Me, A Ninja?!

We were drawing closer and closer to the Chunin exams; and each day I got more and more nervous. Training was murder, and I was falling behind. Sasuke was getting better, and I was getting worse.
One day, during training, Kakashi-sensei noticed.

“Naomi, if you want us to slow down we can-” I cut him off.

“No! I can keep up! I got this…” I stated with a serious look on my face.

My chidori was improving, but I couldn’t risk using it again, after what happened at the preliminaries. I rubbed my hands together and began doing the hand signs for the Fire Ball jutsu.

“Fire style: fire ball jutsu!” I commanded, but nothing happened. I repeated myself, and still nothing happened. Kakashi-sensei gave me a puzzling look. First, I was falling behind, now I lost all ability to fight.

“Naomi, what’s the matter?” Kakashi-sensei asked, his face a mix between stern and concern. I shook my head.

“I don’t know…” I uttered softly. I felt weak, and useless.

“I think I know what’s wrong with her.” I heard a familiar voice say. I looked up to see my brother Daisuke! I felt a sudden flood of relief wash over me.

“Nii-san!” I squealed. He smiled at me. Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke didn’t seem too happy to see me.

“And what do you think is wrong with her, Daisuke?” Kakashi questioned in a harsh tone.

Dai smirked, and chuckled a bit.

“It’s pretty obvious. When she got here, she didn’t have any type of ninja abilities what so ever, right? But as she went along she began to develop chakra and such, but not as well as everyone else.” Dai walked circled us as he talked; Kakashi’s eyes never left his.

“However, when Naomi was given the curse mark she began to get better. Well, I think it’s becoming clearer; don’t you think Kakashi…”

To my surprise Kakashi-sensei nodded in agreement.

“What is it? What’s wrong with me?!” I questioned, very much confused.

“Naomi when you were in the hospital, Kakashi sealed your curse mark. And now that that power is seal your ninja abilities are limited…” Dai explained.

My jaw dropped. Limited? What a load of crap!

“Can’t we fix it?!” I asked, getting angry.

“I’m sorry, Naomi. We cannot risk you freaking out like that again.” Sasuke uttered.

“Shut up! I wasn’t talking to you!” I seethed.

“Kakashi-sensei,” I clarified, “can we fix it?”

To my dismay he shook his head no. I lowered my head sadly.

“I’m sorry, Naomi, but at this rate…you might have to drop out of the Chunin Exams…” Kakashi stated, a bit sad himself.

I felt my eyes swell up with tears.

“It’s not far! I worked so hard…” I said through my sobs. I heard Sasuke scoff.

My head popped up, tears still falling, and glared at him.

“You probably didn’t do anyrthing. That curse mark did all the work.” He said, pointing at his own curse mark.

I stormed up to him. Both of us the same height so we were both at eye-level. I glared at him, and opened my mouth to say something, but stopped.

I simply lowered my head and pushed pass him, and ran home.

He was right. I was nothing but a weakling who got lucky. Like those super heros that get their power by some kind of formula, but lose it when they run out.

I stopped at a tree stump, and sat down. I couldn’t run anymore; my vision was blurred.

I put my face into my hands. All that stuff I did was a hoax. I was nothing but a fake.

“You’re not a ninja…” I told myself.

“Now, who told you that?” I heard a voice say. I looked up to see Daisuke again. I lowered my head again.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“To help…” Dai said.

Every since we’ve been separated, I’ve grown less and less aware of my brother’s ways. He was up. He was down. He was stupid. He was astute. I just didn’t know anymore. But I couldn’t help but wonder what he could do to help.

“And what can you do about this?” I asked yet another question.

“I can unseal your curse mark…” he uttered with the scariest grin I have every seen on his face.

If I did that I’d probably get in a lot of trouble with Kakashi-sensei. But the Crow kept on reminding me.

Who’s gonna tell him? Not me. Not You. Not Dai. Who’s gonna know?

She was right. I stood up and looked at Dai sternly, and nodded.

The grin grew wider.