Chapter 14

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

Kimiko's P.O.V.

I was really excited. Today, when Kakashi woke me up, he told me that Lady Tsunade was going to watch me train some today. "This training session," He said, "will determine whether you go to the academy, or not. If you do well enough, you'll fill out a paper to become a full citizen of Konohagakure, then you'll be given a headband. Then we'll train some more, and you'll take a test to become a chunin."

"Yes!" I screamed once, jumping in the air with a fist pump. "I promise I'll do good Kakashi sensei. I'll do so well, she won't know what to think." He laughed.

"Now, be sure not to overdo it. You'll have to save your strength, because, when she's done watching, she's going to teach you some things too." He told me.

"Even better." I said, still grinning.

Later, at the training grounds with Tsunade:

I took the stance to aim my kunai, then threw them, three at a time-I'd worked on that this morning-at the target. I was a little disappointed, they were all side-by-side, but not all in the middle. Well, I guess it's because they wouldn't all fit. When I'd retrieved them I did the same with my suriken, then threw the senbon at a soft target that was set up in the training area.

By the time I'd finished going through a simulated fight with Kakashi, and had demonstrated my chakra control, a small group of five or six people had begun to watch. I was getting a little irritated that they were there. I think Kakashi noticed this, because he asked, "Kimiko, would you like to go through some things with the blind fold again?"

I nodded. "Yeah, these guys are getting really annoying." I whispered to him as he helped me put on the blind fold. Then I thought, Hm, if they want to see what all I can do, then I'll just show them.

We started all of the exercises again. When we got to the simulated fight, however, Kakashi decided to try another one of his tricks on me. After the first few rehearsed moves, he jumped back. When I finally sensed that he'd thrown four kunai at me, it was almost too late. I bent back into a backbend, and then flipped over when I knew the kunai had passed. What's he trying to do, kill me? I wondered, but only for a moment, because in the next, he was behind me. How does he move that fast? I thought as I ducked. I continued to block and dodge his attacks for a minute or so, then I felt his right fist moving toward my head. I blocked it easily-too easily. Less than a second later, I realized it was only a distraction. I continued to pretend that I was only focusing on that one arm, and as I sensed his left arm coming down with a much larger kunai, I gracefully stepped back. As his arm came in front of me, I grabbed it, and remembered, from my last glance of the area-and from sensing it-that there was a small tree a little to our left. I used this to my advantage twisting myself and Kakashi's left arm around behind his body, then planted my right foot on the backs of his knees to knock him down. Once he was at my height, I pushed my foot into his back trapping him, with my chakra, between myself and the tree.

My senses were still on high gear, so I felt Tsunade when she stood up and approached us. I turned my head slightly, trying to figure out what she was planning-I didn't know for sure if she'd try her own tricks next, or not. Then she said, "Kakashi Hatake, you've lost. Kimiko is the winner of this match."

Then she laughed, and I could hear the small group start laughing and cheering also. So, I carefully stood up and reached out my hand, in the way he taught me to do after a match, to help him up. He took it and once standing, patted me on the head and said "Well done Kimiko. You've shown the quickest progress I've ever seen. Keep it up. OK?" I nodded, taking of the blind fold.

"Well, Kimiko, I think I've seen enough of your training for the day. How about I teach you a little medical ninjutsu?" I nodded. "Our first patient is Kakashi." We both laughed.

She spent about an hour teaching me different things about medical ninjutsu, and letting me try my luck healing a small cut on Kakashi. It was a little harder than just controlling my chakra, but I finally managed. She said she'd help me again some other time, but she'd assign a girl named Sakura to teach me for a while.

When she decided we were nearly done for the day, she said. "Kimiko, I've decided that you won't have to attend the academy; that would just waste the time we could have training you. If you would like, you can take the genin entrance exam right now."

"What all do I have to know?" I asked.

"Well, I've already seen most of what you know and can do; all you have to do is create a solid shadow clone-that's the exam at the academy." I looked to Kakashi. I'd heard of shadow clones, but he hadn't taught me to make them yet.

"Um, Lady Hokage-sama? Could I actually have a moment teach it to her? I hadn't really gotten around to that yet; well, actually, I kinda forgot." He said rubbing the back of his head.

"Fine." She laughed. "It shouldn't take her too long." And it didn't. It took me only a few minutes to learn the hand signs and understand how, and on my second try I produced three very nice clones.

"Very good. You've passed." She said with a smile. "I hoped you'd pass, and from the way Kakashi talked about you, I figured you would; so I brought a headband. You can have this one, but if you want a different one, you'll have to buy your own."

I smiled as I looked at the old headband. It had a lot of dings, and scratches on it, but I didn't care. Those scratches meant someone strong had worn it and fought in it before me, and I was more than happy to have it. I tied it sideways to my waist since it was a really long one, and let the rest of it hang by my left hip. I felt like a real ninja already.

Tsunade's P.O.V.

I'd had a feeling that Kimiko was better than what Kakashi had said, and that she'd pass easily; I'd seen it in her attitude. Since she'd never known her parents, and her mother had not bequeathed her own headband to Kimiko, I decided to give her one of the older one's we'd kept from the first great war; and it made sense, because her mother had died from the small skirmishes that continued long after that same war. Another reason I'd given her the old headband was that I hoped it would give her a sense of dedication and duty for her new village, and to work to be as strong as its former owner. Now that I think about it I didn't even check to see who the last owner was. We knew it had been someone important to Hashirama, because it was found in an old shadow box in the family's old storage area. When I was younger, I had asked my grandmother, Mito Uzumaki to whom it had once belonged, she did not answer. Perhaps it was hers once. I thought, but decided to ask anyway.

"Kimiko? I'm sorry to ask this now, but could you tell me if that headband has a name carved onto the metal plate? It should be right near the fabric." She smiled and nodded, taking the headband off again.

I watched as she worked out the name, then she turned to me and smiling brightly, said a name I never thought I would hear:

"Madara Uchiha."