Despite all of our preparation graduation snuck up on us. Time passing was different for me than for everyone else, I had understood what was going on at so much younger an age, and from my time as an infant I knew boredom enough that I could really get lost in actual events and the movement of life. That said, I had noticed puberty coming along. Like kunoichi that found expanding chests hindersome (most of them, don't let that anime fool you) I used bandages to strap mine down mostly, what little I had anyway. Over that went my normal grey shirt, three quarter sleeves and very slight v-neck to keep it from feeling like I was choking.

I was a bit pissed that the boys were still taller than me, even though I was supposedly further along in development. I just wasn't meant to be a big person. As for menstruation, well, we're ninja. Blood is an issue when even the normal people can smell it from miles away. So there is a seal for that. It goes on the hipbone on your dominant side and keeps all of it away. I would have sold my soul at a crossroads for this in my past life, just saying. It also works for birth control, but I wasn't particularly worried about that, given that I was twelve.

No, my main concern these days is Naruto. Mostly about the exam and the sensei that would betray him. If I found a way to get him the shadow clone and fix the problem before he could get lured into the trap, that would work best. He also wouldn't learn about Kyuubi in such a harsh way. I wasn't looking forward to when he tried to tearfully break the truth to us. I already knew of course, but Sasuke's reaction wasn't set in stone.

Our classes began winding down in such a way that we were revisiting old things, like henge and replacement jutsu. The latter I liked. A lot. I was fond of just picking an object at random and then leaving it in my seat as I wandered away. If class got boring I would leave, simple as that. I got so good at it that there was no longer a flash of smoke. Prolonged practice, at home, in the practice fields during spars with my friends, and to get out of class meant that I had pretty much earned mastery over the basic E-ranked ninjutsu. So it wasn't unusual for Iruka-sensei, who was finally our teacher and had been for a couple of years now, to only belatedly notice that I was gone and there was a flower in my place, clumps of dirt and roots still attached. I'm told his reactions were legendary until he got used to it and just sighed before moving on.

Every year, for the past three years, I had been recommended by our teacher for early graduation. Each time I had refused to take the graduation exam. No matter that the Hokage's original deal with us still stood, the Chunin instructors were allowed to appeal to him to allow me to graduate. Apparently each year he'd said fine, but that it was up to me, like it always is when they want a student to graduate early. I think it annoyed and confused them when I refused each time. They knew I was bored, it was obvious with how I skipped class, but early graduation always fucked people up. True, it was usually because they were young and ended up emotionally stunted and I already had those mental problems anyway, but whatever. I wanted to stick with these guys. I needed to be at the same chunin exams.

On the night before the exam I realized why this was a bad idea. I could fuck with canon. Like, more than what I'd actually intended. I had been a major Doctor Who fan before. I was either going to re-write time, or the events were going to be fixed and time was going to weed me out of the picture. My main concern was Team Seven. I had my grades in hand proclaiming me top Kunoichi in all areas, and top of everything but Taijutsu, where I was only barely trailing Sasuke. I was actualy 0.7 points away from having been Rookie of the year. Sakura was no longer top in Academics. The only reason she had gotten on Team Seven was because she had been the best in bookwork. Rookie of the year, top Academic score, and the dead last. That was the formula. And I'd fucked it up. I hadn't been really paying attention, just assuming that Sakura would end up where she needed to be and not taking myself into account, as if I was once again just an observer through a computer screen. Well, that was stupid of me.

That was how Sasuke found me that night, hyperventilating over my report card. He took one look at the scene and started laughing, needing to hold on to the door frame to keep standing. It was a nice sight in the normally slightly broody pre-teen, but I could do without his uncharacteristic amusement being directed my way. When he recovered he sat down at the table across from me, amusement still obvious.

"What's wrong? You are aware that there's no way you aren't going to pass, right?"

I shot him a glare before shaking my head,

"I'm worried about team placements."

"Teams?"

I wanted to punch him.

"Do you two ever pay attention in class? All genin are put on teams of three under a Jounin instructor. There are traditional team types, and most are evened out by score. As Rookie of the Year-don't grin like that, yes we're proud, but it's not like you made Hokage-your score is highest, theoretically. Of course due to tradition and point totals you should be placed with the highest academic score and the deadlast. You should be on a team with Naruto. And you would have been on a team with me, but I fucked up. My scores too high. It would break the point barrier that's set on teams to prevent overpowering one aspect. The three of us would never be put on a team together. I should have realized sooner and dumbed down some of my scores."

I scowled to myself at the lie and only snapped out of it when Sasuke sighed,

"There's really no point in worrying over it, is there? I mean, it's a bit late to do anything about it."

He was right, and I hated it. So I gave him food then went to bed.

The next day dawned and I made sure to walk to school with Naruto and Sasuke, sitting between the two while we waited for the exam. Both of us could feel the despair radiating off Naruto when it was announced that the jutsu portion would be the clone jutsu. The time to mess with events had passed. There was nothing I could do about it at this point. So I killed the written portion, the Taijutsu portion, the weapons portion, and also the jutsu portion. Iruka-Sensei offered me a sort of resigned smile as he handed me the headband,

"You pass, congratulations."

He mumbled under his breath as I left,

"Even though you never really stayed for class."

I snickered on the way out, having been near the first to go. Since I didn't have a surname my first name was used in the alphabetical order. I saw Shino outside, wearing his headband already and speaking with people who were obviously his parents. I went near the tree with the swing to wait for my poor, end of the alphabet friends, and was surprised when Shino approached me, parents watching closely.

"Congratulations Asuka-san, on your passing."

His usual odd speech pattern didn't follow so I could only assume that he was trying very hard to be 'normal' at the moment. Strange. I nodded to him politely, smiling as well.

"You too, Shino-san."

I never was sure what to say to him. The static coming off him for all the chakra in his bugs made it difficult to focus on him with any sort of chakra sense, so I usually tried not to. He hesitated next to me and I knew that he had something else that he meant to say, but couldn't quite get it out. To save him the embarrassment of awkward silence I brought out one of the boxes of food I'd brought for the day,

"Mochi? In celebration? Your family members over there are welcome to have some as well."

Being shinobi, they heard, and used the excuse to swiftly get closer. Shino took some mochi, as expected, and I ignored the kikaichu that sampled the mochi before each person ate it. Ninja are supposed to be suspicious. For all I knew they weren't checking for poison, the bugs were just nosy and wanted to know how awesome it tasted. I wasn't sure where to go from there, but luckily Shino's father picked up the conversation,

"So you are the Asuka we hear about every now and then. Shino says you are the top of your year, despite being of no name."

It was rather rude to bring attention to the fact that someone didn't have a family to the extent that they had no surname, but there was no offense meant, and it didn't bother me, I'd had family in another life and I had Naruto and Sasuke, so I didn't exactly feel cheated. So I instead shrugged,

"I'm not the Rookie of the Year, if that's what you mean. I'm in second place."

The man nodded slightly,

"Indeed. It is still an accomplishment for someone in your situation."

I probably should have been angry about this, but me being me I felt amused instead.

"Not particularly, just the result of a lot of effort."

I was saved at that point by Sasuke appearing at my shoulder,

"Sorry to interupt, but have you seen Naruto? I've been looking for him for a while now."

The area was now filled with families congratulating their kids, but Naruto was nowhere to be seen. I frowned, that was quicker than I had expected. I nodded to Shino and his family,

"Sorry to leave so abruptly, it was lovely meeting you."

I pushed through the crowd a bit, closing my eyes for a second, looking for Naruto. There were a lot of people in the area, and I wasn't the best at tracking people through crowds yet. But he was like the sun among glow sticks. He wasn't here.

"He's not here, are you sure he's already finished?"

He nodded, grimacing,

"Iruka-sensei already packed up and left the building, all the students are done testing."

I sighed,

"Alright, let's check the apartments then."

Before I could move Sasuke stuck a hand out, pointing to the hite-ate I still had clutched in my hand.

"Aren't you going to put that on?"

I looked it over, shrugging before tying it deftly around my right arm. I would have worn it like Sasuke was, a normal headband, but I really didn't want to take my beanie off and my forehead wasn't big enough for the both of them. Around my neck like Hinata was also not an option, I needed to be able to nervously fiddle with that green necklace. A belt, like Lee and Guy, just didn't fit in my comfort zone. Hence, arm.

We made our way over the rooftops to the apartment, finally able to use them now that we had earned the headbands. I slipped in through my window, Sasuke following.

"Well?"

I shook my head,

"He's gone, hasn't been back since he left with us this morning."

I still had my weapons pouch on my left leg and equipment pouch at my waist from the test, and I didn't bother to remove them. I may well get us involved in a fight today.

"Come on, I've got a really bad feeling about this."

Seeing as the last 'really' bad feeling I had ended with his clans' massacre he shut up and followed closely behind, looking on guard. We walked the streets through town, Naruto still technically not being allowed to use the roof pathways, assuming he didn't pass. I walked through town, eyes closed, focusing on the little trails of static-y light that meant people had passed through. I found several criss-crossing trails that belonged to our ANBU guard and wondered why they were traveling in a pack today if they weren't watching Sasuke or Naruto. Perhaps they had other charges, I hadn't really considered that before.

The Shinobi that saw probably knew what I was doing, with Sasuke taking my arm in his and making sure I didn't run into anything while trying to catch a whiff of him. Finally I stopped, sighing. When I opened my eyes I realized that it was dark.

"Huh. Has it really been that long?"

Sasuke nodded, looking like he was bored out of his mind but still slightly hyped up about the situation. I glanced around us before entering a cafe that was open late for Shinobi, flopping down in a booth and ignoring the old civilian woman who muttered about how I should act more like a lady and less like a disgrace. I ordered tea and Sasuke glared at me.

"Why are we drinking tea? Naruto's missing!"

I shot him a look.

"We both know that the clone jutsu takes too fine of chakra control for Naruto's stupid large reserves to allow. We also know that it was the deciding factor for graduation. He would be sad, he would be angry. What does he do when he's sad or angry?"

"...disrupt the peace."

I rolled my eyes,

"He plays pranks on people. The fact that we haven't heard anything about one, or even seen it means that he's probably still in the planning stage. When he makes a move, we'll know it, and we'll go from there in finding him. For now, I'm hungry."

Like always he admitted I was right by slumping down and moodily sipping tea. I was expecting it, but I still jumped slightly at the alarm. Sasuke looked like he wasn't sure whether to run towards the sound immediately or punch a wall first.

"You think that's the sign we were looking for?"

I snorted my tea,

"Yeah, probably. Too bad it's telling us to proceed home and sit there like good little children."

He looked affronted and I sort of agreed, but I paid the bill and jumped to the rooftops, with him following closely behind.

"Jounin and Chunin are reporting in, Genin are to stay the fuck out of the way. I really hope Naruto isn't involved with this. We're about to find out, though."

"I thought you said we were going home?"

"We are. If he's there, he isn't involved. If he isn't, well, he could still not be involved. I don't really expect him to follow orders like 'go inside and hide'. He'll be fine wherever he is though."

The confidence I felt from knowing he would be okay showed in my tone, helping Sasuke to relax. We stayed in my apartment playing Shogi, crap television shows playing in the background. When the alert was lifted we still didn't relax completely, not until I felt a certain chakra signature sneak into the window of his apartment. I picked the lock, bursting in like I owned the place. We practically lived in one another's apartments anyway.

"Do you have any idea how worried we were?"
Sasuke snorted,

"She means how worried she was."

I turned to glare at him, ignoring how Naruto had frozen in the act of reaching into the refrigerator for a drink like a child caught red handed.

"Please, don't give me that shit, you were worried too."
I turned back to Naruto, rolling my eyes,

"Don't drink that, it's expired. All the good food is probably in my apartment, you know that."

The unspoken 'where the hell were you' sat in the air around us until he cracked and told the whole story. I kept any reaction hidden, but Sasuke struggled with it, asking questions.

"So wait, they took this-this, demon, and they put it inside you?"

Naruto nodded warily and Sasuke exploded,

"Why the hell would they do that?"

He seemed more angry over the fact that his friend was a victim than the fact that his friend contained a demon. Naruto relaxed but shot me a look. I made sure to plaster confusion on my face.

"Oh. Well, explains a bit. Double layers of chakra, seal on your stomach. Had wondered if you knew about that. Answer is apparently no."

Naruto cried a bit, still unable to comprehend acceptance from us, even after all this time. It seemed like I had failed a bit in raising him in a sort of loving family environment then. Not that I can be blamed, I was only a few months older than him, I couldn't properly take the place of a parent. That night we built the fort out of my couch, something we hadn't done in a very long time. It was probably going to be our last night as children.

~TimeLordOfPie