I am a Dancer (Naruto fanfiction)

7: Diminishing Victories

As the weeks came and went, I began adapting to Konoha and its people. I learned Naruto, the boy I had crashed into on my first day of the Academy, loved ramen and was determined to become Hokage. He hates Sasuke, the top student of the entire Academy, has a crush on Sakura, and is completely oblivious to Hinata's crush on himself.

Sasuke and I have a mutual understanding; I wouldn't join Sakura and Ino who fawn all over him, and he would politely ignore me. He was pleased to have one more girl join the "we are not desperate for Sasuke-kun" bandwagon. Besides, he's not exactly my type. Naruto is a little closer, but maybe Kiba also fits the bill...

Speaking of Kiba, he has such an adorable dog name Akamaru! Kiba and Akamaru sit next to this boy named Shino...who is interesting. I don't know him that well.

Then we have Lee, Neji, Shikamaru, and Choji. I don't know them so well either. I usually hang out with the girls, and the only boys I actually know are Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto, because we sometimes see each other at the store or at the ramen shop, and Sasuke from Sakura and Ino's conversations.

"That's it for today," Iruka Sensei said cheerfully, closing his book. "Since we are having graduation coming up quickly, I want you all to review the basic ninjutsus for the exam day."

Sakura's hand shot up. "Yes, Sakura?"

"What day's the exam?"

"In exactly two weeks. Work hard everyone!"

"What do you think they'll make us do?" I asked Tenten as we left the classroom. Recently, the girls and Iruka Sensei had helped me open my Chakra system. I was so excited to make clones and do transformations.

"It's hard to tell," Tenten shrugged. "They change every year, but they shouldn't be too hard, even for you."

"Ugh, I know I'm new and all, but I really hope I pass!" I whined to no one in particular.

"You'll do fine," Hinata comforted as Ino and Sakura came racing towards us.

"Can you help me?"

"Sure thing." Tenten and Hinata spent the rest of our lunch time, training me and helping me make my clones.

"Almost perfect," Tenten assured me kindly. "Take a break. You must be drained."

"Don't over do it,"Hinata added. "If you run out of Chakra, you might die."

"No, you will," Sakura said, joining us. She and Ino have been diligently doing their daily round of stalking Sasuke right after classes ended.

"Be really careful, okay?" Ino warned, sitting next to me. "There's no need to push it. You're new at this, after all."

"But I want to stay keep up with everyone," I whined, my competitive streak insistently pushing at me.

"Then let me help you with shuriken throwing," Tenten said, standing up. "This won't use up any Chakra at all!"

After Iruka Sensei's training period, I headed into the gym to practice my dancing. I made sure to stretched every time I had time to practice, and I could definitely feel a strong improvement. Ino was right, I should have more confidence in myself.

"Hey, what's your name?" I heard someone call to me. I turned to see a tall man walk towards me.

"I'm Kuni Hirano, sir," I answered, taking note of his appearance. He had one visible eye, while the rest of his face was completely covered with a fabric mask and his forehead protector. He had on the same dark green vest that Iruka Sensei wore.

"Oh, are you that girl from the other land?" He asked, sitting on the steps.

"Yes sir."

"Oh. Nice to meet you. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I'm a Jounin around here."

"Does that mean you're also a Sensei?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, but as an Academy teacher," he responded.

"Let me guess, a Genin team instructor," I said, remembering that from my studies.

"Correct," he answered. We conversed for a while, before he left. He was quite nice to just stop by and say hello.

That evening, I practiced the jutsus I had learned in class, doing by best to create two more clones of myself as accurate as possible with all the right details. After five attempts, I was already exhausted.

"I need to increase my concentration levels," I sighed, crawling into bed.