You pointed at the Ino-Shika-Cho trio's names on the list. "If I joined their team, sensei…would I mess up their formation?"

Iruka laughed heartily and shook his head. "Of course not! Asuma would be thrilled to have you on his team, and so would your friends."

You grinned at him. "I see, that's good then. I'd like to be placed on Team 10."

Iruka stood up. "I'm pretty sure I have a good idea where he might've taken his team. Let's go find them before they adjourn their team meeting, shall we?"

-:-

"Ah, hello there Asuma," Iruka called, raising his hand in greeting. He had spotted the jounin sensei just as he was entering the Yakiniku Q. Asuma stepped over the threshold and nodded at him. Iruka went into the restaurant, and you trailed behind, unsure of what to do.

Inside, Asuma and Iruka had found a table, and were quietly conversing. That was fast, you thought. When Asuma noticed you lingering awkwardly by the door, his warm smile widened.

"Why hello, you must be [Name]." It wasn't a question, so you nodded without saying anything. He gestured to empty bench space beside him.

"You must be hungry. I'll order something for you to eat."

You eyes widened, and you cursed inwardly, realizing for the first time since arriving at the Naruto world that you had no ryo on you. And you were pretty hungry, as you hadn't had much to eat all day.

As if he could read your thoughts, Asuma laughed and patted the seat encouragingly. "No worries, it'll be on me and Iruka."

"Hey!" Iruka protested jokingly.

You were still hesitant, not wanting to take advantage of the sensei's generosity.

"[Name], don't worry about it. Once you start missions with your genin team, you'll earn some money. You can pay us back then if you want," Iruka reasoned, his voice light and good-humoured.

You nodded in agreement, glad for his reassurance, even if he was just teasing you. You slid into the seat and Asuma passed you a menu.

Soon, the waitress came with your food, and you dove into it with as much enthusiasm as Naruto with his Ichiraku ramen.

"I'll introduce you to your team as a teammate this afternoon," Asuma stated after a long silence. "I take it that you're already familiar with them?"

"Sort of," you replied, which was the truest response you could give him in a sense. Though your shadow clone had apparently been friends with the members of Team 10, you still hadn't met them in person as you. But you figured Asuma wouldn't understand what on earth you meant if you told him something like that. It was safest and most honest to be ambiguous sometimes.

Asuma let his chopsticks clatter to the table and wiped his face with a napkin. "Alright, finish your food soon, and I'll round them up. Meet me at the dango shop in an hour."

-:-

When you arrived, the rest of the team was already there. Ino sat on a bench, looking impatient, while Chouji, as usual, was munching away on a bag of chips. Shikamaru appeared to be asleep, but you couldn't tell for sure. When she noticed you, Ino gave you a happy little wave, and you returned it with equal warmth. She then turned to Shikamaru and prodded him with her dango stick.

"Oy, Shikamaru, wake up you lazy bum!" she ordered. "[Name]'s here."

He blinked sleepily. "Eh…?" Then he sighed and dragged himself upright. It looked as if the effort was killing him, but Ino was relentless.

"Where are your manners?" she snapped, poking him in the side again.

"I have none…" Shikamaru replied wearily, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Ino glowered at him and opened her mouth to speak.

Asuma gave a hearty chuckle. "Now zip it, you two. I wanted to discuss the mission we'll be having tomorrow."

Survival training…you thought to yourself in anticipation.

"Survival training," he agreed, as if you had spoken aloud. "Thus, whether you pass or fail determines your becoming a genin or not."

"I thought we were genin already," Ino complained, looking dumbstruck.

Asuma smiled grimly. "That's partially true. But I'm afraid at least 66% of all the graduates are going to drop out by the time we sensei are finished with you."

Ino bristled. "We are not going to drop out, right Shikamaru, Chouji, [Name]?"

"No," you agreed earnestly.

"Ah, guess not…" Shikamaru said after a long pause. Chouji stayed silent, but nodded in agreement.

"That's the spirit," Asuma continued. "I'm sure you'll all do fine. So good luck all and I'll see you tomorrow. Same place, same time, got it?"

All four of you nodded resignedly and stood up from your respective seats. Asuma gave everyone one last encouraging smile before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

"Well then, bye…team," Shikamaru said, before heading off himself. Ino stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

"Good riddance," she huffed. "That lazy good-for-nothing –"

"I need to go too, Ino," you interrupted quickly before she could finish her tirade. "Good-bye!"

Ino glanced at you in surprise. "Um, okay."

You began to walk down the now-familiar road to your house, smiling to yourself. You couldn't wait for tomorrow.

-:-

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.

-:-

The next afternoon, you met Team 10 by the dango shop for the second time. Again, Ino was tapping the floor impatiently with her foot while Shikamaru was asleep and Chouji was inhaling his chips. The feeling of déjà vu made you laugh unexpectedly.

"Good, you're here," Asuma proclaimed, chewing on his cigarette. "Now I'll explain today's mission. As I've mentioned before, if you fail, you will be dropped from the program. Potentially, one, two, or all of you may fail, but the same goes for passing." He then pulled out what appeared to be a map from his pocket and tore it in two. Then he handed one piece to you and the other to Ino. You took it and glanced warily at the strange markings, wondering what on earth it would be for.

“Ino, [Name]. Each of you has a map of half the training grounds. Your objective is to find the trench knives I have hidden in each section. In other words, you only have the resources to find one knife, but you must collect both to pass. I encourage you to engage in conflict with the other to do so. Lastly, you must either choose Shikamaru or Chouji to work as a team with. Who’d like to pick first?”

You looked at Ino, who shrugged. "Personally, I really don't care if I get the slacker or the fatty. You pick."

Chouji squinted at Ino, his eyes blazing and Shikamaru yawned and stretched, blissfully oblivious to Ino's barely veiled insult. You figured it was because he was used to it, or he just didn't care.

"Alright…" you said hesitantly. Who would you prefer to team up with?

If you choose Shikamaru, go to Chapter 28.

If you'd rather go with Chouji, go to Chapter 29.