Chapter 11

AN: Kishimoto owns all except my characters-Kiminari, and Kimiko, and later characters. Also I'm probably not going to follow any of the story line except a few small things. I may take the characters outside their natural personalities, but that's because it's my story, and it'll add to it. Another thing: since I'm not following the story line of the series- All main (good) characters will start out the same age as they should be, but even though the Akatsuki will be around, the war will not happen until later; if it does at all. Again this is because I'm making up my own story line; it gets kinda boring when nothing has changed and you readers would be able to guess what was going to happen all the time. So, enjoy, and please comment, review, rate, whatever you wanna do. :D

"You alright Kimiko?" He asked me.

"I thought you were just trying to test me again." I said standing up so that he could as well.

"Well, I hadn't even woken you up yet; and no I wasn't trying to test you this time." He said with his masky grin.

"Sorry." I said. "I didn't know for sure it was even you. I just kinda felt something and woke up."

"Hm." He tapped his chin for a moment. "Kimiko, I think later today I'll work on teaching you to use your chakra to sense things. Does that sound good?"

"Oh, yeah!" I replied.

End of flashback

Kimiko's P.O.V.

After several hours of trying to run through the trees and on the ground, with the occasional limb or rock thrown at me to see if I could dodge it efficiently, I was tired, irritated, and had several bruises forming. Oh, sorry, did I forget to mention that Kakashi had blindfolded me about four hours after we left camp this morning.

For the first hour, he had me try to find him when he hid while we ran. Then the next hour, he had me walk, run, and jump through the trees backwards. Needless to say, he had to help a lot with the later. When I had finally managed to do all of that and meet his standard of 'acceptable', he pulled out a long bit of cloth and tied it around my head.

For an hour or so, he simply led me by the hand as though I were blind, however, he would purposely lead me over rocks. After tripping several times, he explained to me how to 'send' my chakra out to sense the things around me. Man, this was a lot easier when I could guess what was around me by looking at the rest of my surroundings. I thought to myself.

When I was finally able to walk without tripping over things, he let go of my hand, and then had his fun. The first thing he threw was just a small pebble, but, man, did it hurt; I knew it would leave a good sized mark where it had hit my outer calf muscle. The next few things weren't thrown as hard, but they still hurt.

After a while stopped for lunch, but instead of just making me find my sandwich, Kakashi kept moving around me with it so I'd have to find and tag him first. It was almost ten minutes before I finally tagged him and he let me eat-with the blindfold unfortunately. Although these exercises were harsh and extensive, they did bring about the desired effect. Around six, I got a feeling that we were getting near something really big.

"Kakashi sensei?" I called.

"Yes?"

"Is that Konoha?" I asked pointing in the direction it seemed to be.

"Well it will be in about forty-five minutes, unless you feel like running." He replied

"Forty-five minutes? How far away are we and how big is this place?"

"We're only about three miles out. Good work, by the way; the distance you can sense things improves by the hour. And as for how big it is, well, I'd say it's about the size of Suna." Pause. "So, are we walking, or are we going to run? Because if you think you can run, we can make it there in about twenty-five to thirty minutes."

"It doesn't sound like I have much of a choice." I replied. So we ran.

As we approached the gates of what I assumed to be Konoha, I heard a man greet Kakashi. When the guy asked why I was blind folded, Kakashi said it was because I was blind.

"Hey! That's only partially true!" I yelled

"Partially?" asked the guy.

"Yeah, partially." I said. "I can see just fine, he's just trying to teach me how to sense the things around me." I said looking in Kakashi's general direction and giving him what would have been a death glare had he been able to see my eyes.

"Gee Kakashi." Said the guard. "How old is she? Don't you think you're being a little hard on her?" He asked.

"Hey, you!" I said looking to were the guard should have been standing. "'She' is standing right here, and even when a person is blind folded, they can still hear. If you've got a question about me, then ask me, not him; he doesn't even know me that well." I heard Kakashi sigh, but continued my ranting anyway. "Oh, and in case you haven't noticed I'm kinda filthy; and I'd really like a bath." I could sense Kakashi coming after me-I suppose to shut me up-so I quickly side stepped. I did this a couple more times until Kakashi got fed up with my ranting. He created a few shadow clones which, along with his real self, surrounded me. Dang it, this stupid jonin. I thought. Once he had me trapped, what I assumed to be his original self, picked me up and put a hand over my mouth.

"Good luck, Kakashi! See ya later." I heard the guard say as we entered the gates to Konoha.