A/N: Wow, I did not expect the prologue alone to gather that much attention. Thank you for all the Follows, Favs, and Reviews!

Something that was asked/mentioned a few times is the 12 years the prologue skipped: I fully plan to show in detail how Tanya grew up, why she chose this path, and her way up until the point where she meets Team 7. Just not right at the start.

One final test

Sakura still couldn't believe her luck. She had actually managed to end up on the same team as Sasuke! Sure, that came at the cost of also being on the same team as Naruto, but honestly, it could be worse. While Naruto was annoying with his loud demeanor, his idiocy, and his pathetic flirting attempts toward her, he was at least not a rival in love. Putting up with the noisy boy was the preferable burden compared to having to fight for Sasuke's attention with any of the other girls. Worst of all Ino-pig. Luckily, her once-friend-now-rival had ended up in a team with the fatso and the slacker. Seeing her face go from anger to despair had been pure gold.

I knew it! In the end, love always wins!

As her gaze wandered to the spiky-haired boy next to her, she remembered the dialogue she had had earlier today with Sasuke.

Still… Sasuke was right. I can't even imagine how it is to grow up all alone. Maybe… maybe I could try being a bit nicer to him.

"Alright everyone," Iruka's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "Now that you all had time to familiarize yourself with your new team…" Well, that wasn't exactly how the three of them had spent their time. "…you will now meet your Jōnin-sensei."

He made a short pause before he continued.

"Remember that they are not just your teacher. Unlike me, they will also be your team leader, so you should act accordingly."

Somehow, Sakura felt like he was looking at their bench. Probably Naruto, the blonde wasn't exactly known for respecting authority. She could only hope he wouldn't behave in a way to their new sensei that could cause trouble for her and Sasuke.

"Well then, that's all from me."

Just as he said that the door slid open and a man with a robust build and shaggy brown entered. His flak jacket was unbuttoned, which gave him a bit of a ragged look.

"Um, Team 6? You're with me."

Three kids stood up and joined him as he left the room. Sakura couldn't exactly say she was impressed by the guy. Was he really a Jōnin? If so, she could only hope theirs was better.

"Team 10, you can come with me."

The next one was a guy with short, black hair and a chin curtain. Despite sitting closer to the back of the room, Sakura could clearly smell the stench of his cigarette. As Ino got up to join him, she gave Sakura an angry look, to which the pinkette replied with a stink eye. After them, the next one was a black-haired woman, who instead of a flak jacket was wearing a white sash dress with black stripes.

"Team 8, please follow me."

This continued for a little while, and as their team kept not getting called, Sakura stopped paying as much attention to the people entering and leaving. As more and more people left, the room grew quiet. Only Naruto, Sasuke, and she were left when…

"Team 7, stand!"

The harsh, commanding tone immediately made her snap back into reality. But all she could do after that was to look forward dumbfounded, and the two boys didn't fare any better. In front of them, heels together, body straight, arms behind her back, and with a look so stern you could crack rocks on it, stood a small girl with golden hair that couldn't be much older than them. And yet, she wore the Hidden Leaf flak jacket that you were only given if you were at least a Chūnin. Was it really possible for someone of that age to be a Jōnin?

"Was I given a Team of deafs or why are you still sitting?!" she barked, and before she even knew what she was doing, Sakura was standing. Why had she reacted like that? She wasn't sure why, but something about this girl felt… off. However, she seemed to be the only one to feel that way. Sasuke, still sitting, gave her no reaction except for a very judging look, while Naruto… chose a less quiet approach.

"Are you kidding me?! Hey, Iruka-sensei, what kind of joke is this!" he shouted at the door.

"I'm afraid my brother already left, but if you have a problem you are free to discuss it with me."

Brother? So she was their teacher's younger sibling then?

"You bet I have one! Everyone else got some strong-looking adult! What the hell are you supposed to teach us?!"

"N-Naruto," Sakura tried to calm him down as she started to panic slightly. It wasn't like she couldn't understand him; frankly, to her, all of this was just as bizarre. In fact, her inner self was shouting the exact same things. But nonetheless, this girl – who very obviously started to get fed up with Naruto – was their sensei for now, and if he continued like this, she and Sasuke would definitely get in trouble as well. "Remember what Iruka-sensei said. She's our superior now, so maybe we should-"

"That's even worse! Are supposed to take orders from some gal who looks like-"

Before he got the chance to finish his sentence, the sound of metal hitting wood interrupted him. A Kunai was stuck in the table in front of Naruto. They hadn't even seen her throw it.

"Are you done parading your staggering lack of discipline around?"

Seemingly interpreting his silence as confirmation, the girl continued.

"Great, now listen. Your days at school are over. You are now shinobi, soldiers, and you are under my command. If you keep your mentality from the academy, it will sooner or later get you killed, either because you botch a mission or because I do it. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not, I've executed people for insubordination before and I will do so again if I deem it necessary."

Sakura gulped heavily upon hearing this. Their sensei couldn't possibly be serious. Sure, she had said she wasn't kidding, but that was just to get Naruto in line, right? ...right?

"And what about our brooder?" she asked, now fixing her gaze on Sasuke. "You've been pretty quiet so far, but you are also still sitting. Got anything to say?"

To that, the crush of almost every girl in the academy simply scoffed.

"This is stupid."

"Is it now? I have you know that age and ability don't have to be correlated," the girl answered before twisting her mouth into a smirk. "Going by your personal experience, I had expected you of all people to be aware of that."

With that, the black-haired boy finally showed a reaction. If the girl had wanted to tick him off, she had succeeded. Sakura got startled as he suddenly stood up and slammed his hands on the table, anger burning in his eyes. She didn't know what this was about, but the girl had clearly struck a nerve.

"YOU-"

However, that was all he managed to get out before she started talking again, completely unfazed.

"It seems I have everyone's attention now, good. Since you seemingly still haven't left the mentality of school children behind you, I'll keep this short so that maybe you can get your act together until tomorrow. While I just said that you are now shinobi that is not completely true. There is one more test you have to pass to be fully recognized as Genin and as you are now, I honestly don't really see you passing."

A few seconds of silence followed, which were then broken again by Naruto.

"You are joking!"

"I most certainly am not. In fact, you could call this one the real exam because on average, only one-third of the candidates make it. And if that's news to you, that's because many of those who fail lack the willpower to come back to the academy."

Sakura could feel herself get pale. She had worked so hard to pass her finals, she had managed to land on the same team as Sasuke, and now she was told this all might have been for nothing? Even worse, what kind of exam was so brutal that it not only had such a high failure rate but demoralized the students to the point where they didn't even bother trying again?

"Then what was the point of graduating?!" Naruto blurted out.

"To weed out those who aren't even worth testing. Being a ninja is no game, and there are certain standards to be upheld."

"S-sensei," Sakura chimed in sheepishly, "what kind of test are we talking about? A theoretical or a practical one?"

As the girl shifted her gaze to Sakura, she somehow got an eerie feeling.

"Practical. There are no limitations regarding weapons or other ninja tools, so bring whatever you think you might need. We'll meet at 8 am on training ground three. Don't be late."

"Um, you didn't tell us your name."

Halfway to the door the girl stopped and turned to them once more.

"Yes, since you made it clear that a mature conversation is asked too much right now, we will wait with the introductions until tomorrow. Oh, and one more thing: For this test, it's advised to skip breakfast if you don't wish to throw up."

Grumbling, Naruto slammed the door of his apartment shut behind him. This wasn't how he had expected his first day as a ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village to play out. He was supposed to get a new sensei, a cool and strong Jōnin who was leagues above all of the academy teachers. While it started great, getting in a team with Sakura, things only went downhill from there. First, his other team member was Sasuke of all people. Then he got diarrhea. And finally, a small girl about their age who was even shorter than he was, and who had some very clear temper issues was supposed to be their sensei. Who the hell threw a kunai at their own comrades? He was still half-convinced that this was a joke from Iruka, some sort of payback for the pranks he had pulled over the years. Or was he really supposed to believe that this girl was in the top echelon of the Hidden Leaf?

And yet, he felt like he knew this girl from somewhere, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

But fine, if that was how they wanted to play it, he would happily comply. This 'practical exam' was probably some sort of fight, which he had no issue with. He just hoped they would fight against her, not just each other like in the academy. Although, his promise to win against Sasuke one day was also something he had yet to follow up on.

Opening the wardrobe in his bedroom, he pulled out his training doll. The old thing was pretty battered, but it was still usable and it had the perfect size. After hanging it up over his bed, he went through his cleaning tools until he found a yellow mop. He removed the shaft, stuck the swab on the doll's head to make it look like that girl, then fetched a marker and scrawled a cartoonishly angry-looking face on the fabric.

Once the setup was done, he was finally able to let off some steam. He started with two quick jabs into the doll's torso, followed by an uppercut. Next, he jumped to its left, delivering a sideways kick into the stomach that made the doll swing back. He didn't let that happen though, as he quickly stepped behind it, using its momentum to deliver a powerful strike into the occiput. Two kicks to the hips made it spin, which he stopped by burring his fist in its jaw, before kicking it between the legs.

No, wait, his opponent would be a girl. Or did that also work on girls? Well, that was something he could find out tomorrow.

He continued his training until he was exhausted. Still too aggravated to put the doll back in its place, he instead simply threw it in a corner and went to the kitchen. After starting the water boiler, he went through his stock of cup ramen. Most of them were either with miso or pork – his two favorite flavors – but right now, he craved something with a bit more kick to distract him from his day. In the end, he went for spicy chicken curry. He opened the cup and poured the boiling water into it. The next three minutes consisted of him sitting cross-armed at the table, alone in his anger that refused to subside.

The Uchiha Estate was empty. Just as it had been when he had left this morning. Just as it always had been since that fateful day, five years ago. As he opened the door, his gaze fell onto the red and white fan that was painted on the wood. The symbol of the Uchiha Clan proudly hung above the entrance as if it was mocking him. Taunting him by reminding him of what once was; reminding him of what would never be again.

Sasuke hated being here. Yet there were two reasons why he kept coming back. One, he had to sleep somewhere. And two, so that he would never forget his mission, his duty that he owed his family. He was an avenger. He was the one who would bring the murderer of his family to justice. Back then, he hadn't been able to do anything. He had just stood there as the monster that once was his brother loomed over the corpses of their parents.

Sasuke had always admired Itachi. He was strong and capable, but also caring and kind, unlike most of his clan. That was the lie he had made everyone believe. Until the day he slaughtered every single one of them. Everyone, except for Sasuke, who he didn't even consider worth killing. He alone had been left behind. And ever since then, his hatred had been what drove him forward. He was different from the rest. He didn't just go with the flow. He had no such silly thing as a 'dream'. No, he had a goal: to find and kill Itachi.

That was the reason why he hadn't exactly been thrilled to learn that he would be in a team with two of his classmates. He didn't care about them, all he could see them as were dead weights. They didn't share his ambition or one of similar proportions. And that meant all they could ever do was weigh him down. And to top it all off, one of them was the dead last of the class.

He was not yet ready to face Itachi. Sasuke was perfectly aware of that. It was the reason why he sought to acquire more power. The academy's teachings didn't come close to offering what he needed. It had been nothing more than a stepping stone. He needed to learn techniques only a Jōnin could teach. That was the sort of training he was supposed to receive starting today. The true beginning of his revenge. Instead, he got faced with this haughty girl who thought so great of herself because she somehow managed to climb through the ranks. He got angry just remembering it. Angry at her, but more so at himself for falling for such an obvious taunt. Sure, she hadn't been wrong. Before his betrayal, Itachi had been widely regarded as a prodigy and genius, joining the Anbu at just eleven years old. But did that girl honestly think she was the same?

Assuming that she had become a Jōnin legitimately, she was undeniably skilled. And judging by what he had seen, that was likely the case. The way she stood and moved, showing readiness, not giving any openings. She was not on the same level as the kids in his class, that much had been obvious. But was she really shameless enough to compare herself to him? Just because she was some upstart, who at best had second-hand accounts of what Itachi had done, did she seriously believe she understood the gravity of the atrocity the traitor had committed? She could never understand the pain he had gone through, the pain that fueled his hatred.

He scoffed as he went through the mansion's storage, packing everything that looked like it could be useful during whatever this exam was supposed to be. He would pass. Failing was not an option. She might think of herself as someone accomplished because of the rank she acquired at her age – and to a certain degree, she certainly was – but tomorrow, he would show her the difference between an upstart and someone with true determination.

Sakura sat on her bed and wondered what kind of test would await them tomorrow. She was confident that her theoretical knowledge was unmatched. But the young sensei had announced the exam to be practical. Sure, she was proficient in the clone, transformation, and substitution technique and her Taijutsu and Bukijutsu were decent enough. But the same could be said about pretty much every other graduate. If that was all it took to pass, there wouldn't be a failure rate of 66%.

Still, Sasuke was the best of their class. While she did beat him in written tests, when it came to his fighting prowess, he was unmatched. She had no doubt that he would pass tomorrow, so if she wanted to stay with him, she had to pass as well. This would be a test of her love!

Unfortunately, the golden-haired girl hadn't given them any specifics about the test, so all she could do was prepare herself as best as she could. Gathering her tools, she started to pack her satchel. Not that there was much. Four Kunai, plus the one that would go in the sheath on her leg, as well as 24 shuriken, two rolls of wire, a set of bandages, and a scroll. It wasn't a sealing scroll though, just a normal one that contained some useful instruction about a few different topics. The academy hadn't taught them how to make sealing scrolls or bomb tags, and buying them was unfortunately not in her budget.

It wasn't like her family was poor. On the contrary, her parents were successful merchants. But her mother made no secret of the fact that she disapproved of her becoming a ninja, claiming it was an uncivilized profession for a lady. Her father, being a former shinobi himself, was a bit more supportive, but he had still told her that if she really wanted to choose this path, she would need to do it on her own. As such, all of her equipment was bought with her own pocket money. Well, not all of it, back when they still were friends, Ino had frequently given her some of her stuff. In fact, prior to meeting Sasuke, Ino had been the driving factor that had helped her stay on her path.

"Sakura!" her mother called from downstairs. "Dinner is ready, do you want some?"

Sakura thought for a moment. She was on a diet right now, meaning she usually skipped dinner. But if she also skipped breakfast tomorrow, she would have to face her new sensei after not eating for almost an entire day.

She couldn't exactly pin it, but she somehow had an eerie feeling about the girl. From the outside, she wasn't very imposing. In fact, all three of them were taller than her, including Naruto – even if it were just a few centimeters in his case. But still, something about her was… off.

She pondered for a while. Skipping two meals for the sake of maintaining her figure was certainly doable. But that eerie feeling refused to let go of her, so, in the end, decided that today would be a cheat day.

"Yes, I'm coming, Mom!"

As she stood up, her gaze fell on the head protector on her nightstand. As she watched the light of the ceiling lamp getting reflected off the metal plate with the leaf symbol engraved in it, she remembered the promise she had made with her friend-turned-rival on graduation day.

I will pass this exam, so you better do as well, Ino!