My friend Ann-chan17 (deviantART) made this rather fitting artwork. :)

Disclaimer: I, Darkpetal16, do not own Naruto.

Warning(s): Addressed at the bottom of chapter 2.

Beta: Cyndaquil123

Can I take another step? I've done everything I can.

All the people that I see, I will never understand -

if I find a way to change, if I step into the light -

then I'll never be the same, and it all will fade to white.

-Bad Apple

Don't leave me.

Don't leave me.

Don't leave me.

Don'tleaveme.

Don'tleaveme.

Don'tleaveme.

DON'TLEAVEM'TLEAVEME.DON'TLEAVEME.

STOP

LEAVING

"Naa-chan, this is Dan. He's very special to me, so be good to him, ne?"

Just leave already.

. . .

. .

.

I folded my hands neatly in my lap as I watched Kakashi deftly peel an orange for me. His winter overcoat was laid on the back of his chair which was brought up close to my hospital bed. It took only a few seconds for him to peel it with a kunai, and even less for him to set it in my hands.

"I can peel my own orange, you know," I rasped.

Kakashi gave me a withering look. "Come again, grandma?"

"My voice isn't that bad."

"Are you deaf, as well?"

I rolled my eyes, choosing not to respond. Besides, it was still a little uncomfortable to talk. Even a full week after the surgery (and two more operations to reinforce and manage the regrowth of the tissues and muscles) I still had difficulty utilizing my throat, whether if it was talking, eating, or even breathing. The doctors informed me that I would be uncomfortable for roughly another month, but I would be discharged and allowed to continue to take missions in another day or so.

My eyes trailed down to the peeled orange and I nimbly took a slice and nibbled on it. Companionable silence filled the hospital room. I ate quietly and Kakashi relaxed in the chair, his eyes half lidded and his hands folded in his lap.

Moments like these reminded me a bit of our childhood (or did it still count as a childhood when were technically physically children, or did we lose the right to be called children the moment we purposely took another's life?). Neither of us were the conversational sort (unless it was politically or socially required of me, of course). We were practical, logical, and brusque.

The silence remained companionable for several minutes, long after I had finished the orange and then it got a little uncomfortable.

Not because of something we said, or did.

Because of It.

That monster I was in full denial of decided to rear its ugly little head and my traitorous body had a very, very disgusting thought: He smells kind of nice.

That lead to other thoughts, thoughts I could not stop and the more I tried to not think about them the harder it got. Within three minutes I was fidgeting with my blanket, struggling to keep the blush from growing on my face and I knew, I knew Kakashi could sense my unease which made him feel uneasy and that just added onto my own awkwardness...

Then I had an absolutely terrifying thought.

Can Kakashi smell pheromones, yet? Does he know how to identify him? Can he tell I'm—?

My heart stopped beating and if I were a lesser woman I would have started crying then and there at the sheer shame and embarrassment I felt.

Then my logical side slapped the hormonal side silly and said: It doesn't matter if he can, or cannot. He knows what puberty is and he knows hormones aren't something that can be controlled.

Hormonal side: But if he knows and he will eventually what if he starts to, you know, reciprocate?

Logical side: He would never do that, he understands the importance of not dating on the team, and he also understands that dating prior to the age of sixteen as a kunoichi or shinobi is discouraged. Hormones in this world are much stronger than they are before the age of sixteen due to how chakra pathways develop oddly around the reproductive system. Around that time an individual's chakra can be used to dull, damper, or curb the hormones since the chakra points will typically be fully developed around the reproductive system and no longer add bursts of chakra to the systems.

Hormonal side: Why am I attracted to someone so young?!

Logical side: You cannot control your body. Sexual attraction is based on the evolutional need to reproduce in most cases. He, and the others, are a viable candidate because you respect them, have the most contact with them, have developed some kind of emotional bond outside of the ties of family. You are equally attracted to Madara and Obito for the same reasons. It doesn't make you a pedophile, or some pervert.

Hormonal side: Yes, it does!

Logical side: If you're just going to ignore all rational thought—

Hormonal side: I am! I can't stop it! Oh God someone give me a sedative nononono stop daydreaming about that, you stupid woman!

I outwardly moaned and buried my face in my hands.

I wish Madara was awake. He'd know what to do.

I just had another month and a half before spring. Another month and a half before the exams, most likely. I just had to bear through it. I just had to bear through it.

Then, remembering that I had oranges in my lap, I began to eat them to preoccupy myself from my thoughts.

After ten minutes passed by my body relaxed and my hormones settled down enough that I no longer felt uncomfortable in Kakashi's presence. Once again, companionable silence filled the air until the door to my hospital room opened and Obito trounced in and my stupid, stupid, body caused my dirty mind to have another perverse thought.

I choked back a sob as I buried my face in my hands again to hide my blush.

Obito looked at me weirdly and Kakashi glared at him. "Oni-hime, are you okay?"

I made a strangled squeaking sound.

Humiliating. Utterly humiliating.

Kakashi placed a hesitant hand on my shoulder in what he probably thought meant as a comforting gesture, but it just kind of made me think again about how nice he smelt since had moved a lot closer to do so.

"I need to hit things," I rasped out, lowering my hands and looking up at my teammates pleadingly. "Please. Please. Get me out of here."

Obito immediately shook his head. "No way. Kakashi would hit me again if I did anything that even might have negative consequences."

"So you can learn," Kakashi sneered.

I slapped Kakashi's arm. "I warned you. If you two can't get along I will make you."

Kakashi held up his hands in a gesture of surrendering. Obito smiled at us. "Well, I'm glad you seem to be doing a lot better, hime. I've been practicing my genjutsu with Kaa-chan, and I'm hella pumped to show you what I can do next training session!"

"I'm sure you've improved," I told him. "I look forward to putting you in your place, though. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure you learned your lesson from our last mission."

Obito paled while Kakashi nodded his head.

"You chose strangers over Naasica," Kakashi muttered. "You risked our mission, us, for—for some trash!"

Obito's eyes watered and he dropped his head. "I-I know... I'm sorry, guys. I promise I won't do it ever again. I didn't mean for you to get hurt, hime, I swear."

"I—"

Obito surged forward, his eyes bright with unshed tears—Ah, he always will be a little too emotional won't he?—and grasped my hands in his own. This, of course, caused my heart to sped up and my cheeks to warm as my mind unwillingly filtered through every trashy romance novel I had read and compared it to the current scene. "Oni-hime, I swear I won't let anything like that happen again! I'll protect you with everything I've got and I'll become the most reliable teammate ever."

I squeaked. "O-Okay."

His eyes widened and shined. "Y-You believe me?"

Kakashi then dug his fist into Obito's side causing to immediately release my hands as he tumbled to the floor. In less than a minute he was already back up and fuming at Kakashi. "What the hell?!"

"She can believe all she wants," Kakashi said plainly, "I don't, and I won't until you prove otherwise. I put my trust in you, Obito. You broke that trust, don't expect it to be earned back by some flowery words."

Obito's anger deflated at Kakashi's words, but that bout of depression lasted only a minute before his grin was back and every inch of him was brimming with determination. "I will, Kakashi! I swear."

"I know," was all he said.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"Little sapling?"

Despite being cleared by the doctors at long (long) last, Kushina was just as fussy as she was when I was in the hospital. It was why I was not surprised to find her hovering around me while I worked.

I paused in my calligraphy, carefully setting the brush down as to not disturb my work. I looked up from my desk, and over towards my door where I saw a red-faced Kushina shyly hiding it. Immediately curious I gave her my full attention and asked, "Do you need something, Nee-chan?"

Somehow her face became as red as her hair and she nodded her head sharply. Then, looking quite nervous, she rushed inside my room and slammed the door shut. She became even more nervous and she began to fiddle with the end of her hair.

I turned my desk chair around to face her, and placed my hands in my lap docilely. It took several minutes of silence before Kushina worked up the courage to squeak out her next few words. "Y-You took pr-proper etiquette classes, didn't you?"

"No," I answered. "Grandmother taught me some of what I know, and two ANBU assigned to her taught me the more physically demanding aspects, such as dancing."

And Madara taught me the rest.

"B-But you know it, d-don't you?"

"Yes."

Kushina swallowed, took a deep breath then closed her eyes. Exactly three seconds passed before she blurted out (yelled, more like), "I need you to show me how to be a proper lady!"

That threw me for a loop. "Nee-chan, you're already a beautiful kunoichi."

"I-I never took the kunoichi classes," Kushina confessed. "I don't know how to act like a geisha or a proper proper lady. You're always so composed, and you know how to tie all obis, and you know the flower language, and how to speak so well, and—"

It was a little amusing for a grown woman to be asking a child this.

Well. I suppose technically I would be becoming a woman fairly soon. And she was correct, given my heritage, status, and ambition, I knew all the forms of acting like she described. She would call it acting like a proper lady, whereas I would call it geisha training, or demure kunoichi training. Most of the dances geisha used were similar to my tessen kata, and it was a wonderful exercise in learning grace and elegance in body language. Madara informed me that I would be required to redo the training every year as my physical form grew in order to maintain that level of grace that was expected of me.

I certainly didn't mind. I found the geisha and their dances to be quite beautiful. I could still remember Madara creating that exquisite genjutsu to show me his own encounters with those alluring woman. They were absolutely captivating and I understood if I could properly emulate those women in my day to day life as Naasica when I was an adult, I knew I would enthrall my clients and weaker politicians with just a few body movements—just a few steps.

But, that was still some ways off.

Returning to the point, though.

I received the training, and Kushina did not. Likely she did not see its usefulness, and even the kunoichi class did not cover much more than how to serve tea, and a bit of the flower language.

"Why do you need to know this now, Nee-chan?"

Kushina took another deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Minato's grandfather—"

Minato's parents passed away when he was little, so he was left in his paternal grandfather's care. His grandfather was a veteran shinobi who retired a couple years ago. I had never personally met the man, but from what I gathered from the instances Kushina had met the man, he was a very traditional man.

He disapproved of Kushina and Minato living together without being married, and to a certain extent disapproved of Kushina. I didn't know if it was because she had made a bad impression, the living situation, or if he was just a generally disliking person.

"What about him?" I asked dubiously.

She took yet another deep breath. "I'm going to formally ask him to become part of the Namikaze family."

No amount of training could prevent my eyes widening and my jaw dropping. "Wh-Wha-at? That's—why do you care if he cares?"

"I know Minato is going to ask me soon," Kushina quickly said, her words coming out so fast they almost blended together. "I think he's going to ask me after everyone has become a Chūnin which will likely just be a couple months away. I know his grandfather won't stop that, but I know he loves his grandfather very much, and it would mean the world to him if he approved. Namikaze-san is a very traditional man, and I think if I go to him as—"

"If this was me asking, you would just tell me to be myself and he would just have to deal with it," I interrupted.

"I don't really care about that," Kushina dismissed. "I want to make Minato happy, and this will make him happy. It won't hurt me or anyone else, so why not? And while i-it's embarrassing, I know I can do it. I just... I don't know how. S-So can you help me?"

I shook my head in amusement. "Oh, Nee-chan, of course I will. When do you have to meet him?"

"The sooner the better. If you could just—just show me how to properly serve tea and, and, and maybe a ceremony?"

"Of course, Nee-chan. I take it you'll want to keep this from prying eyes?"

She nodded her head vehemently.

I smiled. "Grab your best kimono and I'll meet you at the Senju compound. I'll have to purchase a few supplies first."

She moved faster than a falling star.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"So you want to present yourself more as a," my lips twitched, "proper lady over a kunoichi?"

Kushina nodded her head firmly. We sat in a smaller wing of the compound, one that I rarely crossed by in my youth because it served as an indoor training arena. "That old geezer knows I hit harder than anyone in this village, but he compares every woman to his late wife. I guess she was this perfect woman who could dish out an ass kicking, and then make some crazy delicious meals."

"I think that sounds just like you, Nee-chan," I loyally said.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Look, if I—if I can just show him th-that I can be a proper proper lady then I know he'll approve of me and Minato! Then he'll come to the wedding and Minato will be super happy."

"Super?"

"Super."

I shook my head again. "First thing first for you, I think, will be choosing the makeup." Kushina's face immediately scrunched up at that. "The current fashion is a full cover face paint for court ladies, not unlike geisha. Because you have a tendency of wiping everything off your face, though, we may try for something a bit different. I'll try a half paint on you, or a simple brush over."

"It feels weird," Kushina complained.

"Suck it up," I chirped, "I'll do the full face paint on myself so you can see what it would look like and you can choose between what I'll do on you (half paint), or me. Whatever you think will please the old man."

"Okay," Kushina said slowly.

I handed her a rubber cap. "Tuck all your hair into that so it's out of the way. Hair will be done last."

Kushina nodded and did as I instructed. I pulled my own hair into it. I then summoned two clones to put the makeup on both of us. Kushina squirmed uncomfortably, and more than once I had to lightly scold her to make her sit still.

It took a bit longer for the clone to finish putting the paint on my face, as it required covering my entire face and neck in creamy white paint. When the clone finished with Kushina, Kushina's eyes were large as she watched the clone put makeup on me.

"You look so different!" Kushina exclaimed, as I closed my eyes for the clone to put red paint over them.

"Have you even looked at yourself, yet?"

Kushina let out a gasp as she realized she had not. She then scrambled to find a mirror in her bag. By the time she pulled it out, the clone had already finished my lips and I was done.

"Sweet King of Ramen," Kushina uttered as she stared at the mirror.

I thought she looked beautiful.

Then again I thought she looked beautiful without the makeup, too. She was just a beautiful person. Anyone that filled with life, love, and light, had to be shining with beauty. Everything about Kushina was gorgeous and captivating.

I examined the makeup, and gave a firm nod of approval. It would be my previous life's equivalent to a brush up or light coverage. Just enough to hide away any scars, or blemishes, while adding an appropriate portion of color around the eyes and lips. Dark blue seemed especially nice around her eyes—just a small amount, though.

"I look pretty," Kushina said, torn between grinning, or blushing. She ended up doing both.

"You always look pretty," I told her truthfully.

Kushina turned to face me and did a double take. "You look ten years older. Slap some hips on you and anyone would think you were a geisha."

"Don't give my puberty any ideas," I warned her.

Kushina's brow furrowed and she gave me a sympathetic look. "You're gonna have big hips and big boobs."

"Do not say that," I hissed. "My back already throws temper tantrum. If my boobs get any bigger than Grandmother's then I am getting a reduction."

"Better make sure you request at least a month off around that time, then," Kushina warned. "When your grandmother got hers—"

I let out a gasp. "What? Grandmother got a—"

"It's not uncommon for kunoichi to do that," Kushina sighed. "Unless they work honey pot missions, it's just impractical to have breasts larger than a c-cup. Although your grandmother's was more of a medical necessity after she exper—oh, wait I shouldn't tell you this until you're older."

"How about you just don't talk to me about Grandmother's boobs ever again."

Kushina nodded her head. "That seems reasonable. But she did set aside funds for you when you were old enough to... you know... take care of that."

I cringed.

An extremely uncomfortable silence fell between us before Kushina coughed and said, "I think I'll just use this make up for meeting Namikaze-san."

"Okay," I said, relieved for the change. "Let's get you dressed and your hair done so we can practice a simple tea ceremony."

"... And flower arrangement."

I paused, amusement bubbling inside me at her sheepish mutter.

"... Yes, Nee-chan."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I fiddled with the ends of my hair. After how poorly our team had handled our last outside mission (a precious heir ending up in the hospital) the Hokage thought it best to confine us once again to the village until the exams. As a result, we spent the majority of our time alternating between D-Ranks and training. I knew the exams would be coming up soon enough and I wanted to make damn sure that Obito was prepared. I felt like he would be, or at least as much as he possibly could be, but I couldn't bring myself to lax our training.

My hair had grown out a bit more, falling past the top of my shoulders and slowly starting to grow out. I wondered, if maybe, it would be presumptuous of me to let it grow out. I would love to have long hair like Madara did, to be such a strong kunoichi, like Madara was such a powerful shinobi.

I decided I would let it grow out at least a little bit more.

Obito plopped down to my right, the snow crunching underneath him. His warm eyes saw me fiddling with my hair and he reached out and started to fiddle with it, too. "What? Are you going to cut it again?"

I thought about swatting his hand away, but I found that I didn't feel particularly attracted to him at that moment and it felt nice to have someone play with my hair, so I decided against it. "Not yet."

Kakashi sat on my other side. "I think you should grow it out."

"Really?" I asked, surprised. "I didn't know you cared about appearances."

"I don't," Kakashi confirmed, "but you always get a wistful look when you have to cut your hair, so I think maybe you shouldn't."

I couldn't resist smiling at that. "I didn't realize you paid such close attention."

Kakashi shrugged and took a long drink from his water. Obito dropped my hair and propped his chin in his hands and his elbows in his lap. He peered at me. "I can't imagine you with long hair."

"It would be interesting to see," I said. "Obaa-sama had long hair that she kept partially up in buns. She had hundreds of these beautiful sticks she would stick in them..."

"Do you have any?" Obito asked.

I shook my head. "I've never had long hair and ornamental sticks can't really be used for short hair."

"Do you want some?" Kakashi asked.

I shrugged. "Planning for my birthday?"

"No, I already have your gift."

Obito's eyes widened. "What? Seriously? I haven't come up with anything, yet!"

"Loser," Kakashi taunted. Obito's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't rise to the bait. Kakashi snorted at that. "Well, doesn't matter right now, anyway. I'll just be glad when this damn winter is over."

"Me, too," I agreed. "At least the weather is starting to warm up, and we haven't had any more ice storms."

"Thank God."

Minato appeared in front of us with a flash of golden light, carrying several boxes of takeout. "Alright, who's ready for lunch and to get back to work?"

Obito leapt up. "You had me at lunch."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Time passed by slowly. There was nothing of note to come up. We trained. We went on silly missions. I listened to heated arguments between my logical side and hormonal side.

Every week since it had started getting warmer I would visit Madara's cave. Insofar he had remained asleep. Madara predicted that he likely would until it was nice and warm (which may very well go into late spring, early summer).

Fortunately, though, I was gifted by a rare moment of seeing him semi-awake.

After I had removed the blankets over him, his eyes had fluttered open and he stared at me groggily. "Is it warm outside?"

"Not yet, Madara-sama," I answered gently.

His eyes grew half lidded. "Anything happen?"

"Not of great importance. The exams are coming up in a month."

"Mn. If I am not awake by then... then stay... stay away until they are complete. The village will be... will be hectic and more eyes will be on you. I know... I know they have been anticipating this for you... for a while. You know... what to... what to do."

I bowed. "I will not fail you, Madara-sama. Not ever."

He raised a wrinkled hand and brushed a stray bang away from my face. "I know. When you return to me victorious I will have a present for you."

I relished his touch for as long as I could before Madara's eyes fluttered closed and he drifted back into sleep. Tenderly, I brushed his hair for him, cleaned him up, and tucked him into bed. I took the dirty blankets and washed them in a nearby stream before I hung them up to dry in the cave near a fire I had Zetsu keep going.

My hand kept raising up to touch the cheek he had touched.

In a strange way, that one gesture made my whole week.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

It was finally starting to warm up and stay warm. Although spring technically had arrived last month, it was still cool enough that we had kept our winter clothes. That week, however, we stored our clothing away for next winter.

I stared at myself in the mirror. My brows were furrowed and I resisted the urge to simply tear the clothes right off me. I knew I had grown a bit over the winter, but I didn't think it was by that much. My previous outfit could no longer fit me. I could scarcely get the sleeveless black shirt over me—and it didn't even cover my midriff anymore—and my skirt was too tight.

I shouldn't have been surprised, really. Puberty was already hitting me upside the head with... emotions, but I didn't think I'd get the entire package so soon. Twelve or not, growing ten centimeters over winter was a bit too much. Moreover, the bulge on my chest seemed to literally pop out of nowhere.

(I wasn't even going to address the signs of sexual attraction that I had been in denial about for most of winter, or the upcoming indications that I was becoming a woman).

Logically, I knew that Kushina probably anticipated that and that was why she got me winter clothes that were too big for my tiny form at first. It was also why she insisted I began to wear small sports bras in preparation for when those damn mounds would appear.

Still, the growth spurts and breasts meant that the other stuff would start heading my way soon enough. Worst of all, it meant that those feelings would become even harder to resist and control.

Ripping off my last year's clothes, I grabbed my orange fluffy robe and headed out of my room.

Kakashi exited out of his room as well, also wearing his house robes. He grimaced when he looked at me. "Your stuff doesn't fit either, does it?"

Sighing, I shook my head.

"I'm not gonna let that woman shop for me," Kakashi said adamantly, "so do you know where Minato-sensei is?"

His voice cracked. We both ignored it.

"Certainly not home right now," I told him. "I'm sure Nee-chan will pick something suitable out for you."

"I'm not wearing orange," Kakashi continued venomously. "Never. Ever."

I pouted. "You're no fun."

"Better than wearing orange."

Snorting, I brushed passed him and headed into Kushina and Minato's room. Kushina was currently painting her toenails on the bed, a movie playing quietly on the television in front of her. Upon my entrance, she stopped what she was doing and looked up. A gleam entered her eyes. "Shopping?"

"Shopping and... I should probably consult a doctor for the rest of the signs for puberty," I admitted.

Kushina gave me a sympathetic look. "Okay. I'll schedule you with my doctor this week. Although, ah, I do need to warn you about some things before your appointment. Perks of being an Uzumaki and Senju."

That sounded scarily ominous and I did not want to consider why she was giving me that pitying look. "Thank you."

"I'll head out in about five minutes, okay? Does Kakashi need new clothes?"

"Yes," I told her, ignoring Kakashi's squawk of betrayal from his room. "But, he doesn't want to wear any orange."

"Party pooper," Kushina grumbled.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I wondered where exactly Kushina got her style and her sense of proportions. Within half an hour she had already bought numerous outfits—all roughly the same—but in varying sizes.

"It's flexible enough that you can wear it throughout puberty," Kushina explained. "Plus, it's super cute, ya know!"

Cuteness was lost on me—but it did have a certain aesthetic appeal to it. As heiress to the Senju clan it was important to be presentable, but as descendant of Uzumaki Mito, it was equally important to be presented as a kunoichi. Kunoichi, unlike most shinobi (there were still plenty of boys and men who operated like kunoichi for body work missions) were expected to use their feminine assets to their advantage. Perhaps not directly through sexual appeal, but there was a reason most villages sent kunoichi to negotiate, or deal with any sort of high ranking nobles.

Kunoichi were supposed to be presented as soft, supple, and beautiful creatures. They were easy on the eyes, lethal to the hearts.

In this war-ravaged world it should not be any sort of surprise that the filthy rich were shallow wastes of spaces and specifically requested kunoichi for their appearances. Clan Heads who did not present themselves correctly and properly in the eyes of court were scorned and received next to no personal mission requests from their clan. Call the Hyūga uptight all you want, but they were certain to keep up appearances for damn good reasons.

If you could not present yourself as someone bright, or pretty, then you needed to present yourself as someone powerful and scary. The ANBU, once discarding their identities, were created to be as intimidating and uniformed as possible.

The animal masks symbolized their loss of identity and ties with humanity. They were mindless beasts to their Hokage's will. Gray and dark and completely without standard light—their village was their light; their Hokage was their light. Nothing else mattered to those ANBU. They were interchangeable and completely replaceable.

Hell, even the Inuzaka Clan used a mix of both. Their healers were the pretty kunoichi while the rest gave off feral appearances and purposely used chakra to aggravate and enhance their otherworldly animalistic features.

Intimidation, or attraction. Those were the only two choices influential shinobi had.

Intimidation worked against me as Senju Naasica, but it would fuel as me as Madara's tool. The two had to be completely and entirely separate, opposite in every faction. Since intimidation would be my bread and butter carrying out Madara's will, then attraction would be Naasica's.

It was one of the reasons I enjoyed Kushina choosing my outfits (and her vivid smile; that gleam in her eyes so very much like Grandmother's). My personal tastes in this world ran closer to Madara's. I wanted to emulate him in my personal life, which was most certainly not acceptable; but, it was hard to resist.

With Kushina choosing my own attires I had little chance of conflicting my wants. Not to mention any possible correlation could be excused as there was no way anyone would think Kushina was close to Madara.

The outfit that I would wear throughout puberty in the warm months was a simple attire. She had chosen long plain black pants that were neither baggy, nor tight, but did not leave any open room at the end. She chose another sleeveless black shirt with a pale orange collar. She got an overshirt, though, that was in part a kimono. There was no bow at the end of the obi, instead it was tucked nice and neat. The sleeves were long and opened widely at the end—all the better to conceal what I hid in my hands.

The overshirt's collar was wide and very maneuverable—it fell beneath my shoulders, in fact, presenting the black undershirt.

The kimono overshirt ended where the obi ended—right at my waist, and it hugged tight enough that I knew the fabric would not catch needlessly on leaves or branches. It was a darker shade of orange, while the obi matched the collar in being a paler shade.

I examined my outfit, wondering once again where Kushina's style came from.

"Well?" Kushina demanded, a smug smile on her face and an infectious glint in her eyes.

"Beautiful," I reassured her, allowing her to turn me around however which way she pleased.

Kushina beamed. "Good! I already have something picked out for when you stop growing. It'll be my congratulations gift when you turn sixteen, since you'll officially be an adult."

"I look forward to it."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I peeked into Kakashi's room. The door was shut, but that never stopped me from barging in. I did not see him right away, and as such I opened the door fully and stepped inside. His window was open—soft blue curtains danced in the breeze in the overly neat room.

Kakashi had little personal effects—a handful of pictures with some doggy beds scattered around the room—and it was an overall very bleak room.

I meandered around it, my fingers tracing along one of the pictures of the two of us—we were five at the time, and Kushina had taken us swimming.

Suddenly feeling his presence, I looked up and smiled briefly. Kakashi was leaning on the doorframe, and I gave a surprised giggle at seeing him wear the exact same damn outfit from last year. "Where did you find that in your size?"

"Minato bought a bunch of them last year, apparently," Kakashi admitted.

"Ah."

"Is that what Kushina picked out?"

I stretched my arms out for him to get a better look. "Until my boobs stop growing."

Kakashi paled. "You have boobs now?"

"Yeah. Got them over winter. Going to have a doctor's appointment this week about the fun stuff."

Kakashi shuddered. "I don't suppose I could convince you to get some nice scented candles or something and always keep them lit in your room when, ah, you know... that time comes?"

Blinking in surprise, I tilted my head. "Why?"

"Smell."

It clicked. "Oh. Huh. How the hell am I going to hide that smell on missions?"

"No clue. Good luck, though."

"Little sapling?"

"Uh-huh?" I called back, looking out into the hall and finding Kushina carrying a very big box. Her cheeks were a little rosy and she gave me yet another pitying look.

"I think we should have that talk now before it gets too late."

"... Right."

"Kakashi," Kushina continued, "I'm going to have to ask you to leave the house for a bit. Go find Obito and bring yourselves over to Minato. I'll send Naa-chan along shortly."

Kakashi and I exchanged curious looks. With a shrug, he headed out and Kushina went into my bedroom.

She dropped the box of... whatever onto my bed. I entered the room and she deftly closed and locked the door behind her.

She then sat beside the box on the bed and motioned for me to sit next to her.

I sat down and gave her a mildly concerned look. "Is this the sex talk?"

"... Sort of," Kushina admitted slowly. "More like a talk about your libido."

"What."

"Well," Kushina began, "I mean you already understand how around when puberty hits the tenketsu start developing around the reproductive system... Because of that chakra has a tendency of bleeding into the reproductive system causing an overdrive. This is especially true with those who have large chakra capacity and that's why there is a direct correlation to one's libido and their, ah, chakra capacity. This fact is a bit, ah, overstated within the Uzumaki Clan, but I haven't done any kind of research into the other clans (as I'm sure it's kept private) so I'm not sure how the others handle it. Thanks to your 3/4s heritage and the abundance of chakra from Senju and Uzumaki your puberty will be hitting you rather... hard. To be honest, you're kind of just hitting the tip of the iceberg, little sapling."

No.

No.

No.

Nope.

No.

Nope, nope, nope.

Nope.

Just... no.

"This box," Kushina motioned, "are some new toys I brought for you."

I started hyperventilating. No amount of training could have prepared for this conversation. I did not do toys. I did not do sex. I had next to no sex drive in my previous life, and this woman was telling me that those goddamn emotions and those fucking hormones were going to be even worse than what they already are?!

"It'll be okay," Kushina soothed. "Training, and lots of exercise can work to tire your body out enough on most days. There are also special pills to help, ah, take the edge off that your doctor will talk to you more about. It's perfectly manageable, but you should know that if you do get the urge you shouldn't ignore it. That'll just make it worse and you'll get very irritable until that urge is dealt with. There is no shame in this."

Then she opened the box and she showed me what was inside.

I shamelessly started to weep.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I found my team roughly an hour later at our usual training grounds. The three of them were actually enjoying a conversation when I showed up, swollen eyed and everything. My heart was hammering inside my chest as I fought to keep my boiling frustration and rage in check.

Obito's eyes were wide. "Oni-hime, are you okay?" He even had the audacity to sound concerned.

I didn't even have try in order to give him the coldest glare possible. It made him cringe and avert his gaze immediately. "Don't. Mention. This. To. Anyone. Or. I. Will. Hurt. You."

"I think this might be the time to give us the good news, Sensei," Kakashi said carefully, taking a couple steps away from me and giving the cringing Obito a pitying look.

Minato cleared his throat, a knowing glint in his eyes—BASTARD KNEW!—and said, "I recommended you three for promotion to Chūnin. Kakashi and Naasica are already Chūnin in the field, but now it's time to officially earn the title outside of the field. After the three of you have taken the exams, we'll be allowed to take missions outside the village and help in the war effort, again."

Kakashi gave an uncharacteristic smile. "Finally."

Obito bounced around in place, completely forgetting about me, practically about to burst with excitement. "This is gonna be cool! I'm going to kick so much ass."

"We'll see," Minato laughed. "Only Konoha Genin will compete, and this year will be extremely strict about not permanently damaging any contestants."

After all, we can't waste cannon fodder here when we need the bodies out there.

"And, hime, Hokage-sama wanted to have a discussion with you after I told you about the nominations, so head straight there after training today, okay?"

"Whatever."

Minato's lips twitched again, clearly taking amusement in my obvious foul mood.

I snarled silently at him, daring him to taunt me, to say anything about my predicament.

He outright laughed and it took every ounce of self-control not to lunge at him.

The more furious I grew, the harder he laughed and the more uncomfortable Obito and Kakashi became.

"Come now, hime," Minato chuckled, "it's perfectly natural. Nothing to be ashamed of."

With a scream I threw myself at him. "Shut UP!"

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Exhaustion pressed down upon me and I was wheezing, struggling to stand up. I was covered in sweat and I knew I stank to high hell. Bruises, marks, scratches, you name it I had it, covered my form. My outfit was in tatters already and had dried blood over it. Kakashi was on the ground beside me, faring no better, and fighting off the urge to pass out. Obito was on my other side, bent over his knees and swaying dangerously. I knew he would likely pass out soon. He already thrown up his breakfast from the intense work out Minato put us through.

The Blond Devil was smiling coldly down upon us, looking pristine and absolutely untouched.

Cocksucking motherfucking infected clitoris piece of shit cunt goddamnit—

The absolute fury and frustration I held at that moment was the only reason I was able to stay standing. I refused to back down, to fall over and lose to a smug bastard who laughed at my plight! I—I—

It got harder to concentrate. Unfortunately, willpower could only take someone so far.

My vision doubled and I swayed before falling to my knees, my breath still ragged.

Then Minato was back in front of me, kneeling down and patting my head affectionately.

Obito and Kakashi had both passed out at this point, and I knew I would join them shortly.

"I know it's going to be hard," Minato said softly, his eyes no longer so mocking. "Kushina was just as frustrated as you, used all her energy to fight hopeless battles. I know you're angry, and I'm prepared to take that anger on for you. You're the type that likes to be in control, so I can't imagine how hard this must be for you—to not even be able to control your own body. A kunoichi's greatest weapon is her body, and to have that weapon fight back..."

Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes. I didn't have the energy to cry, not really, so they just came silent and unbidden.

"You're a strong girl," Minato said, "you'll make it through this. Who knows. We might look back upon this day and laugh. I know I will at least."

"Bastard," I muttered, and suddenly all the anger I felt towards the man just... just left. I didn't have the energy to hold it anymore. I was just... I just tired of it all. Just frustrated at the news, at what I knew was coming up.

"I know."

I closed my eyes, taking a brief moment to enjoy the noon's sun (only noon and the man had already pushed us to our limits) and then joined my teammates in oblivion.

I guess I felt a little grateful towards the man.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"Naasica-hime," Hiruzen greeted pleasantly, looking up from his paperwork. I rewarded him with a charming smile as I gently closed the door behind us. The three of us had awoken three hours after the intense work out, and our bodies ached something fierce. I even had to wobble a bit when I moved about and I knew I looked very unpresentable. But, the Hokage wasn't a man to be kept waiting. Hiruzen brushed aside the rest of his paperwork on his desk, turning to another pile on the window ledge. He rummaged through it with one hand, while gesturing for me to take a seat.

Running my fingers through my hair, I brushed it to rest entirely on my right side. It was certainly growing longer—I hoped it would one day be as long as Madara's.

Hiruzen gave a harrumph as he procured several official-looking documents. He placed them on his desk and slid them towards me. Curious, I skimmed over them.

"Oh."

Hiruzen gave a smile. "Once you officially reach the rank of Chūnin you are allowed to lead a clan. The Senju seat has been sorely missed in the council meetings, and it would greatly please me to see it filled once more."

I bowed my head politely (ah that made the room spin a bit)—not low enough to diminish myself, but enough to offer the proper respect between a kage and clan head. "I would be honored to take the Senju seat. In taking the seat, is there any objectives you wish for me to... assist you in?"

"Yes," Hiruzen said blandly. "The Fire Daimyo has requested meeting you when you were eligible to attend court, for starters. He is most anxious to meet you."

"I will endeavor to leave a good impression, then," I promised.

"That would be appreciated," Hiruzen said bluntly. "The Daimyo and his court are fickle, at best. They haven't shown interest in another shinobi since I was your age."

"Centuries ago?" I teased.

His lips twitched. "Get out, you brat. Read over the papers and be sure to fill out all the forms so you can turn them in after the exams."

"Of course, Hokage-sama." Upon exiting the room, I found my two teammates waiting for me. They were both looking at me expectantly. "He just wanted me to be prepared to assume my role as Senju Clan leader after the exams."

Obito gaped at me while Kakashi grimaced. Kakashi said, "What would your duties entail?"

"Well," I said dryly, "given that I'm the only Senju alive my duties are restricted to my role on the council. I have no clan to appease or monitor."

Obito's mouth clicked shut with an audible snap and his brow furrowed. "Wait? Only living one? What about—ah—that—that woman that was in my medical textbooks! Tsunade?"

Cold fury immediately raged inside of my chest and I struggled to keep the vehemence out of my tone. "She is dead."

My reaction caused Obito to look away, while Kakashi's gaze lowered to his feet. "... Yeah. Look, the exam starts tomorrow so let's just get some rest. We'll meet up at the first exam."

"... Okay," Obito said eventually, tossing me a confused, and worried look.

I bit my tongue.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"We have proctors placed around the room. There are no blind spots, so do not get cocky. Each of you are given a total of fifteen points. You will lose two points for every five minutes you are here, but you will be awarded a point for every question you answer correctly. You will be docked one point for each time you are caught cheating. You need a total of fifteen points to pass in addition to completing the exam. You must answer all of the questions on the test as quickly and concisely as you can. You are not allowed to harm any of competitors, and doing so will result in immediate disqualification for your team."

My right hand's fingers drummed along the wooden desk, while my left hand rested flat against it. I listened, halfheartedly, as the examiner continued to sprout the rules of the exam. The exam was not a mind-fuck like it was in the anime, or manga. It was a very straightforward exam. I suspected each of the tests would likewise be straightforward.

In truth, Konoha was just trying to push out as many Chūnin as they could. It was a time of war, and while for the past few months Konoha had been awarded the luxury of not being forced to send out Genin teams, they could not continue that luxury without a cost.

The alliance of Sunagakure certainly assisted in dramatically lowering the casualty rate, but it would not do so forever unless we provided more shinobi to the war. In order to keep the Genin teams and innocent teams free of war, Konohagakure pushed to nominate more and more Genin into the ranks of Chūnin.

These "exams" would be about as easy as they could reasonably make it. A written exam to test for intellectual competence, and how cunning one could be. More than likely the next test would be focused on teamwork, followed by one on one combat.

Easy, I thought. As Hiruzen implied, my ascension to Chūnin is guaranteed.

Inconspicuously, the bottom of my left palm slowly converted into wood and attached itself to the desk. I knew Kakashi would be fully capable of passing this test on his own, and while I had worked hard in bringing up Obito's academics capabilities, I could not trust him to adequately answer the questions on his own.

Thankfully, or perhaps by Hiruzen's very design, the desks and floors were entirely made of wood. While I had not shown my capabilities of teleportation through wood, it was impossible to hide the fact that I could have my chakra traverse through trees. It wasn't any different than having it traverse through the ground to grow a tree a few meters away from me, really. My chakra instinctually traveled along the wood, hopping from desk to desk until it reached Obito.

I saw Obito stiffen as he realized that I grew a small little branch on his desk. He turned around to face me, and I gave him a chilling smile and held up my sleeve. Understanding dawned on his face and he quickly covered the branch with his right hand.

I felt him place the pencil into the branch, and I maneuvered the branch to converge with the wooden pencil.

I could not see what was transpiring, but I could easily have the pencil in the branch mimic what I wrote out in my opposite hand on my own test.

I just had to have a little faith that Obito was smart enough to make sure to move the test paper around in accordance to my answers. I was sure to pause in between each question to give time for Obito to maneuver the paper.

Ten minutes ticked by until I was done.

I stood up from my desk, grabbing my paper. Obito quickly followed my movements, grabbing his own paper and smiling widely. Kakashi spared us a brief glance from his spot far in the back before mimicking. Together, the three of us handed our papers into the proctor and left.

"Thanks, Oni-hime," Obito exclaimed once we were out of the room. "That was really cool!"

"Mn. You're welcome. We need a full team to make it to the second exam probably, anyway. I have a good feeling it'll be focused on team coordination."

"That's usually how it goes. Intellectual exam, followed by team, then one on one combat," Kakashi muttered. "Every time."

"Well that's boring," Obito grumbled. Then he perked up. "At this rate, though, I'm going to get Chūnin!"

"Of course you are," I snorted, mildly bemused by Obito's childish excitement. "We literally trained and conditioned you for this promotion. Should you fail, it would mean that we failed and while I cannot speak for Kakashi... I do not fail."

"Right, right." Obito waved me off easily, bouncing around. "This is going to be so awesome. I can't wait to tell Kaa-chan!"

Briefly recalling something, I then said, "Come over after dinner, Obito. You're going to stay the night with us, so we can all leave on time tomorrow."

Obito's cheeks flushed and Kakashi's head snapped towards me. "I don't want him spending the night."

"Too bad," I retorted. "While he's not late as often he's still annoyingly late when needed most. Given that it's a team assessment it's only natural that he would show up too late, or just barely on time."

Obito protested, "That's not true!"

Kakashi grimaced. "You're right. He's sleeping on the couch, though."

"Fine," I agreed.

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"No," we chorused.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I nibbled thoughtfully on the mocchi Kushina made for us. It wasn't my favorite dessert—I could never get used to the texture of the rice paper—but it was Kushina's. She would eat them like a squirrel—stuff five or so in her mouth before she got a brain-freeze and struggle to swallow them all. Kakashi was upstairs and locked away in his bedroom—and likely would stay that way until it was time to go to the exams.

He liked Obito well enough, I suppose, but he was just an antisocial person by nature and craved solitude. I couldn't really fault him for that, as I craved Madara's company over just about everyone else's. He had ordered me to stay away until after the exams settled down, and while I had taken long breaks away from him before, each felt just as uncomfortable as the last.

There was a knock at the front door, and I didn't bother looking up as Kushina shouted for him to come in.

Obito hopped inside, a backpack slung over his shoulder and grinned. "Aw, sweet is that mocchi?"

Kushina proudly held out the last six and Obito practically dove for them.

Dorks, I thought fondly.

I stood up from my seat beside Minato and brushed the nonexistent wrinkles out of my nightgown. "Well, since I know you showed up safe and sound I'm going to head to bed now."

"Wha—but it's only seven!"

I shrugged. "You can never get too much sleep."

"Yes you can!" Obito exclaimed.

"Obito's right, little sapling," Kushina said, looking over at me and smiling. "Why don't you stay up a bit and talk with your teammate?"

"We talk every day," I said. "And we'll keep talking every day for the rest of our lives. Why force conversation now?"

For some reason this made Kushina and Minato giggle (which was always weird when Minato did it) and Obito's face light up a bright red. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and mumbled something incoherent. Deciding I didn't want to know what they were giggling about, I took my exit.

As I passed by Kakashi's room, I heard the door quietly shut behind me.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

It was bright and early when I woke up. I was swift in getting ready for the day. I doubted the exams would last more than a few days for us if it were a survival exam. I was still banking on it being centered around teamwork, as teamwork was considered more crucial than surviving in a thriving forest by Konoha's standards.

Ever still, it would probably be for the best if I anticipated a survival and teamwork exam. With that in mind I grabbed my basic survival kit scroll (it was roughly the size of the palm of my hand—bless having an Uzumaki fūinjutsu master in the household). It had enough supplies to last about five days. I slipped it into my pouch and then I headed out of the room.

I wasn't even two steps out into the hall before an energetic bright red creature swept me away.

Kushina giggled and nuzzled my cheek with her own as she swung me around. "My future little Chūnin!"

"Nee-chan," I whined, squashing down the mix emotions of affection and sheer annoyance. "I need to go eat before we leave."

"Not yet," Kushina sung, finally setting me down. In the next moment I felt her fingers run through my hair. "I'm not quite ready for you to be a Chūnin!"

I made another whine, halfheartedly trying to escape. I could never stay annoyed with her. I settled for forcing her to walk with me (while she held onto me and squashed her cheek against my face and cooed) downstairs and into the kitchen.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the rest of the team up and about, Minato making breakfast and Obito shoveling food into his mouth like some kind of wild beast. Kakashi appeared to be transfixed in watching the display with a morbid sense of fascination. Suddenly Obito let out a retch and started pounding on his chest. "Hurrk!"

Kakashi gave him a positively disgusted look. "That's what you get for inhaling food instead of eating it. Learn to chew, you idiot."

Obito continued to choke until Minato paused in making eggs to turn over and slap him hard on the back.

I closed my eyes as I heard a wet splat. Kushina giggled cutely and I reopened my eyes to find that Kakashi had used his empty plate to block the disgusting thing Obito coughed out from hitting his face.

"You're doing the dishes," Kakashi snarled at him, lowering the plate.

Obito, red-faced, continued to try and catch his breath. "Th-Thanks, Minato-s-sensei."

Minato gave the two boys bemused looks and ruffled Obito's hair before returning to making eggs.

"You boys are just too cute," Kushina decided, still holding me tight against her. "I don't know if I feel comfortable leaving my adorable little sapling alone with you two!"

Both boys' heads snapped around to look at us. Obito's cheeks colored in obvious embarrassment while Kakashi quickly averted Kushina's knowing gaze and glared down at the table. I let out a soft sigh of relief when Kushina released me from her grasp and I headed over to the table.

I sat beside Kakashi and Minato immediately turned around and handed me a plate filled with a rolled omelet, rice porridge, and lots of pork. My mouth automatically watered as I took a moment to admire Minato's handiness in the kitchen. He was nothing like Kushina, of course—and I wasn't just bias—but he was certainly impressive. Far better than I ever was. I understood how to make food, but I didn't quite have that passionate touch that seemed to really liven food up in this world.

I meticulously ate my breakfast, chewing the food slowly as I watched Obito and Kakashi banter back and forth. There was no real annoyance in their words or tones, so I felt no need to punish them for arguing. Obito was obviously a little nervous and it was some sort of comfort to him to bicker with Kakashi.

When everyone was done eating we each washed our own dishes and then three of us headed out the door. Kushina made sure to give me many more kisses and nuzzles before I left, though.

The three of us arrived at the entrance to a secluded training ground. It was a fenced off forest, but it was extremely small in comparison to the daunting Forest of Death. It was three times larger than our typical training grounds, and if I remembered correctly from my previous visits to that particular training ground, there would be a large clearing at the center of it.

The training ground was connected to the Forest of Death, like many others. The Forest of Death was largely used to train ANBU, so it was typically kept off limits. There were roughly thirteen training grounds surrounding the Forest of Death in a tight circle. Each training ground had a different level to it, and required a certain rank before someone was even allowed to enter. Training grounds F1-F5 were cleared for Genin; F6-F9 Chūnin; F10-F11 Jōnin; F11-F12 ANBU; F13 Research. Should anyone other than ANBU require to use the Forest of Death, then the truly dangerous wildlife kept in the Forest of Death would be rotated into F11-F13. Wildlife from the other sections would then be transitioned into the Forest of Death depending on which group needed it.

During the academy days if one entire class was particularly advanced they could request a survival exam to partake in the Forest of Death for however long, and so the ANBU would bring in creatures from F1-F5 to stay in the Forest for a while, and take out the vicious creatures that normally inhabited it. The whole process typically would take a week; from what I remember Grandmother talking about. I suppose Tobirama had dabbled a bit in mutations, genetic testing, and some rather horrific experiments and whatever was left over still survived on in the forest and reproduced.

We currently stood outside training ground F7, and each of us looked up at the proctor.

The unnamed Chūnin gave us a thin smile. "You are team Minato, then. This exam is simple, at exactly 900 I will let your team into training ground F7. You will encounter an enemy team and the two teams must battle it for exactly one hour, or until all hostiles are left unconscious. Whoever is still conscious will then proceed through F7 and into the Forest of Death. Upon entering the Forest of Death you will have half an hour to make it to the center tower where your next exam will await you."

"Rules?" I inquired politely.

"Permanent maiming and killing anyone from the enemy team will result in immediate disqualification and martial punishment."

"What do we do if we defeat the team before the hour?" Kakashi asked.

The Chūnin paused. "If everyone on the enemy team is unconscious then you will be allowed to enter the Forest of Death before the hour is over. Whatever time you saved by defeating the team prematurely will be added onto your standard half an hour limit to reach the center tower."

Obito grinned. "We'll have a whole half an hour, then!"

"Obviously," I said.

My team fell into an easy silence as we waited for the door to open and allow us into the training grounds. Eleven minutes ticked by before an alarm was heard and the iron door swung open.

I dashed inside, Kakashi and Obito on each side of me. It did not take long to reach the center clearing and to encounter our "enemy" team. I saw scorched marks covering part of the clearing, and a Jōnin stood at the center—our proctor, most likely.

I vaguely recognized some of the shinobi we faced. The only one that I really knew for sure was Gai, and that was because that trademark hair was impossible not to remember. The other two were were forgettable, and since I did not share a class with them I had no reason to know their names. Forgettable Genin A chewed on a senbon, and Forgettable Genin B wore obnoxiously dark sunglasses despite obviously not being part of the Aburame clan.

The proctor raised his hand. "Begin!"

"Allow me," I purred, taking the lead as I flickered to FGA, my left fist balled up tightly as I delivered a vicious blow against the Genin. He flew away and landed harshly against one of the large trees. It really wasn't fair, to be honest. How could anyone expect simple Genin to compete with someone like me? A Senju with mokuton, training from Madara, already equal with the famous Hatake Kakashi, and the one person who turned Obito from deadlast to on par with Kakashi. Kakashi had no issues with facing any other Genin his age aside from Gai, so why would two completely unremarkable children stand a chance against me?

A smug smile crawled its way across my face and I could not resist sneering down at the Genin as he struggled to stand back up.

I did not bother dodging Gai's kick, as I knew Kakashi would intercept that for me.

Kakashi was beside me in that instant and deflected Gai's spinning kick with his forearms before engaging the taijutsu prodigy in a one-on-one spar. My right side warmed up as Obito released a flurry of fireballs at FGB.

FGA clutched at his ribs, shaking, his senbon already out of his mouth. I knew I had crushed his ribcage, and they were likely poking into his lungs. The proctor seemed to notice this because he flickered over to FGA and kneeled beside him. He whispered something to the Genin that made the Genin pale and furiously shake his head.

The proctor then shrugged, and took a step back.

I turned my back against the Genin, a very, very rude taunt (he was no longer a threat, despite still breathing), and joined Obito in taking down FGA. FGB would soon pass out from being unable to breath properly. It wouldn't kill him, of course, not in this world. After he passed out I would imagine the proctor would rush him and his teammates to the nearest hospital. They would be patched up and good to go within two weeks.

Obito flipped above FGB while I twisted my body and dove down and to the right of the Genin. The Genin moved his hands to try and complete the seal to substitute jutsu, but Obito was surprisingly faster. Obito's right hand snapped out, kunai being held inside, and he slammed the blunt end against FGB. This caused the Genin to stagger, his hands reflexively going up to his forehead and I used that moment to kick his right knee in.

A popping sound was heard and FGB let out a strangled cry, causing Gai to falter in his fight to look over, which allowed Kakashi to deliver a decisive blow. FGB fell onto his back, reaching for his oddly bent leg and Obito played the mercy card and knocked him out cold.

I would have been okay with letting the useless boy pass out from the pain on his own.

I gave Obito a charming smile and he beamed back at me. "Well done, Obito! Looks like I won't have to break any of your bones as punishment."

He paled at that. "I never, ever, want to go through that again."

I giggled cutely and the two of us turned to watch Gai and Kakashi.

"'Kashi? Need any help?" Obito asked.

Kakashi snorted at that.

"Let's just let him be," I told Obito. "He has to pull his weight somehow."

Obito shrugged and the two of us continued to watch Kakashi for several more minutes before I got bored and sat down. I placed both of my hands on the ground and summoned up dozens of roots around Gai that popped out of the ground at random to try and grab at his feet.

Gai became very clearly disoriented at that. In between Kakashi's relentless pursuit and my random root we managed to force Gai to trip up enough that Kakashi could knock him out.

The fight was obviously over. Kakashi folded his arms across his chest and sent me a withering look. "I was handling it."

"You took too long," I told him. "You know I do not like to be kept waiting."

"Oh, I know," Obito whispered, a briefly traumatized look crossing over his face as he seemed to be recalling the times that I showed him my displeasure.

This made me giggle, which just seemed to unnerve the boy even more so.

"Well," the proctor said, "I think it's fairly obvious you have passed this part. You have," he looked down at his watch, "an hour and ten minutes to make it to the center tower of the Forest of Death. Another proctor there will give you further instructions."

"Yes, sir," we chorused. The proctor gestured towards behind him and the three of us moved in that direction. There was a large gate at the back of the training grounds that unlocked the moment the three of us reached it. We exchanged glances; Obito's eyes bright with excitement, Kakashi's face unreadable, and I knew I was smirking.

And then we were off, racing through the forest and leaping from one tree branch to the other. We ran into no resistance on our way to the tower and it did not take long to reach it—fifteen minutes, max.

It was as tall as the Hokage's tower, perhaps a bit taller. It was built out of concrete and I could see cracks and little bits missing from it. It looked worn down and maybe a bit old, but I knew it would hold strong. Despite all the horrific creatures normally kept in the Forest of Death (creatures that kept the ANBU on their toes) it still stood tall. It still remained a safe haven.

We moved quietly. The front door opened up to us and we flickered inside without another word.

Minato was waiting for us, a bright smile on his face. "I saw everything. Well done, all three of you! You didn't even have to use your combination ninjutsu."

Obito preened, his chest puffed up with pride. Even Kakashi's eyes glowed at Minato's warm praise.

"Of course not," I scoffed. "They're merely Genin!"

Minato's eyes twinkled. "And you're not?"

"I'm pretty sure we've established that by now," Kakashi said dryly.

Minato laughed. "Yes, alright. Well, the Hokage has decided that considering on Konoha Genin are in this exam we'll just skip straight into a tournament style exam tomorrow for the third phase. All the Genin who made it through the second phase will congregate here for the night. At noon tomorrow we'll bring them into a small arena and you will each participate in one on one battles."

"And if we win our battles we become Chūnin?"

"It increases your chances, certainly," Minato agreed, "but you could still lose your battle and become a Chūnin."

"Really?" Obito asked, incredulous. "Why would they want losers as Chūnin?"

Minato only smiled in response. "Head upstairs and pick a room. You're the second team to make it through so you have plenty of time to rest. The arena," Minato turned and gestured towards large closed doors behind him, "is through there. Be there by twelve hundred tomorrow. Dismissed."

Minato disappeared in his signature yellow flash, leaving us alone in the common room.

"We should stay in our rooms and away from the other teams," I said as I lead the way upstairs. I knew they would follow, so I did not bother looking back.

I could practically feel Obito's frown at that. "Why? They're our comrades, aren't they?"

I felt a brief shot of anger before I shoved it down. Coolly, I turned my head to eye him. "Obito, haven't you learned by now? Us or them. We are team Minato. This is a competition Obito. They are not our comrades now; they are our enemies. Are you really choosing enemies over us, again?"

Obito's eyes were wide with hurt. "N-No! I mean I would choose you guys over anyone, really, I meant what I said at the hospital, hime. I just—I mean they're going to be our comrades, aren't they? When this is all over?"

"Maybe," Kakashi muttered. "There's no guarantee they'll join us in the Chūnin ranks, or even if they will survive the war."

Obito balked that. "So wait, you're actually saying that—that, what? That they might die so they aren't worth the effort? We shouldn't try to—?"

"That's not exactly what we're saying, Obito," I returned, my voice clipped. "We will become proper Chūnin, Obito, after this. We will have to stay impartial to make the proper judgements. Those that remain Genin... they will be our responsibility in the war. If we are partial to them, if we are attached to them..."

"Our judgement would be impaired," Kakashi said softly. "It would be unlikely to make rational decisions in regards to them. We, theoretically, lack the experience and maturity to detach ourselves enough to do so. That's a trait for Jōnin, not Chūnin. It's why only Jōnin lead Genin, and Chūnin just lead more Chūnin into battle. We shouldn't get attached outside our team because it's risky enough as it is. It's why teams are so small, why they discourage teams from training with each other. We are soldiers. We cannot, absolutely cannot, risk impairing our judgement during missions. You know what happens when we do, Obito."

Obito's brow was furrowed and he folded his arms across his chest. "But..."

I thought back to the naked bodies of children and women on the front lines. I thought of the mutilated corpses. Of the beaten animals.

Each of them a stranger, yet each of them left a chilling mark on Kakashi and myself.

I could not imagine loving any of those poor people. I could not imagine caring for any of them.

There was a reason shinobi were not supposed to be emotional.

We would break, otherwise.

Obito had to learn that. He had to learn not to care about others outside his team—outside the only people that matter, that should matter. It was too risky.

"Trust us on this," I said, my voice a little softer, a little kinder. "For now, Obito, just trust us on this. After you have been to the frontlines... once you have seen what we have seen... then you can judge, then you can give us your opinion. But, until you have seen what we have seen, and done what we have done... just trust us on this."

His gaze lowered. Obito bit his bottom lip and nodded his head. "I trust you. I never... I never want to endanger either of you."

I smiled at him. It was the kind of smile I saved special for Kushina, or Kakashi on a really good day. "I know." I reached forward and took his hand with one hand, and grabbed Kakashi's with my other. "Besides, you don't need anyone else, but us. We don't need anyone else, but us."

Both boys squeezed my hands.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I woke up first the next morning. I could hear Obito and Kakashi sleeping deeply in the room. The three of us had stayed in our room all day yesterday and all last night, with absolutely no fuss from Obito. Since I woke up first, I decided to take advantage of the fact and took complete control of the bathroom for however long I wanted. By the time I had finished grooming myself to my satisfaction both boys were giving me irritable glares. I just smiled, relishing their displeasure.

When it neared noon we were all ready to go and the three of us headed out.

I followed Kakashi and Obito into the arena. It was a fairly big concrete room. There were dark blood stains on the concrete floor, and cracks in the balconies and walls. The fences looked old and rusty. I saw that there were about twelve other Genin scattered around the right side balcony. The only people I recognized were Anko, Rin, Asuma, and Kurenai. The left side balcony was filled with Jōnin, some Chūnin, and... members of the council.

I felt Danzō's eyes on me as soon as I entered the room. The warmonger seemed to be giving me a tight smile, and I graciously returned it with my most benevolent smile. The Hokage, Hiruzen, was talking quietly with other members of the council.

Dragging my gaze away from Danzō (which sent all kinds of hairs standing up on the back of my neck) I continued to follow my team up the stairs and onto the balcony.

"Obito-kun!"

Obito twitched, his cheeks flushing as he stiffly turned towards the bright-eyed Rin. The girl made her way over to our team and looked us over, her eyes lingered a moment or two longer on Kakashi than necessary. Kakashi obviously noticed that and shifted his posture to a more stand-offish tone.

"H-Hey, Rin-ch—ah, um... I mean Rin-san," Obito greeted, his eyes darting over to me.

Rin blinked in surprise at that. "San? Obito-kun, is something wrong?"

Obito shook his head, shuffling his feet. "No, Rin-ch-san. I just... This is a competition, so don't think I'll go easy on you, okay?"

Rin giggled in a very feminine manner. "Of course not, Obito-kun! I'm so glad you made it to the final stage. I was worried about you, you know. I couldn't find you after the first stage; you had left so soon."

Obito just nodded his head, his cheeks still red. I could practically feel waves of discomfort rolling off him.

Rin seemed to sense that, as well, because she frowned and her brow furrowed. "Obito-kun? Are... are you sure you're okay? Are you... maybe... mad at me?"

"I'm not mad at you, Rin-san," Obito said firmly, and then whatever courage he had mustered up dissolved under Rin's scrutiny soon afterwards. Obito's eyes flickered towards me and I could see a pleading light in them.

Taking the hint, I cleared my throat and positioned myself in between Obito and Rin. Startled, Rin took a step backwards at my sudden invasion of her space. I smiled at her. The smile did not reach my eyes.

"I think, perhaps, it would be best if we stayed with our teams, Rin-san," I told her politely. "It is protocol, after all, and I do believe Obito wants to stick to the rules on this one."

Rin's eyes darted in between me and Obito (who would not meet her gaze and was steadily looking down at his feet). Hurt briefly crossed over her face, but she swallowed it down and smiled wobbly. "O-Oh. I see. S-Sorry for the trouble. Good luck!"

After she had left I turned around and patted Obito on the shoulder. The boy just sighed and leaned on the railings, burying his face in his arms. Kakashi and I exchanged glances.

I mouthed to Kakashi, She liked you. I even gave him a teasing wink.

He cringed and signed, Bad.

A shame there wasn't a signal for gross. I had a feeling he would have chosen that one instead.

The thought made me giggle. It seemed Kakashi was against that kind of thing as much as I was. It was nice feeling like I wasn't the only one to hate puberty. Kakashi smiled at me under his mask—something hard to notice unless you were so used to his face, and you already had seen his real face, so you knew what to look for.

"Ah-hem," Hiruzen cleared his throat, causing everyone to focus in on the Hokage. "It pleases me to see so many potential Chūnins make it all the way to this final stage. Normally we would give you a month or so to prepare yourselves properly, but I think we all understand how precious our time is. Inotaki," Hiruzen gestured towards a gruff blond man standing in below the screen at the back wall of the arena, "has created a bracket for this tournament. The rules from the previous stage apply here, as well as a time limit. Each battle has fifteen minutes to be concluded, should a victory not be decided by then, then both participants are disqualified."

At the end of Hiruzen's speech the screen above the blond man lit up and a tournament bracket was posted.

Round One: Sarutobi Asuma vs Uchiha Terasu

Round Two: Hatake Kakashi vs Nomi Yuka

Round Three: Nohara Rin vs Yamanaka Diashi

Round Four: Uchiha Obito vs Hyūga Miashi

Round Five: Morino Ibiki vs Namiashi Raido

Round Six: Yuhi Kurenai vs Inuzaka Renjiro

Round Seven: Senju Naasica vs Hyūga Chokuziro

Round Eight: Mitarashi Anko vs Hayate Gekkou

Round Nine: (Winner of Round One vs Winner of Round Two)

Round Ten: (Winner of Round Three vs Winner of Round Four)

Round Eleven: (Winner of Round Five vs Winner of Round Six)

Round Twelve: (Winner of Round Seven vs Winner of Round Eight)

Round Thirteen: (Winner of Round Nine vs Winner of Round Ten)

Round Fourteen: (Winner of Round Eleven vs Winner of Round Twelve)

Round Fifteen: (Winner of Round Thirteen vs Winner of Round Fourteen)

I frowned briefly at having to face a Hyūga. It would seem like it would be in my best interest to end the battle as soon as possible rather than let it drag out. It didn't matter if I won, or not, the Chūnin rank was guaranteed for me, as well as Kakashi.

I could just forfeit right away. I doubt Hiruzen would really care—he just wants another supporter in the Clan Council. Not to mention with a long-empty seat filled it would prevent others (lesser clans wanting desperately to rise to the ranks) from trying to vie for the spot (which I imagine having pests constantly bother you about it would get annoying after a while, so having the spot filled would be one less headache). I wouldn't do that, though, not right away at least. Madara would scold me if I gave up essentially a free training session, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to show off my prowess at the same time.

Rolling my shoulders, I surveyed my competition. Really, only Obito and Kakashi could pose even a minor threat, and since I was on the opposite side of the bracket of them I likely wouldn't face one of them until the final round. The others didn't really matter, in my completely humble opinion. I popped my neck and then swung over the railing and sat on it, my legs swinging out.

Obito mimicked my actions, an excited gleam in his eyes. "I can't wait to take that snobby Hyūga down a notch! He's had it coming to him since the academy."

"Was the Hyūga mean to you, little boy?" I cooed. "Poor baby!"

Obito stuck his tongue out at me, which caused Kakashi to smack him on the back. "Keep that tongue to yourself unless you want it chopped off."

Obito stuck his tongue out a second time, this time at Kakashi, which resulted in Kakashi shoving Obito off the railing. Obito fell backwards, but he swung around to stand underneath, upside down, from the balcony. "Ha! I won't fall for that a second time."

"I don't think Kakashi throwing a rock and knocking you out of a tree counts as a first time in relation to this," I said carefully.

Obito snorted at that.

While we were having our little interaction the first two contestants had moved down into the arena where the proctor stood.

The Jōnin raised his hand and blew his whistle.

Frankly, it wasn't a very impressive showing.

I knew that none of these people had seen the front lines. None of them had strayed very far outside of Konoha. They had heard of the horrors. They vaguely knew of the horrors; but, they did not comprehend the truth of the frontline; they did not understand the grotesqueness that seemed to flourish there; the heart-stopping fear and blinding rage and grief that consumed lesser men; the constant feeling of never being safe.

Did they even understand the psychological ramifications of feeling completely unsafe for years? Of being constantly on alert, constantly on guard, constantly afraid?

No.

While I'm sure each of those children—for how could they be anything, but? With those gleaming eyes, that aura of innocence, that aura of trusting—were talented in their own right, they all lacked a certain drive. They were not driven to survive. They did not push themselves over, and over, and over until they simply could not walk, could not breathe, without pain keeping them company.

In comparison to those that had that drive, those that constantly overworked themselves...

It was a pond versus the ocean.

My eyes drifted closed as I just listened to what was happening below.

It was sad, really. These children who wanted nothing more than help their village—wanted nothing more, but to go to war—would be in for a cruel awakening. These children who wanted nothing more, who desperately wanted nothing more, than to become Chūnin, would look back upon their happy days of innocence with longing soon enough. The war would break them.

Some would not survive. The rest wouldn't escape unscathed, unclaimed by the cruelty of life.

Yet they kept trying, kept wishing and hoping to become that coveted Chūnin, not really knowing, not really understanding what they were signing themselves up for.

A tragedy in the making.

How befitting of this wretched world. Yet again I am forced to watch as this world converts more child soldiers and rips away every shred of humanity from them. They will become tools for Konoha, to either be used or discarded.

Truly this world needs me and Madara. Without us there would be no hope for them, no way to break this cycle of disgust.

Sarutobi had won his match, albeit barely.

The Uchiha was a genjutsu user, but apparently not a very good one. It had deteriorated into a taijutsu match after Asuma broke free from the genjutsu and they were seemingly equal on that part. Unfortunately for the Uchiha Asuma got a lucky shot in that ended up deciding the match.

Not without a heavy price, though. Hiruzen's son was panting heavily, already exhausted, and looked more than battered.

Kakashi rolled his shoulder before calmly walking down the stairs and into the arena below.

"Kakashi," I called out sweetly, "since you kept me waiting for so long during your last fight I have decided to give you an incentive: if you don't finish within the first three minutes I will show you my displeasure."

Kakashi gave me a weary look, at which I batted my eyelashes at him and smiled cutely. He paled, which caused Obito to snicker.

"I forfeit!"

All eyes snapped towards the girl who was blushing as bright as Kushina's hair while she looked longingly down at Kakashi.

"What," Obito deadpanned.

"Works for me," Kakashi declared, turning away and heading back up the stairs.

The proctor stared at the obvious fan girl for several seconds before he nodded his head. "Very well. Nohara and Yamanaka, come down."

"That's not fair," Obito whined as he flipped back over the railing to land beside Kakashi and glare at him. "How can you still have fan girls? You guys just visited our class once!"

"He's too cute," I explained, reaching over and patting Kakashi's cheek. "Just look at him."

Kakashi swatted at my hand and scoffed at Obito. "It doesn't matter, does it? For all you know she just understood how better I am than her and decided to take the smarter route. Save herself a hospital trip."

"Yeah, right," Obito snorted.

A curious thought popped into my head. "Obito, I understand that the girls were very taken by Kakashi when we visited your class once... enough so that they remained dedicated to him... do I... do I have any stalkers from your class?"

Kakashi looked vaguely worried. "You don't actually think...?"

Obito frowned, his brow furrowed as he thought about it. "Well, the girls talked about Kakashi a lot because he was this big shot prodigy. They pestered our teacher about him a lot. I don't remember any guys asking about you, though, hime."

I let out a sigh of relief.

"Winner, Nohara Rin!"

The three of us looked down at the arena. I was mildly impressed that she managed to win so quickly before I realized what had happened. The Yamanaka had tried to use his family's trademark move... and apparently missed. The Yamanaka was already being rushed out of the arena on a stretcher. Rin looked a little guilty as she headed back up the stairs.

Obito looked torn for a moment and kept looking over at the guilty Rin (she looked like someone had just killed her puppy or something) and me. I patted his arm and leaned over to him, batting my eyelashes and smiling in an absolutely adorable fashion, "I'm applying the three-minute rule to you as well."

Obito squawked. "What. But I'm against a Hyūga!"

"I trained you, dear Obito. I expect you to be superior to every last one of these little Genin outside our team. If you fail to defeat him in three minutes you are telling the world that I failed to train you to my standards; that I failed to judge your power and skill correct. Obito... I do not fail."

Obito gulped nervously. "R-Right. I won't let you down, Oni-hime."

"I know," I purred, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

Obito made his way down to the arena where the Hyūga was already waiting for him.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I just don't have the time to mess around. So, try not to take this the wrong way, okay? I'm going to kick your ass and you're going to be unconscious within the minute."

The Hyūga scoffed. "You were the deadlast of our class, Uchiha. You're a disgrace to shinobi everywhere and—"

"Begin!"

Obito did not let the Hyūga finish. In one quick flourish he created ten clones that surrounded the Hyūga. While Obito did indeed have the chakra capacity to create ten shadow clones it would leave him with half his chakra and I doubt he would be so stupid as do something like that. He still had a few matches to go, including facing Kakashi. The most likely thing he did was create two shadow clones and the rest were standard genjutsu clones.

The Hyūga sneered, "Byakugan! I will see which one of you is the re—"

Once again Obito did not let him finish. All of the clones went through the rapid handseals for his Majestic Fireball Jutsu. By the time the Hyūga got to the word real, Obito and all his clones breathed out the jutsu.

Three ginormous fireballs filled the arena, completely covering the area the Hyūga was last in. I could tell from the heat that Obito had significantly toned down his jutsu. Katon ninjutsu wasn't true fire, it did not burn like real fire most of the time, unless a significant amount of chakra was pumped into it. A small katon ninjutsu, at worst, could give someone a sunburn.

That seemed to be what Obito was aiming for, because the moment the fire died down a very red-faced Hyūga was kneeling at the center. He looked dazed—he was likely blinded by the bright light of all that katon chakra—and didn't even defend himself when Obito dashed to him and knocked him out.

Two shadow clones, eight genjutsu clones, and three low-level katon ninjutsus. That's all it took to end the match in under a minute.

When Obito came back up to the balcony I told him, "I'm very impressed with you, Obito. Well done."

"It was a smart match," Kakashi said, awarding Obito with a rare smile.

Obito's cheeks turned bright red and he rubbed the back of his head. "You guys are great. If it weren't for you two..."

"We know," Kakashi and I said.

The next two matches continued, both similar to how Asuma's was. Ibiki won his, and Kurenai won hers.

When it was my turn I calmly walked down the stairs and approached the Hyūga. Unlike the Hyūga Obito had faced, this one wasn't giving off an aura of arrogance.

"Since I set Obito and Kakashi to a three-minute limit, it only makes sense I set myself the same limit," I drawled, smiling coyly at the Hyūga. "I don't suppose you would be willing to forfeit?"

"I understand you are superior than me, Senju-sama," the Hyūga said quietly, "but I would be remiss not to even try."

"Very well," I said. "I will do my best not to grievously harm you, since you already know your place."

"Narcissist!" Obito called down.

I turned my head to glance over at Obito. "What kind of demon princess would I be if I wasn't obnoxiously arrogant?"

"She has a point," Kakashi said.

"Begin!"

My hands flew out in front of me, palms facing the Hyūga, and then dozens of trees grew out from my arms completely filling the arena and surrounding the Hyūga. From those trees dozens upon dozens of little branches whipped out, covered in sharp needles and severely limiting the Hyūga's space. The moment the Hyūga's hands snapped out to try and destroy one of the branches three more grew out around it. The poor boy had no room to maneuver.

"I should warn you now," I called out, "that I can make every piece of wood explode into thousands of needles. Forfeit within the next fifteen seconds, or I will start detonating."

A heartbeat of silence passed before a quiet voice said, "I forfeit."

I withdrew all the trees back inside of my hands, smiling brightly. "Smart choice!" With ease I leapt straight up to the balcony railing. I cleared my throat expectantly and with a sigh both boys raised their hands and "assisted me down". "Thank you, boys."

Anko won her match surprisingly quickly. I was pleased that I did not have to be kept waiting for an eternity for the other matches to finish up.

When she had won, it was time to start the second part.

The first match was Asuma against Kakashi. The battered Asuma made his way down to the arena, looking very much like he would rather be anywhere else. Kakashi moved at a more lackadaisical pace, completely untouched and well-rested.

Asuma eyed Kakashi tiredly. "I take it you'll try to finish this in less than three minutes?"

"I'd rather not have the Oni-hime mad at me," Kakashi said, nodding his head. "No one quite understands the pain of splinters until... well..."

I giggled, knowing exactly what he was thinking about.

"Begin."

Two clones appeared on either side of Kakashi. Both clones slammed their palms down into the ground and summoned four walls surrounding Asuma and Kakashi. I lost sight of the two of them inside, but I heard the familiar cracking of Kakashi's Chidori (still in the making, of course) and then spears of lightning danced out from the top of the box.

There was a strangled yell and then the lightning was cut short, and the walls crumbled into dirt.

Kakashi stood over an unconscious Asuma, brushing off bits of dirt that had fell onto his shoulder. After he gave Asuma another look over he shrugged and headed back up to the balcony.

The proctor gestured for the next contestants to come down as Asuma was carried away in a stretcher.

Obito looked a little nervous as he went down into the arena to face Rin.

"No hard feelings, Rin-san?" Obito asked hesitantly.

Rin smiled brightly. "Never, Obito-kun! Let's both try our best."

"Ri-ight," Obito said slowly.

Kakashi leaned over to me and asked quietly, "Why is he so uncomfortable?"

"She's the love of his life," I told him, my tone almost mocking. "He now has to choose again: us, or her." Raising my voice, I sung, "O-bi-to."

"I know! I know! Three minutes!"

Us. Or her.

Despite saying that Obito still looked extremely uncomfortable. Even after the proctor signaled to start Obito stood there for an entire minute before he finally seemed to make up his mind. He shook his head and declared, "I'm going to be the next Hokage, and I'm sorry Rin-san, but I can't lose to you here!"

He dashed towards her, his Sharingan spinning to life. Rin stumbled back and I saw that she had seized. I instantly knew that Obito must have snagged her in a low-level genjutsu from his Sharingan. Rin's hands moved too slowly to release it and Obito was already upon her, delivering a decisive knee kick into her diaphragm, forcing her to bend over as the air left her. In the same instant he slammed the back of his right elbow into the back of her neck and she crumpled.

He let out a quiet sigh, lowering her unconscious body to the ground gently.

A vindictive pleasure fluttered in the pit of my stomach. Obito prior to training with me would have never even dreamed about laying a hand on his precious Rin. I felt immensely proud of my thorough conditioning. Obito had, essentially, chosen us against her.

When he returned to our side I leaned over to him and whispered in his ear, just for him, "You chose us, Obito. That trust will not go unrewarded."

He smiled hesitantly at me. "Does that mean you trust me again?"

"You have earned my trust back," I told him.

"I suppose you have mine, as well," Kakashi said reluctantly, and Obito's face just lit up like he was the sun coming over the horizon.

The next round lasted a bit longer than the others. Kurenai was talented with genjutsu, but Ibiki—her teammate, I guessed—was well acquainted with throwing them off. Each time right before Kurenai was about to secure her victory Ibiki broke free from the genjutsu and fended her off. After one such attempt Ibiki feigned to still be under the genjutsu forcing Kurenai to approach him and in that instant he surprised her and defeated her.

Next up was my battle with Anko, and I knew it wouldn't last long, either.

I met her in the middle and sneered at her. "Save me the trouble and forfeit, won't you, dear?"

Anko smirked at me. "Someone has to take you down. Might as well be me."

I chortled. "How cute. I am going to enjoy breaking you, child."

"Begin!"

Anko lunged towards me, but I wasn't going to let her get close to poison me. I raised my right hand up into the air and a wall of wood erupted from the concrete. The wood reached all the way up to the ceiling. More wood erupted around Anko and I knew I had boxed her in. The only way out would be for her to go through the wood or to tunnel her way out. I wasn't sure if she knew how to do so, but just in case I had my wood intersect underneath her, creating a sphere underneath the concrete.

"I could make you a pincushion, but I'd rather not get scolded by the Hokage," I told her amiably, placing my left hand on the wooden wall.

There was a resounding smack from the inside of the wooden wall and I knew Anko had kicked it. It was followed by an immediate yelp as she realized that the wood quickly grew around her foot and was circling her.

I knew she was starting to dig frantically at the wood, chopping off chunks of it with her kunai.

If she knew any katon ninjutsu this wouldn't be an issue, I thought. How unfortunate for her that her style is doton.

Sadly, for Anko I had my mokuton grow faster than she could chop it until she became effectively encased in it except her mouth. I lowered my wooden walls and glanced at the proctor. "I could kill her now. Care to call it?"

"No!" Anko cried out.

The proctor nodded his head. "Senju-sama is the victor for this match."

With a snap of my fingers my wood crumbled away from Anko and she stumbled. She awarded me a rather seething and positively hateful glower, to which I returned with an ohsovery sweet smile. With a saunter in my steps I headed back up the stairs and gave a mock bow to my teammates.

"I wish I had mokuton," Obito said ruefully. "Then I'd just have to snap my fingers to win."

My right eyebrow twitched at that. "It is not that easy."

Obito shrugged. "You make it look like it."

"I've also been training to do just that much since I was four. I'd rather have the Sharingan! I could copy and steal any damn ninjutsu I wanted to."

"It is so not that easy! "I rolled my eyes at that and Obito smiled good naturedly. "Okay I see your point."

"Uchiha Obito and Hatake Kakashi, please advance to the arena."

Both boys glanced at each other before walking down the stairs and heading to the proctor. Obito's brow furrowed suddenly and he looked up at me. "Hime, you don't expect us to actually keep to the three minutes, do you? Kakashi and I can never finish our fights that early."

"Of course I expect you to," I told him, surprised he even had to ask.

Kakashi's eyes widened and Obito squawked. "What?! How can you—?!"

"There will be plenty of scenarios where you will be limited in your time frame while still facing a powerful opponent," I pointed out reasonably. "Think of this as practice."

"You are evil incarnate," Obito told me.

"Naasica, don't you think that's a little unnecessary?" Kakashi asked.

"Nope," I said. "Three minutes, or I will fill both your mattresses with splinters again to be detonated at my leisure."

Kakashi cringed, and Obito whimpered.

I noticed that many of the specters on the opposite balcony (the council, Hokage, senseis, and so on) were greatly amused by us. Even the proctor was fighting to keep a smile off his face.

It seemed my infamy was well-known.

Demon princess, indeed. Wonder what they would think if they realized just how monstrous I really was?

"Begin," the proctor declared.

Both boys looked at each other uncomfortably before Obito's eyes widened and a grin lit up his face. Kakashi eyed him warily.

Obito's right hand shot out in a fist and he held it out to Kakashi. Kakashi stared at it for several moments before his eyes widened in realization and he held out his own right hand in a fist.

They begin to move their fists up and down, counting to three. At three Kakashi's fist transformed into a flat palm and Obito was making the peace-sign.

They both stared at their hands for a moment before Kakashi raised his hand and said, "I forfeit."

I slapped the palm of my hand to my face.

Many chuckles were heard from the opposite balcony. Obito beamed at Kakashi and the two of them made their way back up to the balcony.

"Pretty ingenious, huh," Obito needled, nudging my arm.

"Completely unrealistic," I sniffed.

"We can fight properly during training," Kakashi pointed out.

I huffed and hopped over the railing and down into the arena below where Ibiki was already waiting.

Deciding that I had used enough mokuton for the exams, I pulled out my tessen.

"Do I get the privilege of not facing your mokuton ninjutsu?" Ibiki asked dryly, motioning towards my tessen.

"You do. Feel honored."

"Lucky me."

"Begin!"

I summoned eleven clones and all of us rushed in towards Ibiki. Despite the boy being tired and a little run down, he did a decent job at dodging the majority of my clones. He even got in a few successful substitutions. Regrettably for Ibiki, though, he just wasn't on the same level that I was used to facing. It was almost too easy pressuring him into a corner and systematically breaking his bones throughout the match. First a rib, then a humerus, then both ulna, followed by more ribs...

Really, did he think getting hit by the blunt side of my tessen wouldn't hurt? Or was he really that slow, and I that fast?

I ended the match at exactly two minutes and fifty seconds.

Placing my tessen away, I folded my arms across my chest and glared up at Obito. "Hurry up and come down here, little boy, you know I'm not a patient person."

Obito yelped and hurried to me, jumping over the unconscious Ibiki that was (like many others had been) being carried away in a stretcher.

He stopped short in front of me, chewing on his bottom lip anxiously.

I stared at Obito and he stared back at me. My eyes narrowed while I thought. He shuffled his feet nervously.

"Begin."

A heartbeat passed before I let out a begrudging sigh and held out my left hand in a fist.

Obito's eyes lit up with glee and he returned the favor. After one round of rock-paper-scissors I let out yet another sigh and said, "I forfeit."

Obito gaped at me, still staring in bewilderment at his hand that was still in the shape of a rock.

The proctor shook his head, not able to keep the chuckle out. He then cleared his throat and said, "Very well, the winner of the Chūnin Exams is Uchiha Obito!"

There was scattered applause and Obito's cheeks turned rosy. I flickered to stand beside Kakashi, who kept clapping, while the Hokage presented Obito with a shiny medal and a piece of paper.

"You let him win," Kakashi said while he still clapped.

"So did you," I returned.

Obito was always slower than us, and likely always would be. In between one heartbeat to the next Obito's hands twitched before he showed what form his hand would take. It would be easy to change what our own hands would turn into, and counter him.

"I'm already guaranteed to become a Chūnin," Kakashi said. "Winning doesn't matter to me."

"It does matter to him, though," I said softly, clapping.

Obito was beaming, his face as red as a rose and a couple tears escaped his eyes. Hiruzen smiled at the boy, patted his back and said, "Well done, Obito-kun."

And Kakashi and I knew, in that moment, that today was probably the best day in Obito's life.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

The next morning the three of us were called into the Hokage's office.

On his desk were three Chūnin flaks. Obito's eyes zeroed in on them like sunlight through a magnifying glass.

"Congratulations are in order," Hiruzen said gesturing for us to take the flaks. "You three made quite the showing and we all are very proud of you. I suggest you three take the day to celebrate as first thing tomorrow I will have your very first Chūnin assignment for your team."

Obito shakily accepted his flak while Kakashi and I took our own.

"Dismissed, except for Senju-hime," Hiruzen said.

The two boys shot me a look and I told them, "Wait for me by the tree. I, ah, need to talk to you both about something, anyway."

Once they left, and the door clicked shut, Hiruzen bluntly asked me, "Did you finish the paperwork?"

"Yes, I already submitted it on my way to your office today," I told him. "I expect I will be wanted in the next meeting?"

"Yes, but you will not be able to attend," Hiruzen said. "I will speak plainly: your skills are invaluable in this war. There have been some unexpected changes and we can no longer afford to protect such a powerful weapon as yourself."

"Shall I return to the front lines?"

"Very likely. Given how competent your team has shown itself I will assign them to the front lines with you."

"Will Minato-sensei be joining us?"

"Unlikely. You are perfectly capable of leading a mission on your own, as is Kakashi, and perhaps Obito. I will, of course, give you more detailed instructions tomorrow morning."

I nodded, accepting this. I knew I would return to the frontlines eventually. The mokuton was simply too powerful to not use. After my showing in the exams the council probably felt comfortable enough that I could survive, and be useful, on the frontlines. Either that, or they were desperate enough that they simply could not afford not to use me.

Since Hiruzen had spoken plainly to me, I decided to return the favor. "I wish to advance to the Jōnin rank, alongside Kakashi and Obito."

Hiruzen nodded, seemingly expecting this. "You understand that in order to become a Jōnin you must have at least three other Jōnin's recommend you for the promotion. I am certain that any member of the council would have no issue pushing for your promotion, as well as Kakashi's. Obito remains too much of an unknown with his skill level—" Hiruzen raised his hand when I started to object, "I understand that you personally trained him and we have you to thank for turning a deadlast into someone so useful. He has not been to the frontlines before, though, and given how badly he misjudged on the last mission..."

"That has been rectified," I assured Hiruzen. "He will never place anyone else above the team's mission, or the team."

Hiruzen smiled faintly at that. The smile did not reach his eyes.

"I will have to decline a Jōnin promotion until Obito will also be accepted," I said slowly. "My team is very important to me, Hiruzen, and I plan for us to become the new Sannin. That cannot be accomplished if we advanced at different rates. People would automatically judge Obito as the weak link and only see me and Kakashi carrying him. Such circumstances would prevent us from becoming the new Sannin."

The Hokage's brow furrowed at that. "An admirable goal, hime. I see no reason to rush forward with your promotion, or Kakashi's, so I find it acceptable to wait a while. If Obito has proven himself on the frontlines I am certain the council would consent to promoting him with you and Kakashi."

I beamed. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

Hiruzen nodded once again. "Do try to survive the war, hime. I'd rather not have to face your grandmother in the afterlife and tell her why I outlived you."

"Perish the thought."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

I leaned against the cherry tree, relaxing as Obito and Kakashi slipped on their Chūnin flaks. Obito was doing a sort of dance, hopping from one foot to another in absolute glee. Kakashi, while I knew he was certainly pleased, controlled himself better.

I took a giant deep breath, settled the nerves in the pit of my stomach and bluntly said, "I've hit puberty, and it's time I acknowledged and addressed some concerns."

Kakashi grimaced while Obito cringed.

"You needn't worry about my reactions. I can't control how I feel, but I feel confident that I can control how I act," I started to reassure them. "Which brings me to the biggest point. It seems that I find you both very physically attractive, and I likely have developed crushes on both of you—"

Their eyes widened almost comically, and each of their faces flamed red.

"—but don't worry, I won't act on those feelings. I just wanted to warn both of you, as to explain any upcoming odd reactions I might have that I cannot fully control. And you, especially Kakashi, as I'm certain you'll soon be learning to smell pheromones."

Obito covered his face with the palm of his hands and bent over, his cheeks redder than Kushina's hair. "Oh my God you don't just say that stuff like that!"

"I, uh," Kakashi began, clearing his throat. "I appreciate the warning, and I will respect your actions. I, uh, suppose, then, you should be aware that I find you attractive as well, and I, uh—I, um..." His face was turning redder, and his voice cracked a bit. I knew he was doing his best to remain nonchalant about it, though, and I felt for my friend as I knew emotions were hard to control. "I apologize for any upcoming... situations that may make you uncomfortable."

"I understand," I reassured him, "and it's perfectly natural."

Obito was choking. "You don't—what—what—?! What is wrong with you two?! How can you be so, so, so blasé?!"

"Bringing out the big words today aren't we," Kakashi muttered, shoving his hands in his pocket and shooting Obito a narrowed-eyed look.

"Blasé is not a—that's not the point here!" Obito squealed.

"I think it is now," I said, latching onto an easy conversation changer.

Obito started making squeaky noises.

Kakashi and I exchanged sheepish smiles.

We would be damned if puberty got the best of us.