!"

"That was what you were going to ask me Tomoko?" Naruto asked timidly.

I nodded in reply, he must have felt like an idiot "I'm not mad Naruto..."

"And finally Sakura..." Kakashi cut in, "its clear to anyone that you both don't get along, but as soon as Tomoko heard your cries, she came to your aid and asked you to team up. But you still only cared and wanted to graduate with Sasuke!"

"Even after all this! Tomoko still helps Sasuke out of my ninjustu and stuck around to help Sakura after she fainted... again!"

Wow, Kakashi was proper amping up my actions, I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

"Mission are done in groups" Kakashi said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "It's true that ninjas need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important. An individual action that disrupts the teamwork, will result in danger or even death for the team mates!"

He then reached for his weapon pouch "for example..." he muttered producing a kunai knight, and suddenly aimed it at Sasuke's throat "Sakura! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!"

Sakura gasped in shock and Naruto was giving her a nervous look, which in turn made me aim to grab my own knife unless Sakura did try it... well... can you blame me?

Kakashi relaxed a little, "That's what will happen..." he sighed as he pulled the knife away. Sakura let out the breath she was holding in and I retreated my hand from my weapon pouch. "After getting someone taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision, and someone will die..." he explained spinning his kunai around his index finger.

For some reason, what he said made me think back to my mother, I don't really remember much of that day, because I suffered amnesia at that time. But the one thing I'll never forget are my mother's last words to me.

"Tomoko... I will find you again..."

"In every mission..." Kakashi spoke, bringing me out of my thoughts, "you put your life on the line" He then stood up and walked towards a large stone. "Look at this..." he ordered and nodded his head towards it "The numerous names carved into this stone, all these names are those praised as heroes in this village".

"I like that! I like that!" Naruto chanted with a grin "I've decided that I'm going to have my name carved into that! A hero! A hero! I'm not going to die a useless death!"

Suddenly it dawned on me, this was no ordinary stone. By this time Sasuke already walked back over and sat down surprisingly' next to me, but I guess he didn't want to deal with Sakura.

"They aren't normal heroes Naruto..." I replied as calmly as I could.

"So what kind of heroes are they?"

"K.I.A" Kakashi answered.

"and what does that mean?"

I clenched my fist... how insulting! "Naruto!" I snapped "How could you not know!"

"Tomoko..." he breathed in surprised "I... don't understand..."

"It means killed in action, they all died" Sakura finally confirmed, making Naruto look down in shame.

Kakashi faced the stone "this is a cenotaph, the names of my friends are graved in here as well" he stated solemnly. As he spoke of his friends it made me think back to when I saw my mother last... before she was taken from me...

"Haruo, you must ride with your sister for help! Go and sound the alarm!" My mother ordered. Haruo took in her words and mounted our family's horse.

"Tomoko come on!" she cried grabbing hold of me.

"But you said that Haruo wasn't allowed to ride Kinosuke!" I stated, as she lifted me on the horse "he is too big for him!"

But my mother ignored me and ordered Haruo to keep riding and never look back, no matter what.

"B-but... Momma..." I sobbed "I don't want to go! I don't want to leave you!"

My mother gave me a sad smile and placed her hands on either side of my face, "Tomoko... I will find you again..." she promised me and kissed my forehead. Suddenly a cry of pain echoed behind me, becoming scared, my mother let go of me.

"Go! Go now!" she yelled.

Haruo did what she asked and kicked Kinosuke into a Canter, he wrapped his arm around my waist... never looking back.

I never saw her again, even though she promised I would. In all honesty, I'm still broken from that day and I don't think I'll ever be fixed.

"Tomoko... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry..." I heard Naruto say. It was then I realised, I had tears running down my cheeks... when did I start crying?

"Oh my... how embarrassing" I breathed as I wiped them away, "no Naruto you didn't do anything, I was wrong to have snapped at you..."

I could feel someone's gaze on me, and I had a pretty good idea who's it was. After all, he was the only one here that knew about my mother... and I how I felt about it.

"I'll give you all a second chance" Kakashi told us, "we'll start again after you've eaten, but none of you are to feed Naruto. If you do, you will fail immediately and that includes you Tomoko!"

'Damn it!'

"I'm the rule here..." Kakashi said menacingly "Got it!"