"Hmm, I think I'd like to be placed in Team 8," you said, glancing at Kiba and Hinata's name with a smile. As much as you wanted to be on the loveable hyperactive knuckleheaded ninja's team, you were curious as to see how Kurenai-sensei trained her students. Besides, Hinata and Kiba were kind to you as well, and were your friends. You were thrilled to have a chance to choose to be on their team.

"Great!" Iruka nodded, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. Then he took the list back from you. "I'll take you to meet your team after lunch, so until then, you're free to go."

-:-

You re-entered the classroom and waved cautiously at Iruka, who seemed absorbed in his work. He jolted, then glanced at the clock. "Ah, so it's time."

He stood up and arranged his papers in a neat pile before leading you out the door and down a hallway. He stopped outside of a classroom and peered inside.

"We're here," he said, before pushing the door completely open and gesturing for you to go in first. You complied, and Iruka followed. You noticed a woman with wavy, black shoulder-length hair who was in the middle of speaking to Hinata. She stopped mid-sentence as you entered the room and gazed at you curiously. Then she directed her words at Iruka.

"Hello Iruka. What brings you here?" Kurenai inquired politely, her crimson eyes twinkling.

He pointed at you. "[Name] is also on your team from now on."

Her eyes swept over your form and she dipped her head once. "I see. Thank you."

Iruka nodded as well, and took his leave. You turned to Kurenai, feeling slightly apprehensive.

"Yo [Name]! You're on our team now too?" Kiba called. You nodded and he grinned at you toothily. "All right!"

"So, [Name]. I see you'll be joining us from now on," Kurenai said thoughtfully. "Four-member squads are rare, but doable. When you arrived, we were in the middle of introducing ourselves. Mind if you give us a short biography, or just some random facts about yourself?"

"I-I…well…" you mumbled, your eyes glazing over.

Kurenai caught on rather quickly. "Oh, of course if you don't feel comfortable, there's no need…"

Shino's face was inclined towards you, but his tinted glasses and the high collar of his jacket made it difficult to read his expression. You couldn't tell for sure, but he seemed suspicious, or at least curious. From what you could gather from your shadow clone's memories, you didn't know Shino very well compared to the other two. This observation was further reinforced by the fact that both Kiba and Hinata did not look the slightest bit worried at your hesitation and Kurenai's cover-up.

"Ah, so we will begin our mission – the training exercise – tomorrow morning at 6 AM. Meet me at the second training ground," Kurenai instructed, snapping you out of your reverie.

"Hai!" Kiba said, and his response was echoed by you and your other two teammates. Kurenai gave the four of you a wry smile before standing up and disappearing through the still-open door.

"Y-you're on our team now, [Name]-chan?" Hinata asked, giving you a tentative smile. "I'm glad."

You returned her smile warmly. "So am I, Hinata." You were among friends, and you couldn't be any happier.

-:-

That night, you had the first dream since you arrived in the ninja world.

And it was strange, even by your standards. It started out normal enough, a vague, fuzzy replay of the day's events and the odd, dreamlike quality characteristic of dreams.

You floated around, minding your own business, until the scene before you tore apart like strips of painted canvas. And now, fear clouded your mind, because it wasn't like any nightmare you had ever experienced before. There was no strange haze that blurred your thoughts, no fuzziness that confirmed that it was just a dream. You were paralyzed with terror, but you forced yourself to back away from the gaping holes in the canvas. Then you froze again, as the silhouette of a man stepped out of the blackness and gazed at you with the strangest case of heterochromia you had ever seen. His left eye was deep purple, while his right eye was crimson with the telltale design of a matured Sharingan. That man…he wasn't supposed to obtain the Rinnegan until Shippuden, so what was up with that?

You told your body to move, but it would not respond to your frantic signals. Somehow, against your will, you were held rooted to the spot.

"Genjutsu…" you breathed. With a mix of revulsion and awe, you gazed as the man reached towards your face, almost lovingly, with a strange expression on his face.

"Rin…" he whispered tenderly, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. His fingers lightly brushed your cheek and you flinched, terrified. His eyes filled with sadness and he vanished. You awoke, your face pale and beaded with perspiration, then fell back into a restless, dreamless slumber.

-:-

When you were roused by the sound of your alarm clock, you stretched and got up to make yourself a quick breakfast. You were half-asleep, and still feeling troubled by your nightmare last night. Somehow, it disturbed you greatly, but you couldn't put words to it. You tried to push it to the back of your mind and focussed on the prospect of today's training session with your new team.

You splashed cold water on your face, forcing the last of the sleepiness from your body. You had to be fully alert for whatever training Kurenai-sensei had planned for your team. With that thought in mind, you left your house-apartment home and headed towards the second training ground.

"Ohayo, [Name]-chan," Hinata greeted you nervously as you arrived. She seemed to be the only one who was there.

"Ohayo, Hinata," you responded, the Japanese greeting rising naturally to your lips. She gave you a shy smile.

"H-how do you think Kurenai-sensei is going to train us?" she asked hesitantly.

You shrugged. "She'll probably focus on, say, teamwork or jutsu proficiency. But how exactly she is going to do that is beyond me." Probably not the bell test, you decided inwardly, happy that you were going to experience something new.

Shino appeared shortly afterwards. He spoke very little, only giving Hinata and you a polite greeting before retreating into the shadows. Finally, when both Kiba and Kurenai arrived, the latter began to explain the details of the 'mission'.

"This is a form of survival training," she began, her eyes glazed and distant. "If you pass, you'll continue as genin. If you fail, however, you will be dropped from the program."

Three gasps and an ominous silence followed her statement.

Finally, Kiba spoke. "Dropped from the program? What the heck?"

"That's right," Kurenai voice was grave. "Are you ready, my team?"

"Um, yeah…" you said apprehensively, eyeing the rest of your teammates.

"Ano…" Hinata mumbled, staring wide-eyed at the sensei as if she couldn't quite believe what she was hearing.

"Yes," Shino said tersely.

"Ah, whatever," Kiba muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Akamaru and I are ready for anything!"

Kurenai indicated to the four trees located directly behind her. Your eyes followed where her finger was pointing and you found that each tree had a shuriken tied to the very top.

"See those? Your task is to retrieve these shuriken. But of course, there is always a catch for simple missions like these." She withdrew a length of long, silvery cord from her pouch and held them out. "Your hands will be tied to each other's hands so you cannot use them to climb. And you must work together."

"So what are you saying? Is that all?" Kiba asked slowly, comprehension dawning on his face.

"This task is a multifaceted training exercise that tests teamwork, chakra control, the ability to complete mission, and the ability to do so on time. For one, all of you must obtain your respective shuriken from each tree. As you will be tied to each other, physically and otherwise, you will have no choice but to rely on each other to succeed. Next, as your hands will be bound to another person's by rope, it is highly unlikely that it will be possible to use them to climb. As a result, you will have to exercise chakra control and in the limited time you have, learn how to collect it in your feet to even hope to begin scaling the tree. Finally, you must finish quickly and efficiently, and be able repel all attacks I may throw at you as a deterrent, while staying within the time limit. Got it?"

Her descriptive clarification of the mission was met with a long, drawn-out silence. The only sound was the low hum of Shino's bugs and the occasional chirping of birds in the distance.

"I take it that you're ready?" Kurenai asked with a smile. "It's a daunting prospect, I'll admit, but I have faith in you. Good luck!" She strode forwards and divided the rope into four equal segments with her teeth.

"[Name], extend your left hand, and Hinata, extend your right."

You and Hinata did what you were told at once and Kurenai tied a loop around your wrist, then allowed a metre of unknotted rope between before tying a knot around Hinata's arm.

"Kiba?"

He stepped towards you wordlessly and Kurenai did the same with you right hand and Kiba's left. Then she tied Shino's arm to Hinata's.

"Alright," Kurenai said appreciatively, stepping back to admire her handiwork. "That looks good. Now, begin whenever you're ready."

You peered at your teammates, trying to examine the situation as critically as you could. From left to right stood Shino, Hinata, you, then Kiba, each separated yet tied by a metre of rope. Kurenai smiled and with a quick one-handed seal, vanished into thin air.

"Great. What's our strategy, guys?" Kiba asked, gazing at the ropes binding his arms with repulsion.

"First, we need to channel our chakra into your feet," you suggested. "Though how we're going to manage that is beyond me. We need to perform hand seals to manipulate energies and we can't do that without our hands."

"That's not strictly true," Shino said in a soft voice. Everyone turned to stare him. He looked a little uncomfortable at the attention, but ploughed on quickly. "The metre of rope between each of us is there for a reason. Not only is it the perfect amount of space between each tree, we are also able to combine forces to perform the necessary hand seals."

The confusion must have shown in each of your faces because Shino hurriedly began to demonstrate. He used his right hand to perform half of the ram hand seal and beckoned to Hinata to do the same. She slowly curled her fingers into the other counterpart of the sign and clasped her hand to his. Together, they formed an awkward but usable hitsuji seal.

"Now focus your chakra, Hinata," Shino instructed, sound half-embarrassed by the attention.

"Heh, great thinking, Shino!" Kiba congratulated, turning to you. "[Name], let's do this."

"Right," you said, holding out your right hand, copying Shino's demonstration. Kiba pressed his left hand to yours, completing the hand seal. You both closed your eyes, concentrating. You moulded a steady stream of physical and spiritual energy, guiding it telepathically to your feet. When you opened your eyes, the other three had already finished.

"W-we should all climb at the same time," Hinata stammered, blushing slightly.

"True," Kiba said, nodding. "We don't want anyone falling behind and risk dragging the rest of the team down. So on the count of three. One…two…three!"

You, along with the rest of your team began to walk vertically up each of your respective trees while gradually focusing your chakra towards your feet.

"Where's the challenge in this?" Kiba muttered to himself. You shot him a warning look.

"Kurenai-sensei might be lurking around here somewhere," you advised him quietly. "If she hears, she might–"

"Oh I know, but she'll do something anyways, so I might as well be cocky about it, eh?" he reasoned. You rolled your eyes and continued to climb.

An hour later, you began to feel a nagging suspicion that something wasn't quite right. The trees weren't that tall after all, they were just regular trees. With that thought in mind, you peered curiously over your shoulder at the ground below, wondering about your progress. Your eyes widened in surprise. Shoot…

Shino seemed to have noticed the same thing, because both of you stopped, causing Hinata to nearly lose her chakra focus and balance. You leaned precariously towards the tree to the left and gripped her arm to support her.

"Thanks…!" she mouthed, her eyes shining with gratitude.

"What was that for?" Kiba complained, frowning at you. In response, Shino pointed wordlessly at the ground.

"What the...?!" Kiba's eyes narrowed suspiciously and he swore under his breath. "We haven't moved at all! Dang…"

"Genjutsu…" Hinata breathed, causing you to flinch. Your dream…

You quickly shook it off. Being frightened of genjutsu now, are we? you chided, berating yourself for your overly imaginative brain.

"Alright…so let's dissipate it," Kiba sighed, moving his fingers to make half the tiger seal. Shino, Hinata, and you immediately followed his lead without questioning.

"Release!" the four of you commanded in unison. You felt the flow of chakra in your body cease infinitesimally, and then a burst of energy filled your limbs. But that pause in the flow of chakra was enough to do damage to your concentration. You lost your footing and fell off the tree. Luckily, because of the genjutsu, the distance between you and the ground wasn't too great. The rest of your team also tumbled unceremoniously to the ground.

"Damn…now what?" Kiba asked, rubbing the lump on his head. "Maybe next time, we go for extreme pain to get rid of the genjutsu instead," he suggested, brandishing a kunai.

"Let's try again," you said, your voice persistent. The rest of your team members agreed unanimously and hurried to start concentrating on their chakra again.

Soon, Team 8 was back on the trees, glancing at the ground every now and then in apprehension. The tip of the trees seemed to grow ever closer, much to everyone's relief. As you neared the last few metres, Hinata suddenly let out a gasp.

You swivelled your head in alarm and noticed a man with a forehead protector that identified his affiliation with Kumogakure floating in midair beside Hinata. His hitai-ate covered one eye like a makeshift eyepatch in a similar fashion to Kakashi and he had a kunai poised directly over her heart.

"Hinata!" Kiba yelled, but he was farthest away from her and could not do anything but watch in horror.

Your eyes widened in fear as the man raised the knife and prepared to deliver the fatal blow.

You had to do something. But what?

If you pull out your own kunai to intercept it, go to Chapter 25.

If you think it's a genjutsu, go to Chapter 24.

If you knock Hinata safely out of the way, go to Chapter 34.