Thoughtfully, I sat in Ichiraku's and stared into my noodle soup. Actually, I had felt a great hunger this afternoon. But for some reason this had now passed me a little. My tired reflection looked back at me. Tousled hair, tired and exhausted eyes, just as I felt. Simply exhausted.

Kurenai was really pushing us to our limits with her training. Basically, I didn't think that was bad, but I had found that there was still a lot for me to learn. And somehow, I was afraid that I might fall behind the others. Hinata had her Byakugan, Shino the insects, Kiba his Nin-Ken with which he could use many jutsus.

And me? I only had the invisibility.

In running away, I was an A, but in fighting, I still held back.

Sighing, I propped my head on my hand and stared into nothingness.

„HEY TORA!" A blow to my back followed and my head was thrown forward.

Not really far away from the surface of my noodle soup, I was able to stop in the movement. That had been a close one.

Furious, I wheeled around and really wanted to give whoever had pushed me a piece of my mind.

„Hey what are you doing?"

But there was only ... how could it be otherwise. Naruto. Once again, the Uzumaki had failed to assess the situation. In his luggage he had a rather, unsurprisingly, annoyed looking Shikamaru, who yawned incessantly.

„What's the matter Naruto?", I grumbled, still relieved to have been able to avert the wet, slippery disaster. The Uzumaki's expression changed a little when he noticed my bad mood. Yes, even someone like me was in a bad mood once in a while. But I distinguished bad moods from depressive states. Because I had these already times more often. But that didn't matter now.

Shikamaru sighed emphatically annoyed.

„The idiot next to me, thought that we could do something together before Naruto goes on a mission tomorrow. That's so annoying." He tilted his head back slightly and rolled his eyes. "But of course, my mother insisted that I go with you. And she wants you to come to our house sometime."

I blinked. „Huh? Why?"

„I don't know what kind of thoughts she had. It wasn't my idea, anyway. And then father agreed to it," he growled unwillingly.

My eyebrow rose slowly but surely. Why did his mother want to invite me to dinner? Did she know me? Or did Shikamaru talk about me? Possibly both. Unconsciously, I shrugged my shoulders and noticed that Shikamaru was eyeing me.

„Are you coming or not?" was the question.

I nodded slowly. „Yeah, I guess so."

„Alright, I'll tell her. But be prepared for her to ask."

Slightly, my eyes narrowed, but I nodded anyway. There would still be situations later where I would be questioned. So slowly I should start to get used to this kind of thing.

„I'll help you, too, if it gets really extreme. After all, you've been honest with me, and if you're in a jam, I'll get you out of it."

Gratefully, I looked at him.

Even though Shikamaru seemed to be annoyed by everyone. Sometimes he also showed that not everything left him as cold as people thought. Besides, once he found a friend and got along with him, he stood by him. Anything could happen. The best example of this was his friendship with Choji. And slowly I thought I had found a friend in Shikamaru, too, which somehow made me feel incredibly relieved.

Naruto, who had been standing next to us the whole time listening to the conversation, began to stir. His eyes began to shine with excitement. It seemed as if something important had occurred to him. Jittery, he began to fidget. I grinned wryly at him; it was funny to see Naruto in such situations.

We sat down at the counter with the Uzumaki. While I ate my noodle soup, which was cold by now, he told me excitedly about the mission he would have tomorrow. Yes also Narutos and likewise Shikamarus team had passed the examination, which pleased me personally very much. Now we would all start training together to become genin and maybe one day we would be able to do missions together, as chunin or maybe even jonin. I was already looking forward to what was to come. But until then there would still be some training ahead of us and I would do my best to keep up with them.

Tomorrow Naruto and his team would go on their first mission. They should accompany a bridge builder and protect him. Continuously, the blond told how exciting it would be to finally have a real mission. Admittedly, I was a little envious. Because the tension, when my team would also get a task from the Hokage, began to grow with every word that came out of Naruto's mouth. Also, Shikamaru was to be seen his impatience a little bit. But let's see, maybe Kurenai would actually go on a mission with us soon. After all, we could never know what our sensei would decide to do.

For me personally, Kurenais actions were really not easy to see through. And not only in the fight. In general, I didn't quite know how to relate to her at the moment. In one moment, she was cool and in the other friendly and open-minded. But she would certainly remain with me for a few more years, so things could still change in this regard.

Around half past nine, we all slowly made our way home. Naruto wanted to be fit for his mission tomorrow. Shikamaru supposedly didn't stop his talking, but he only used this as an excuse not to admit how exhausted he was, which elicited a small grin from me. Typical Nara. Personally, I was starting to feel my aching muscles. This was going to be a pleasant night. Sleeping with sore muscles ... what a pleasure.

Yawning, I said goodbye to Naruto before going to my apartment, my mind already in bed, and eventually falling asleep there, completely exhausted as well.

The next morning, I was awakened by a frantic ringing at the door.

With my eyes half open and my thoughts not yet fully awake, I shuffled to the door and opened it.

„I'm supposed to pick you up. We have to go to the Hokage," a highly annoyed Kiba informed me. Apparently, he was not exactly thrilled that he of all people should wake me up, which I could understand. Otherwise, that would probably not have met with enthusiasm from me either.

A nod from me followed. „I'll be right there."

Hastily, I slapped the ice-cold tap water on my face to wake up, brushed my teeth in record time, and then got dressed. The fact that we had to go to the Hokage made me a lot more awake. Anticipation flooded through me. Maybe we would even get our first mission. That would be great.

Motivated, I tore open the door and almost ran into Kiba, who was sitting there yawning and playing with Akamaru. He seemed taken aback for a moment, possibly because of my motivation, but then he nodded, and we went on our way.

When we arrived there, Kiba knocked carefully on the thick wood of the door and then entered. We hadn't made a sound the whole way there, which was unusual for a Kiba. But probably he was just as excited as I was.

Standing in line in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi, we waited more or less patiently to hear what he had to say.

„Team 8, you have very good skills when it comes to tracking people or animals. In this context, you will now get your first mission from me."