A man with a flak jacket marched in the door in front of a large gathering of young people. They were seated in chairs that were aligned in rows, each row slightly higher than the last. The man stopped in front of a podium at the front of the class. He turned and his face broke out in a smile. "As you all know, you are now soldiers of Konoha. However, remember this, you are still the weakest of the weak. From now on, your life will be in the hands of your allies as well as yourself. So get along! Now, here are where you are going to meet your group's personal jounin." He went around to each group and gave them a slip of paper. Then, whistling, he left the room.

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Final Fantasy IX was the best Final Fantasy game ever and if you think otherwise you are WRONG!

My fanfiction account. Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Saotome Akemi walked along the dusty but well traveled road, smirking in her outfit, which was similar to a regular jounin's uniform. Her long brown gossamer like hair was tied up in a messy brown bun at the middle of the back of her head. Her hi-ate was resting around her right ankle, and her pale skin and pink lips almost flawlewss in their making, only a few scars here and there showed that she had been through hardship, until one looked at her eyes. Her eyes, which were a dark pine green on the outside and a lighter green on the inside, had a orange strip going around the iris, almost like a ring of flame. Her eyes, albiet their color were cold, and with one of her mildest glares, could send some of the most egotistical of men crumpling to their knees, wimpering like little toddlers who have lost their favorite toy.

The scar that is most noticable is the one that resides on her right eye, that begins right under one fine brown eyebrow, thin, and thickens as it goes over her eyelid and down to the upper part of her cheekbone. The color is only a slight shade darker, a very light tan over pale white. Most of the other scars are not noticable under her uniform, which consists of a long sleeved black shirt, which is tight to her body(Like baseball underarmor) and tight black shorts that reach mid-thigh(again, like baseball underarmor). She also wears a pair of baggy men's shorts, which are very big on her, thus riding lower on her right hip, with many differently sized pockets all over them. Her shirt consists of a blood red tanktop over the black tight shirt, and a thick sweatshirt , hoodie, with a large pocket that is also black, with the Saotome insignia on the back. (sometimes under a jounin's green vest. (She only wears the green vest on meetings and other times of great importance) She wears moccasin like shoes, made out of black leather to help her feet make no noise(which they really are silent)

She continued to walk along the road, her eyes half-lidded and her bun filled with many seemingly ornamental senbon, and a longsword on her back, and uncountable other weapons possibly concealed in her attire. If she didn't hurry her pace or take a shortcut she would be late to meet her team. Shrugging, she continued to walk at the slow pace and smell her surroundings, senses alert as usual, and licked her lips.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Haka leaned back in his desk as he opened the slip. "Let's see here...my partners are Xan and Hayashi, and my leader is..." Haka let out an unsurprised sigh. "Nara Akira...I shoulda known."

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He had arrived, of course, right on the mark – not a second too late, not a second too early.

Kaoru valued his time – he liked to spend it with a cup of simmering tea, or an excellent collection of bonsai trees, or any manner of quiet pleasures – and he considered himself wise enough to understand that time is a resource. And, like all resources, it must be properly managed if anyone wishes to extract enjoyment from it.

Perhaps he should have become an accountant. He was just one of those very neat people.

Motionless, he was propped up against the rough bark of a sturdy Konoha tree, one from which Kaoru could survey the outermost walls of his ‘home’ from their designated meeting-point, angular features betraying no indication of his thoughts. Silently watching the receding figure of a rooftop-hopping shinobi until his back had retreated from sight, the Kusanagi heir settled in amongst the leaves to stare down his nose at each and every walltop passer-by, his eyelids half-shut in aristocratic nonchalance.

Waiting.

…

He hated it when people made him wait.

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Ecsatic at the thought of his first day of being an actual ninja, a bottom rung ninja but a ninja nonetheless; Hiro, or "H" as his friends called him, grinned widely as he recieved his slip of paper. Eagerly prying it open, he quickly scanned through the names.

"Okay, so... hmm... I barely know these people..." he remarked, adjusting his rather large glasses, "But it's not like it realllly matters anyway, I'll get to know them soon enough." A smirk on his ever cheerful face, he put the paper down, and waited for his new instructor to show up, hands folded in anticipation.

Realizing there was something at the bottom of the page, H glanced at the paper again. "Meeting place...? Oops..." Feeling rather oblivious, he darted at the door and ran to the location. "Won't be late won't be late won't be late..." he kept saying as he ran.

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My RP Character Sheets

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Hinote looked up in a daze. I'm really here... She glanced down at the slip of paper in front of her, afraid to open it. Mother could never stop me...but...I'm scared... She picked up the slip of paper and opened it slowly. On it, three names were listed. My teacher...is...Saotome Akemi. I've never heard of her. Her eyes traveled further down and saw something else. I'm partnered with...Makoto Rin and... Her eyes widened at the other name. Hyuuga Rai...a Hyuuga...

Hintoe slipped the paper in her pocket and looked down at her hands. She remembered the stories about the Hyuuga Clan from her brothers. I must be careful. They are a powerful clan...

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Joshin seemed to appear behind Kaoru. "Hey, are you....Kaoru Kusanagi?" He asked. The man paused only to look down at a piece of paper where the names of his students. He didn't care really, he just wanted to get started soon. He had learned over his years that you couldn't be perfect, no matter how hard you tried. You relied upon your allies and they on you to balence everything out. Right now he was just waiting.

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Rin sat brooding in the corner of the classroom, arms folded over chest and eyes closed. The instructor gave his instructions, handed out the assignment letters, and sent the students on their merry ways.

Rin opened his eyes as his assignment letter made it's way to his desk, landing with a soft whisper of paper. He swept it up as he stood, and began to open it on his way to the door. Extricating the letter he began to read:

[center]Congratulations new Genin![/center]

Congratulations for achieving the rank of Genin. Many challenges await you in the path ahead. You have been assigned to team 12. Your team leader is Saotome Akemi. Your new teammates will be:

-Jushoma Hinote
-Hyuuga Rai
-Mokoto Rin

Good luck new Genin!

Following this was instructions on where to go to meet their new Jonin leaders.

Rin had sighed at the corny approach, and obviously pretyped letter, that is until he got to the bottom. He stopped mid-step, taring at the list of his new comrades. His eye particularly lingered on the name of -Hyuuga Rai. His eyes darkened and narrowed as he reread the list. How could they put him on the same team as a pompous Hyuuga? He tossed the letter in the trash as he exited the building, beginning his long walk to the meeting place, hands in pockets and deep in thought.

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The truth is that the ancients never really leave. We've only just stepped out for a moment.

Silvery, downcast eyes swivelled in their sockets, turning upon the overdue (by Kaoru’s vaulted standards) visitor in a particularly… snakelike manner. He narrowed his lids further, frowning slightly. This must be the jounin – no genin was that quiet. No genin could get that close and still avoid detection.

Turning away from his superior, he once again glanced across the walled edge of Konoha, still frowning slightly. No honorifics? Kaoru didn’t recall having met this man before… “I am Kusanagi Kaoru.”

“I assume that you are Kyrakta-sensei.”

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"Pfft... what the hell..." Rai said with a load groan as he looked down at his folded piece of paper. The somewhat angry looking teen looked around the room, locating each one of his assigned team members. For some reason he just didn't like what group he had recieved. In fact, it probably wouldn't have mattered what group he'd been assigned with, he would have hated no matter what. "Geez, I can't believe this..." Rai groaned again, crumpling up the piece of paper and shoving it carelessly into his pocket. He let out a loud sigh and turned towards the exit of the room, still looking very unhappy with the new he had just recieved. "Damn it, I might aswell get this over with..." he said as he left the room, heading off to meet his new instructor.

As the teen walked he adjusted the straps on his right glove, carefully undoing and redoing the buckles until he had gotten it to the exact place he wanted it. Something out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention though, and as soon as he was finished fumbling with his glove he could see someone who he thought was Rin, walking just slightly ahead of him. "Pfft... that guy's on my team isn't he..." Rai mumbled with a frown. He didn't really pay much attention to any of the other students, and he had no idea what any of the people in his group were going to be like. Rai let out a small sigh, looking up at the other boy with little interest. "Hey you! You're one of the people in my squad right?" Rai shouted out, loud enough for him to hear.

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"Yo," Yuki said, giving a small wave of his hand as he approached from the other end of the tree, "You guys got here early..." The new genin quickly looked at the sky, measuring the sun's height, "Or I got here three minutes late." He shrugged, "My bad."

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"Ah, good to meet you Kauro~kun." Joshin said. He smiled at the young man and then looked around. "Have you seen the others? I usually tell people to meet me slightly earlier so they are here when I get here." He explained.

"Ah, Yuki~kun, you're here. That leaves only one left." Joushin said.

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Hinote watch both Rin and Rai leave. I better catch up to them... She slowly stood up and hurried out the door. She walked a little way from Rai, trying not to anger him or do anything that might make me hurt her in one way of form. She looked past Rai and noticed another boy walked up on the path. She listened to Rai as he called out to Rin. So, those two are my partners...ok... She walked a little faster trying to stay in a good distance with the group.

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Akemi continued her walk and checked the time, noting that she was late. "Better send.baka students.." She muttered coldly as she took a small child from the side of the road, asked if he'd like to make some extra money, and sent him on his way, telling to go to the ninja academy and give her three students a letter, one apiece. The letter consists of:

Students:
Meet me by the training grounds near the river.
~Saotome, Akemi

Short and sweet, it got the point across, which was what she wanted. The little boy ran off, eager to make that little bit of extra money as Akemi continued to amble on, only a few yards away from the training ground by the river. Putting a pair of dark sunglassed in her pocket of the dark black hoodie that she wears, the hood down, she contiued to walk, taking one of the senbons out of her right leg pocket, and put the end of it in her mouth, soon closing the distance to herself and the river.

'Only a few trees and bushes seperating me from a bunch of possible whiney walking headaches....I wonder what their blood tastes like...' She thinks to herself, licking her lips around the senbon yet again.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

The first of their patron jounin’s brief pleasantries received no reply, Kaoru’s metallic eyes staring down from their perch with a vague indifference that bordered upon blatant obnoxiousness. The Kusanagi were a to-the-point people; he wasn’t one for small talk and awkward chitchat.

He simply raised a long, thin arm as the second ‘comrade’ approached, pointing down at the waving genin below. He had seen this one before… Yuki…? Yuki… what was his name? Yamato Yuki?

He nodded in the younger genin’s general direction. “Good morning, Yamato-san.”

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Yuki nodded, "Kaoru-kun," he paused, "You don't mind if I call you by your first name, do you?" there was a wide smile on his face, "After all, we'll be becoming real ninjas together, won't we?"

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Koga stepped up to his group and gave them a quick look over. "Soo..." he said in a raspy lazy tone, "I'm grouped with you two and this is our teacher...Joshin." He finished with his hands in his pockets and his pale white eyes flashing to each member of his group

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"That's Kyrakta~sensei, Koga~kun." Joshin said. "Alright, seeing as everyone is here, I'll formally introduce myself. My name is Kyrakta Joshin, I will be the jounin that will be turning you three self-centered, lazy nobodies into true shinobi. First, though, I want to know what your number one goal for yourself is." He said. He looked at Kaoru and smiled. "Kaoru~kun, please start us off." He told the young man.

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That attracted the entirety of Kaoru’s attention. He shifted slightly upon his perch, the hem of his ceremonial haori fluttering upon Konoha’s pleasant breeze, hawkish features staring straight into his comrade with a haughtily callous, but somewhat amused, expression. It was the kind of look that could be likened to that of a nobleman watching paupers beg at his feet.

“I would prefer…” his eyes shifted from the second genin, eyelids falling once again as he gave the third man of their squadron a passing glance, raising an eyebrow at the sight of a Hyuuga “…Kaoru-san.”

His ears pricked up at the sound of their teacher’s questioning, quickly losing interest in the situation. Personal goals… did they have to do this? It was a quite tedious process, and he couldn’t tell the truth in any case.

“I have a debt to repay. To the Hokage.”

That would do.

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Rin stopped, closing his eyes in irritation as his two partners approached. He turned slightly tilting his head as he did so, as to see the two Genin. They were bolth slightly shorter than himself, and he looked down on them over his collar as they approached.

"Yes." he said simply, his obvious distaste for Rai showing through his cold silver eyes. His eyes seemed to slide of Rai for a moment as the young Hinote approached, but stopped short, nerviously keeping her distance. He regarded her with a soft stare, his eyes returning to their calm emotionless state.

He felt a small bump against his knee as a small child, bearing a letter arrived. "This is for you... I think." said the child with uncertainty. Rin accepted the letter and quickly slit it open, reading the contents. Finishing, he tossed the letter unkindly to Rai and turned away. He began to walk in a new direction, not waiting for the others.

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The truth is that the ancients never really leave. We've only just stepped out for a moment.

"Alright, how about you Yuki~kun?" Joshin asked, his smile still on his face.

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Hinote watch Rin take a new direction and instantly followed him towards they're new destination. She walked silently behind him, fidgeting with her forehead protector that adorned her waist. It swung loosey, swaying a bit as she walked. She looked up at Rin and glanced back at Rai.

((Am I the only girl Genin?))

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Rai quickly snatched the letter out from the air, giving an angry looking glare over towards Rin as he began to walk away. He continued to watch him for a brief moment, not really liking the attitude that he'd just been shown. "Geez, what's his problem..." Rai mumbled as he looked down at the letter, he instantly let out a small groan as he realized that he'd be spending so much time with those other people.

But Rai knew it was something that he'd just have to get done. His eyes slowly turned to the person who was following them, he'd noticed that the girl was behind him from looking at Rin's eyes. Rai smiled a bit, turning so that he could give her his full attention. He held the letter high enough so that Hinote could see it. "Hey! We need to get to the training grounds near the river, so hurry up would ya?" he shouted out in a slightly playful tone.

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Akemi sat down on a rock in the middle of the shade by the trees, and in the middle of the training ground, her eyes shut, legs crossed and her elbows resting on her knees, fingers intertwined, almost as if she was going to rest her chin on it or something. She did not do that, instead she kept her eyes closed and concentrated on her surroundings, feeling and hearing the blood and chakra flowing through her veins, all the while completely aware of her surroundings.

'Kuso, they have left the academy already...' She thought to herself, and chewed on the end of the senbon that was in her mouth, the rest stuck in her bun at all sorts of odd angles.

_________________
Doctress Who-CURSE YOU AKAINE AND FENIX. *Shakes fist*
Musicmac-INNUENDO... STRIKE!
Innuendo Squad Leader
Dare to join?

Hinote started to walk a faster pace trying to catch up. She quietly reached Rai and began to follow Rin. She placed her hands at her side and let him swing backwards and forwards.

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