Next morning, you were discharged from the hospital and as you did so, you couldn't help but feel slightly conscious about the stares coming from the nurses. "Are you alright?" As you walked back home, you were shocked to see Shikamaru, Ino and Choji along with their team leader.

Your parents visited you last night, but this morning they did not show up, which was rather surprising. Knowing them, they wouldn't have unglued themselves from your side. The surprised look on your face made Asuma smile as he decided to step forward. "If you're wondering where your parents are, they are speaking to the Hokage." He then turned to the other three. "We're going to train, so why don't you come with?"

"I would love to, but I should probably head back home." Smiling sadly, you refused their invitation. Even if your parents weren't home now, you should probably go and wait for them, they were probably very worried.

Ino nudged Shukamaru, who in response groaned. "We wanted you to come with us, to distract yourself."

"Besides, come on. Your parents agreed. Asuma spoke to them this morning." The blond girl extended her hand for you to take it.

If that is true, it would be interesting to see them train. But to be rather honest with yourself, something wasn't right. You grabbed her hand, nodding. Once that was decided, you all heading to what you guessed, the training grounds. Though, as you started to head to said direction, it all felt suspicious.

There's the fact that your parents were talking to the Hokage, why? You are not sure, but it probably was nothing good, especially after said leader questioned you yesterday. Then your parents didn't show up this morning when you were discharged. Also, you weren't sure why the nurses kept staring, not in a mean way, but in some sort of hesitation, apprehension. Now the invitation, and they approval of your parents. But if you really think about it, the most suspicious thing is your recovery. From what you have been told, you were at the brink of dying and yet, you're alive.

Ino grumbled as she removed her hand from yours as she rushed to catch up with Choji, who was eating chips. Once she caught up to him, she began to argue about something, you weren't entirely paying much attention. "You alright?" Shikamaru asked, as he walked at your side with his hands inside the pockets of his pants.

Although you have yet to know them better, you couldn't help but feel that Shikamaru is that type of people to notice things. At first, you opened your mouth to ask, but stopped unsure whether it would be wise. He probably is as clueless as you are. "Oh, nothing."

He turned to look at you for only a few second before he turned back to face forward. "You're worried about all the changes, aren't you?"

Your feet stopped moving, and your eyes widened in shock. But as you looked at his moving form, you smiled. Once you recuperated from the surprise, you jogged to catch up to him, which wasn't that far away. He was walking rather slow, almost in a lazy kind of manner. "You're very observant." But he responded nothing, waiting for you to answer his question. A serious expression surfaced on your face, you glanced at the others to make sure that they didn't hear anything. "Do you know anything about it?"

The male sighed and you heard a what a drag, but from the looks of it, he probably knew something. "I don't have to tell you about the whole death fiasco." He began, but paused. "You were supposed to die, and you didn't. I'm not sure, but TenTen mentioned that Neji was summonsed at the hospital, and as much as she tried to get any information out of him, he didn't say anything."

"I know, he was there when I woke up. The Hokage was also there, he began to ask me questions about my family's linage." At this, his eyes narrowed. "He also mentioned that I was poisoned, but, who?" You hadn't thought much about it, but who would want you dead?

"I don't know, but the Hokage will probably find out who was responsible for it. But from what I heard, the poison was undetectable, so just be careful."

"Shikamaru! Hurry up, your lazy ass! At the rate, we're going, we're going to get there really late!" Ino nagged, quite annoyed.

"Troublesome woman." Was his response, though he made no attempt to walk faster.

You laughed as his response. "When are the Chunin Exams anyway?"

"In a few days, we've been training nonstop. It's such a drag to get up so early for training." He complained.

That was soon, no wonder they wanted to get as much training as possible. But wouldn't your presence be in their way? You were going to ask Shikamaru, but decided not to. At the end, you arrived at the destination, though, it was another part from the training grounds that you had visited before. This one is part is wider. You were told to take a seat while the other trained.

You had expected them to start one on one, but it was evident that they were going to focus in what they specialized in. It would have been interesting to see what they specialized in, however, a male arrived soon after. It was a man with average height and build, he has what it looks to be dark brown hair, which is kept in a ponytail. There is a scar that rans across the bridge of his nose, and then there's the shinobi outfit. He was talking to Asuma, and they seemed to be talking about you, as they glanced at you from time to time.

The male then began to walk to your possession, he stopped in front of you and offered a warm smile. "Hello, you must be [Name] [Last Name]. I'm Iruka Umino, I teach at the academy."

In respect, you rose from your seat to greet him. "It's nice to meet you."

"I've come to retrieve you, from now on, I'll be your teacher. Please follow me." But seeing that you were hesitant, he eyes softened. "I'll explain all there is to know on our way."

With that, you both walked to said Academy, and there was a day that you would have felt thrilled but it didn't feel like it. "How do you know who I was?"

He laughed warmly at your question. "The Hokage, he spoke to your parents and convinced them to enroll you to the Academy for the time being. However, since the Chunin Exams are taking place, you'll be my only student. I specialize in teaching future Shinobi; however, there are also  subjects that can be used in a day to day basis. For instance, reading, writing, mathematics, geography and Science. From what your parents told me, you know just the basics of reading and writing, they agreed that it would benefit your future if you study more. I assume you aren't proficient in those subjects, am I correct?"

A deep blush covered your cheeks, you were too embarrassed to voice that he was indeed correct. Your parents taught you just what they could, and you weren't going to lie about the fact that you did have trouble in reading and writing. Besides, about the other subjects, you had no idea.

He only laughed, soon you approached a large building and you didn't get much time to see the aspects of the Academy. He took you to a large room, filled which desks which would be occupied with students, but were empty now. There's a big dark board in front of the room, and a desk in front of it. "Please take a seat." On top of the desk was a piece of paper, which he took and offered it to you, along with a pencil.

You would have liked to seat anywhere but in front of the room, but that would be pointless. Grabbing the papers without looking at them, you sat in one of the desk, which was in the middle. "Since I was not prepared in advance, I wasn't given enough time, that will do. I want you to read the information on that paper, one you're finished I'll collect it and answer some questions about the reading. Through it, I'll be able to identify how advanced you are in reading, and writing. I'll wait for you to get finished."

It was intimidating just staying alone there along with the teacher, and you felt as if he was studying you. At the end, you looked down at the paper and began to read. At the beginning, you read the definition of chakra, this made you look up at Iruka Sensei, who smiled in response. Then it began to explain the origins of, where it came from, who developed it and the such.

Soon, you were done with the reading, there were some words that you did not understand, but you were able to understand what the information was about. He took that piece of paper, and handed you another with the questions. Once you glanced at each question, you realized that it would be easy to answer them, since it was related to the reading.

At the end, you were finished, overall, it only took around an hour. "Very good, that'll be all for today. Today was simply an evaluate how much you know, so you can go home if you wish. Please come at the same time as today, by then I'll have the results. Tomorrow will be when I'll start with your education."

As you left, the young teacher got to the task of reading the answers. He could notice a few grammatical errors, but that's not exactly what he was aiming at. "How did it go?"

Kakashi entered the room, now placing that book of his, back inside a pocket. Iruka sighed placing the paper on the wooden podium. "Her skill of retaining information is marvelous, she answered all the questions perfectly."

"Took her longer than expected." The gray-haired man declared once standing in front of Iruka, and grabbing the piece of paper. He raised an eyebrow, noticing the errors but he shook his head knowing that was not the purpose of said tests.

"Probably because she has trouble understanding a few times but as you now, that shouldn't even matter." With his dark eyes, he looked at the other male. "From the looks of it, she's a bright one and will figure it out sooner or later. Why hide it?"

"The Hokage and her parents agreed that she would only be trained to control her chakra. She is not to know about her abilities, which are still unknown to all of us. Apparently, they don't want her to lead a Shinobi life." Though in his opinion, you look like a selfless individual who would be willing to protect those who can't protect themselves, and that kind of qualities is what makes a great Shinobi/Kunoichi.

"But didn't her parents say that she desired to enroll to the academy?" That would have been the best option after all.

Kakashi dropped the piece of paper heading back to the door once more, it was getting late, he was supposed to meet his team an hour ago. "It is, however her parents believe she is safer here at the village. If she does enroll and becomes a Kunoichi, she will eventually have to go on missions which they think will be a danger to her."

As they parted ways, Kakashi meeting up with his team, and Iruka examining the questions, both couldn't help but frown as a thought crossed their minds. If they still fear that Orochimaru will come and get [Name] for who knows what, just keeping her in the village won't guarantee her safety. Orochimaru is one of the legendary Sannin, entering the village won't be too difficult.