A Hatred That Will Never Bloom Into Friendship

"What isn't there to understand, Lloyd? You three are obviously not ready to take on the responsibilities of ninja life. You all still have the mindsets of Ninja Academy children and not the genin that you are supposed to be!" she retorts indignantly.

'So... this is it. It's all over,' I contemplate sorrowfully, realization finally hitting me. My heart bangs terribly against my chest, and my stomach does cartwheels.

"So... as my decision stands firm, you all will report back to the Academy first thing tomorrow morning," she exclaims bluntly, turning and walking away.

Flashback

"Ready to go? I was thinking that we could just go to the park after we get a bite to eat," Lloyd suggests, but mostly to me. He smiled only at me.

"Yeah, sure. That's fine with me. How about you Rakuyo?" I politely ask him. He looks at me, and I see in his eyes for a split second, hurt and confusion. But I quickly shake off the thought, as I realize I was staring deeply into his eyes.

"Yeah... that's fine," he answers me kind-heartedly.

"Alright then. Let's go," Lloyd says, walking out the door. Rakuyo and I both follow him, and we head down to the cafe around the corner.

"Hey, Kimina. What's up with your friend?" Lloyd inquires, gesturing down the road to our left.

"Hmm? Who? You better not be talking about…" I trail off, immediately spotting Naruto, who was looking a bit saddened; from what I could see.

"Um... you two can go on ahead. I'll catch up with you guys in a bit," I tell the both of them with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever. Just don’t take too long," Lloyd remarks coldly, giving Rakuyo an immediate glance of annoyance; before turning his back and walking the rest of the way to the café down the road.

"Rakuyo... what's wrong?" I ask suddenly, looking at his unmistakable melancholy expression. He doesn't answer. "You know... don't pay Lloyd no mind. He..." I stop mid-sentence, and watch as Rakuyo walks away without a single word.

I shrug and sigh out heavily before walking my way over to my knuckle headed friend. "Hey, Naruto!" I wave in a mannerly fashion.

"Hey, Kimina," he replies in a gloomy tone.

'What's up with him?' I think somewhat puzzled, but slowly get the idea as I gaze at a pink-haired kunoichi running down the road away from the both of us. Sakura. And I didn’t need to be told who she was running after; Sasuke.

"So, aren't you supposed to be with your teammates?" Naruto asks me with a pleasant smile.

"Yeah... but I just wanted to see if you were all right. And to also tell you that I hope everything goes well with your sensei," I answer in a kind and enthusiastic demeanor. And also with your bastard of a teammate, I mentally say.

"You know I will! No matter what they throw at me. I'm gonna' pass through it with flying colors!" he exclaims boastly, throwing his fist in the air. Wow, his mood can really change all in an instant.

"Yeah, me too! No matter what happens. Were not going to give up!" I proclaim, throwing my fist into the air same as him. Some of the passersby, I notice, smile at me and shake their heads at Naruto. My hand falls back to my side, and I feel anger rising up inside me.

Naruto didn’t seem to notice any of it, or he was acting like he didn’t. "Well... I'll see you later, Kimina. I got some stuff I need to take care of," he tells me with an honest expression, in his mind thinking of ways of sabotaging Sasuke in front of Sakura.

"Alright, Naruto. See you later!" I reply with a smile, walking away towards the café. Hopefully my other two teammates were getting along okay, or simply not flat out killing each other yet.

End Flashback

"Wait a minute! Hold on! This isn't fair!" I yell to Naria sensei, finally snapping out of my thoughts.

"Hmm? What isn't fair?" she questions politely, stopping in her tracks and turning back around to the three of us.

"How in the world could we have passed this assignment? Were just starting out as genin! Of course we weren't going to win fighting against you head-on like that!" I remark with a serious expression.

"Of course you weren't going to win?" Naria repeats my words, her eyebrow raised in confusion.

'Yeah... Kimina's right. I mean, I couldn't even get any of my attacks through to her,' Lloyd contemplates with an upsetting sigh.

"Yeah, of course we couldn't win here. This assignment was just too tough for us," I explain with anguished eyes. It just wasn’t fair.

"Too tough? Well, let me ask you this. Do you think that the enemy will ever go easy on you? Do you think they will show you mercy and let up on you when you get tired or scared? No they will not!" she spats out, not waiting for me to answer her questions. "And just for you three to understand, becoming a ninja is no easy task. You think that everything will just be easy and go your way? No it will not! You will have to work hard to achieve your goals and face turmoil’s and battles far greater than the work of Ninja Academy students. You need to learn to grow up and know what it means to be true shinobi!"
I look down at the ground, pondering her words in my head.

"And also about what you said of not being able to win here... is only because you all came at me one on one," she justifies plainly.

"Wait... what do you mean by that? Why is that the reason we didn't win here?" I ask, honestly bewildered. Lloyd snorts beside me.

"You three didn't consider for one minute why you were put on a three-man squad in the first place. Never really considered what this assignment was all about," Naria clarifies with a glare.

"I don't think I get what you mean..." I respond, trying to understand the concept of her words.

'Why we were put on a three man squad? How the heck are we supposed to know? The Hokage came up with those rules. What? Does she want us to go and ask him?' Lloyd thinks, annoyed.

"Hmph. Teamwork!" she shouts out simply.

"What? Teamwork?" Lloyd and I question at the same time, the same surprising expressions on both our faces.

"Yes, teamwork. If you all would have known that before... you all could have came at me all at once... and maybe you could've gotten through on your attacks. You see, no matter how strong or defiant an opponent may be, if you work together then you will succeed through any duty given to you! But seeing as though you didn't know this in the beginning was all too bad on your part. When you came at me all on your own... everything you used and did was pointless. And one of you didn't even try to help out at all," she lastly says, gazing down at Rakuyo. I glare at her.

"Rakuyo! You stood there and watched the whole time... while Lloyd and Kimina fought to try to win all on their own. You said on yesterday that you were good at strategies. You need to use what you know on the battlefield to conduct and tell your teammates what they should or shouldn't do," she tells him, with a slight grimace.
“Oh great. Now she’s making Rakuyo be the leader,” Lloyd says aloud gruffly.

Naria sensei ignores Lloyd completely, but I wish she hadn’t. "Kimina! Your attacks are pretty skillful but you lack much self-confidence. You give up too easily and if that same thing would have happened on a real battlefield... you would have been killed and let down the rest of your squad," she divulges tersely. Lloyd snorts again.

"And you Lloyd! You were the worst of the whole squad!" Naria sensei informs him shrewdly.

"What?" Lloyd replies, obviously not comprehending what she meant.

"You did everything by yourself and thought the others as only burdens that will just get in your way. That is not the way of a ninja to act! You all must help each other out and work as a team!" she replies to Lloyd's quizzical look. She then sighs out in a tiring way, before turning her back on us again. "Hopefully you guys will do better next time."

"Hold on! There isn't going to be a next time!" Lloyd yells out boastly. "Were going to fight you again! And this time were gonna' show you what real shinobi we can be! Right, you guys?"

"Lloyd... what are you doing?" I ask him perplexed. Wait a minute. I knew exactly what he was doing. This was our chance. Now that we knew everything that was to be expected, we could surely past this test.

"My decision stands firm, Lloyd. You all have failed this assignment, and there is no second chances," Naria says plainly, glancing back at the three of us. She takes a couple more steps away. “You all will return to the Academy tomorrow.”

"Hmph. Sorry about that, but I never took too kindly to following the rules of the game very much,” Lloyd replies, a playful smile on his lips.

"Alright, Lloyd. Don't know what you got up your sleeve but I'm up for it," I tell him, thinking in my mind what Naruto and I had agreed on. That we were never going to give up.

"Hmph. Alright, let's show her what real teamwork is all about!" Lloyd proclaims, reaching for his weapon pouch. I nod in agreement and get into a fighting stance, with Rakuyo doing the same.

"Okay! Now!" Lloyd exclaims, grabbing out a kunai knife.