Fading Light

Chapter 2: Squad Placement

Friday finally rolled around and I just wanted the exam to be over with. I knew I was going to pass, but I also knew that meant I would be put on a squad with some of the other graduating students. Who would I paired with? If it was Sasuke...maybe he would talk to me again.

I shook the thought away, pushing the comforter off my body. I ate breakfast, got ready and headed off to the academy for the graduation exam. Everyone was there early and with their parents, they all wanted to make sure they passed.

"Hey Amaya!" I smiled as Kiba called me over. Akamaru barked happily in his jacket. I pet his head gently as Kiba's mother smiled at me.

"Are you ready for the exam?" She made small talk.

"Of course, Kiba and I have been training so long for this moment." I chuckled with her.

"Don't forget Akamaru." Kiba stated hurt, I knew it was a fake hurt, I could never forget Akamaru.

"Of course, I could never." I pet Akamaru again, who barked in response.

"Students!" I heard Iruka call out to us all. I went with Kiba and Akamaru to the doors to the academy, where the other students had already gathered. "One by one you'll be called into the testing room. Remember that this is a clone jutsu test." Iruka gave us one last burst of luck and the exams began. Kiba and I waited until finally I was called.

"Good luck." He smirked at me with his canines.

"Don't need it, but thanks." I smiled back and went into the testing room.

"You need to create two clones, Amaya." Iruka smiled at me.

"Yes sir." I put my hands together. "Clone Justu." Two clones appeared at my side, looking at me as if for the direction to fight.

"Perfect, thank you." The two proctors scribbled down on their notepads and I made the clones vanish.

"How'd you do?" Kiba asked when I came back out.

"Flawless." I chuckled.

"Kiba!" Iruka called out next.

"Guess it's your turn. Good luck you two." I waved and went to lean against the wall.

Kiba must have done well too, because when he came out he had the biggest smile on his face. Together the two of us sat by the wall and waited for the others to be finished. I looked up as Naruto came out of the doors, a sad look on his face.

"He must've failed again..." I whispered as I watched him go over to the swing under the oak tree.

"Must be tough, I mean he isn't good at controlling his chakra." Kiba stated beside me.

"It doesn't help that he doesn't want to learn, he's obsessed with becoming the Hokage. There are steps every Hokage had to take to get there. If only he would stop his obsession for a minute to realize, then maybe he would be able to graduate from the academy." I stated as well.

"Alright everyone, the passing students will be posted here!" Iruka called out. Kiba and I jumped up and rushed over to the poster to see that both of us had passed.

"We did it!" We both called out and high fived. Iruka walked around handing us our Leaf Village Headbands. I hung it around my neck, smiling as Kiba showed his off on his forehead.

"Tomorrow morning be here at 9AM, we'll announce squad placement then." Was the last thing that was told to us as the parents and kids all split up respectively.

"Amaya, wanna come over to celebrate?" Kiba wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"I don't want to intrude..." I muttered as his family came over.

"Amaya, you're always welcome in our home." Kiba's mother smiled at me, placing a hand on my head. "Congratulations to both of you."

~

Kiba, Akamaru and I celebrated over dinner before running around in the yard until the sun set. I sat down with him underneath one of the trees in their yard.

"What squad do you think we're going to be on?" I asked suddenly.

"I don't know, but it would be awesome if we could be on the same squad. We have a lot of teamwork and coordination together already." He smiled at me, Akamaru curled up in his lap.

"He must be exhausted." I pet Akamaru's head, he sighed softly and I knew he was close to falling asleep.

"Yeah, he's been working so hard to train with me. I'm so lucky to have him."

"I should probably head on home. It's getting dark and we have to be at the academy early." I pushed myself to my feet, Kiba doing the same but with a sleepy Akamaru in his arms.

"Do you need me to walk you back?" He asked.

"Nah, I'll be okay. Thanks though." I started to walk away, but I stopped and looked back at him. "And Kiba..." I trailed off as he looked at me. "I'm sorry for how I acted the other day...it's just hard for me still to talk about what happened to my Clan. I took it out on you and I shouldn't have." He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey don't worry about it. I know it's not easy for you. Just head home and get some rest, we'll see you tomorrow." He smiled.

~

The next morning I met Kiba and Akamaru on the way to the academy. We walked into the classroom to see Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, Sasuke and Sakura were there already. I took a seat next to Kiba and we talked for a little bit as the other students slowly started to file in. Naruto filing into the room surprised me though.

"Wait why is Naruto here? And why does he have a headband?" I questioned.

"I heard something happened last night and Iruka passed him." Hinata muttered in front of me.

"I see..." I whispered as he took his place next to Sakura.

"Alright everyone, today is the day you will be placed in your set squads." He had a piece of paper in his hands and I felt nervous for some reason. I did a side glance at Sasuke, but he was focused on Iruka like everyone else. As the squads were announced I breathed a sigh of relief as Sasuke was paired with Naruto and Sakura. However, I frowned as Kiba was paired with Shino and Hinata. He frowned at me, but I tried to be hopeful and gave him a small smile. "Squad ten will be Shikamaru, Choji and Amaya." I wasn't thrilled about the pairing but it also wasn't the worse pairing in the world. Shikamaru and Choji were good people, but more lazy than anything else.

Asuma was going to be our instructor so we followed him out to a nearby restaurant, more Choji's choice than anyone else.

"So tell me about yourselves." He said with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"What a drag..." Shikamaru muttered under his breath. I looked at Choji who was too busy shoving food in his face to comprehend what was going on. I sighed.

"I'm Amaya Uchiha, I specialize in using fire style and the Sharingan. That's Shikamaru Nara, he specializes in Shadow Possession. Finally that's Choji Akimichi, he specializes in expansion jutsus." I muttered an explanation.

"I see, we're going to have our work cut out for us." Asuma chuckled as Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Choji stuffed his face.

Not the worse team in the world, but I would have rather been with Kiba and Akamaru...