Chapter 17

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

"I promise. And when I make a promise, I don't back out of it." I added a wink in Naruto's direction as I quoted his daily saying; even if it had begun to get on my nerves.

Lady Tsunade nodded, then she excused us. However, before everyone left, Kakashi asked, "Why, can I ask, did you need half the jonin, part of my team, and Jaraiya", oh, so that was his name-. "here?" he asked pointing to each.

"As witnesses, so that no one thought you two were crazy." A small, apologetic smile. "Oh! I forgot to ask. Kimiko, would you like to see pictures of your parents?"

"Sure." I said with a smile. Gaara and Kakashi had said that I probably looked more like my mother.

I walked over to stand next to her by a computer. When I saw each of their pictures, I smiled. I had my mother's hair almost exactly; the only difference, was mine had way to many little whispies that I could never get to cooperate, especially in the front. I had her eyes as well. When I tried to compare our faces, though, she had and wider face, and a bit stronger chin, while I had ended up with a delicate chin, and a bit thinner face, like my faher. I had also inherited my father's skin. Mother had slightly tan skin that made her hair less bright; my hair looked like blood on sheets, compared to my skin.

After a few moments, Lady Tsunade pulled up my charts to compare them to my parents'. My pass-times had been a perfect half-and-half of theirs. My eating habits, more like my fathers. My temperament, so far, was about half of each as well. My stubbornness and slight arrogance-though, not too much for my own good- seemed to come from both as well. My talents leant more towards my father's, and finally, while I had a good deal of my mother's fighting techniques, I had more of my fathers; not to mention I apparently had his ferocity in a fight, no matter the circumstances.

"Well." Jaraiya laughed. "At least she seem so have gotten more of her mother's temperament, as long as her mother wasn't as short-tempered as Kushina, we'll be OK."

A few others laughed with him, but Kakashi said, "Well it's not quite as quick as Kushina's but it's a bit more explosive." He and I shared a small chuckle as we remembered the few instances in the past week, where we'd gotten into it over one thing or another. That stopped their laughing.

Lady Tsunade broke up our revere, saying, "Well, I think it's about time you get back to your training, Kimiko. You'll be taking a quick test Friday to see if you would pass the chunin exams, then, in another week or so, we'll see if you stand ready to take the jonin test." She said with a smile.

"I'm sorry, Lady-Hokage, but wasn't I supposed to go back to Suna to take the chunin exams?"

"That was the case, yes. But now that we know you are also a part of the Uchiha clan, Kakashi will be teaching you to use your kekei genkei. If you do not master that by the time the exams come, then you will participate in them. However, if you do, it would be a disadvantage to them; you're skill level at the moment, would still mean we'd have to put restrictions on what you could do when fighting the other children one-on-one."

"Oh." I said, a bit disappointed. "I promise I'll learn how to use my kekei genke before then, but I was just hoping to visit Suna again." I said sadly.

"Well, if that's all you wanted, then when you've become a jonin, we'll make sure your first mission takes you near Suna. Deal?"

"Deal."

And with that, Kakashi and I left to continue my training.

When teaching me about my kekei genkei, he told me that when activating the Sharingan for the first time, most Uchiha's had experienced some very strong emotion. He told me that he believed I had already learned to activate it when Aniki Had made me angry. After remembering the moment, I reluctantly agreed with him. It took me a little longer than he'd thought it would, but, by Friday evening, I was able to sustain a fully mature Sharingan for several hours, while continuing to exert myself. Kakashi had also taught me about the other forms, but had requested that I not try them. I understood why, so I didn't. Besides, he had told me that the chances of me meeting someone who outmatched me enough for me to need a higher level Sharingan, were slim.

Lady Tsunade had come by that morning to how I was doing, and after she watched me spar with Kakashi in an unplanned, serious match, she was content enough to let me be ranked as a chunin.

Flashback to earlier

We had been fighting for about ten minutes, when I pinned Kakashi and locked him into place beneath me-although he'd made me show Tsunade my use of the Sharingan, she'd requested that we fight completely equal; that meant no weapons, or anything. She stood up and said, simply, "You pass, Kimiko. You are free to be tested at the jonin level anytime within the next two weeks." I fist-pumped, while jumping into the air, and ran to hug and thank her. She laughed and said, "Good luck, Kimiko."

After that we went back to Kakashi's apartment had a good lunch, then Sakura came by and the two of us headed out to go shopping; I was beginning to need some new ninja clothes and the others I had at home were still too big, and although I'd received a new pair of ninja sandals upon arriving at Konoha, I had decided to get a different color to match whatever outfit I bought.

When we had returned from our shopping spree, I laid all five of my outfits out on the bed for Kakshi to see-it seemed like he wanted to fill in as a father figure of sorts, since I didn't know mine. He laughed when he saw them. "Well, they're nice, but all the pants are the same."

"Well, that's because all I'll ever have to do is pick a shirt. If each pair of pants was different I would have to make sure they matched the shirts." I laughed with him.

The first top was a brownish-red kimono-like top that I had chosen because it reminded me of Gaara's hair and Suna; Man I really miss those guys. The second was a loose fitting, cream kimono-like wrap that Sakura told me was similar to one she had seen on Kushina in an old photo of Academy graduates; I got it to remind me of my mother, since, in the only picture I had seen her, she was wearing a jonin vest. The third was just a plain navy Kimono that came to my thighs; it had collar that extended a little higher than usual, though only to mid-neck. Kakahsi had laughed at that one, saying that high collars had been favored by the Uchiha clan, although mine was more fitted. The fourth was a simple long sleeved black t-shirt for the colder months-even though they weren't that cold around here-and to go under the vest I was to be getting soon for becoming a chunin. The fifth, and final top, was my favorite. It was a long, deep blue, sleeveless kimono-like overlay that extended half way to my knees, with a small, crimson wrap to go around the top of my body; again the length of the overlay reminded me of my life in Suna, I suppose. To match all of this, I had bought five pair of loose, sweat-like pants, five net undershirts, a pair of black ninja sandals, and some fabric to wrap my shins.

As we looked at my new wardrobe, I mentally gave myself a pat on the back. I was pretty pleased with myself; normally when I went clothes shopping, I only got one or two things. As I was putting my new clothes away and packing up my mother's old clothes, Kakashi asked a question. "Which clan crest are you going to wear?"

"What do you mean?" I didn't understand.

"Well, you know who your parents are, and since they aren't around, you can choose which name and crest to bear."

I thought about it for a minute, then he seemed to remember something. "You know, you could always pick one name, but wear two crests." I looked up at him. "The chunin and jonin vests have the Uzumaki crest on them. When Uzushiongakure was still in existence, it had very close ties with Konoha due to the marriage of Hashirama Senju and Mito Uzumaki. So if you want to, you can wear your father's crest."

A small pause. "I should warn you, however, that the people of Konoha don't exactly trust the name Uchiha, since the only massacre survivor, Sasuke went rogue. I don't know how they'd react since no one's really known of another living Uchiha, aside from the one who killed them of course."

I thought for a moment more, then, "I'll just do the same with my family's crest that I've been doing with my father's headband. Since Sasuke doesn't seem to care about the clan's name, then I will. I'll make it a well-known, and respectable name again Kakashi sensei. I don't care if no one trusts me at first, because one day they will. I'll become a great kunoichi and protect this village, or die trying." I said proudly and with a big smile.

"Jaraiya was right about you, Kimiko; you do have the Will of Fire in more ways than one. I'll take them tomorrow to have the crest put on each one. Traditionally it's been placed on the back. I s that OK?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll figure out a way to put my hair up." I giggled. If I was going to wear a crest, then I was going to wear it right. "Oh, I almost forgot." He paused while I dug through my shopping bags to find what I was searching for. "I bought a necklace."

I held up the necklace to show to Kakashi. It was a simple spiraled circle, and I'd gotten it because-from what I'd seen in the picture- it looked like the one my mother had been wearing in the picture on her charts. "Well, Kimiko, you've once again, by some luck, run across something that will be of real meaning to you. That," He said pointing to the charm. "is the Uzumaki crest.

I laughed a little with him again as I put the necklace on. This day had been full of surprises.