First Encounter

(lol, pickled plums are sour.)

The waiter nodded and walked off. Felix looked at the two. "What exactly would you like to become better in?" He asked. "Speed, stamina, strength, things of that sort?" He asked. He leaned back in his chair, turning his head slightly when he heard a bit of commotion outside. "Wonder what's going on out there." His blue eyes glanced out the window. An older man was yelling at someone. He couldn't figure out who or what they were yelling about, but the guy was furious. Felix shook his head and turned back to his students.

Rachel too looked out the window. The old guy waving his arms in the air was kind of funny. She blinked when she realized Felix was looking at the two of them. "I...er..." She didn't know what she wanted to work on. "I think I would like to work on genjutsu." She said. Since she wasn't physically strong, illusion would work, right? She looked off to the side when Felix smirked. The young girl had a feeling he knew why she wanted to learn genjutsu.

The rock had ended up hitting an old guy who was not very happy. He turned on Kana and glared at her. "Have you no respect for your elders you little trouble maker. I've served sixty years in this village and I get rewarded with a rock hitting me in my back, are you trying to kill me?" He yelled as he waved his arms over his head in anger. "Children need discipline these days. I swear, no home training, none at all." He peered at the girl, looking at her headband (i hope she's wearing it visibly.) "You call yourself a ninja. Ninja's show respect and you have none young lady! Apologize!" A small group of people in the streets that had been shopping in the surrounding stalls were looking at the scene.

(Totally knew that...and yeah, she's wearing it on her forehead.)

Ryuu looked towards the window when he heard some old man start yelling. He couldn't tell who he was yelling at though. He looked back to his sensei when he realized the guy had asked them a question. "Um...I wanna work on my stamina," he said, sounding a bit embarrassed. It wasn't only that he couldn't run for long periods of time, it was that he just got tired way too easily.

Kana stopped walking when she suddenly heard some old man start yelling at her, her eyes widening a bit when she realized she'd hit him with the rock she'd just kicked. Her anger melted away as the man yelled at her, and she seemed to shrink in place. She had to keep her anger from rising back up as he commented on her ninja status. She remembered what her father had told her once about being disrespectful to the elders of the village. Immediately after the man had told her to apologize, Kana bowed deeply, staying there as she spoke. "I-I'm really sorry sir, I didn't think the rock would hit anyone, honest!" And even after she spoke, she stayed bowed until the old man answered. She didn't want to be hated in the village. But she didn't think that anything she did would make much difference. There was just something about her that made people dislike her. So much so that she'd just started acting out the part without meaning to.

Felix couldn't believe the group he'd been given. One who knew nothing and another that was too out of shape to be a ninja. Felix wanted to lay his head on the table and groan, but instead he responded with, "You'll be leaning a lot for as long as you're with me. And getting into shape is one of them," he said, glancing at Ryuu when he spoke. Felix was thankful when the waiter arrived with their food. Onigiri with pickled plum being Felix's favorite food, help get his mind off his so called team. And since it was so good, Felix might have been in a good enough mood to cancel training. After all, traditionally on the first day sensei's wouldn't bother with training, just introductions.

Rachel happily took her fruit bowl and rice. First she started on the rice. She loved plain rice. Afterwards, she started into her fruit bowl, which she took her time on. She liked to savor the taste. When Felix spoke, she nodded. "Thank you sensei." The girl paused. "Um, sensei, we don't know your name," she said. All of them had introduced themselves, except for him, and he was the teacher, how odd.

The old man looked at Kana for a long moment when she bowed and apologize. He gave a long sigh. "I suppose it's alright," he said. "Just get out of here before I change my mind. And stop kicking rocks like a small child. The next person won't be so nice." The old man then walked back to the stall he'd been viewing before the incident.

Ryuu smiled when his food came, immediately putting the topping on his rice. Even if it was light, this was easily one of his favorite dishes. He looked down in embarrassment when their sensei mentioned that they would be getting into shape. He didn't mind that part of it, but the rest of this guy's training sounded absolutely terrifying. He hadn't forgotten. He blinked and looked at Rachel when she mentioned something he had forgotten about. "Th-that's right," he mentioned, looking to the silver haired teacher.

Kana gave a light sigh when the man said it was alright. When he went back to looking at stalls, the girl shook her head lightly and started away at a jog, back towards the forest. Even if they weren't there, she wasn't going to waste her time looking for them. They might have been somewhere else training, and she could start looking for them earlier in the day tomorrow, when they were training, hopefully in the same spot. But for now, she wasn't going to skimp. She was going for a run back out in that forest. She wanted to know the ins and outs of it before the day was through.

"My name doesn't matter," he said. "When I think you're worth my time, I'll let you know who I am." Felix grinned. "I have a reputation for scaring people away with my identity." Rachel had just finished chewing a piece of cantaloupe and was having a hard time swallowing it after what Felix had said. Felix went back to his onigiri. "You have ten minutes to finish your food, and then it's back to training."

Ryuu looked at their sensei when he said his name didn't matter, and then swallowed his rice with a light cough at the guy's next statement. As if the guy wasn't scary enough already! Ryuu glanced to Rachel before looking down at his bowl of rice and beginning to eat again, albeit slowly. Suddenly he wasn't so hungry anymore.

Kana ran up the path that the guy who was supposed to be her sensei had taken them on before. Even though the old man had accepted her apology, she didn't feel any better. He'd practically called her a worthless ninja. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got, and the faster she wanted to run. She didn't bother taking it easy, even though she knew running like that would wear her out faster. She didn't care. No one wanted her. She'd just have to become a great ninja on her own. Though, that didn't mean she was going to stop trying to get that guy to train her. She was just stopping for today, just so that she could run until the anger faded.

Felix paid for the bill after the ten minutes were up. He'd taken the kids to a separate forest without any booby traps. He'd ran them for about three hours non-stop. Occasionally he'd slow his pace, but it was only for a moment or two before he started back up again. When it was over, Rachel was leaning over, throwing up fruit pieces. Her ponytail had fallen into strands on her face, and her entire shirt was soaked with sweat. The young girl wanted to sit down so badly, but Felix ever so kindly reminded her that ninja didn't sit. The silver haired shinobi gave the lightest of grins as he took his jacket off. He too had gotten a work out, but he was used to this. He swore that the Academy weren't preparing these kids to be ninja at all.

Ryuu had trouble with keeping up a few times, and by the time they were done running, he too was drenched in sweat, leaning over with his hands on his knees. He looked like he was ready to throw up as well, coughing a bit as his lungs tried to take in air. There was no way he could do this every day! He'd end up dead!

Kana hadn't bothered staying in the one part of the forest. It wouldn't do her any good if she ran in circles. And besides, the terrain in the part of the forest she was going in wasn't nearly as flat. She stopped and hid behind a tree though, when she heard someone else running through the forest. No, several someone's. Peeking ever so slightly from behind the tree, Kana blinked when she saw who it was. She wondered how long they'd been here for. She only shook her head and let them get a head start before following behind them as quietly as she could while still keeping pace. She was far enough behind where she could still see them, but only barely. So when they stopped, Kana didn't get much closer before hiding behind a tree again, leaning back against it, and breathing heavily, her shirt sticking to her from sweat. She'd never actually run three hours straight before, but she figured if they could do it, so could she. Even so, she felt a bit light-headed when she stopped, but wasn't anywhere near throwing up. In fact...she felt kinda good about having been able to keep running for so long. That anger she'd felt before had long since melted away.

Felix stretched lightly. "Well, glad to see you all survived. We'll be doing this again tomorrow. There's no point in training physically if you can't keep up," he said. "So we'll do this in the beginning and afterwards we'll do combat and weaponry. Same time, same place, tomorrow." Felix gave a nod. "You're dismissed." Felix folded his jacket in his arms and watched as they left.

Rachel gave a groan as he said they would be doing this tomorrow. "Goodnight sensei," she said as she straightened up and walked away. I'm never coming back, she thought to herself as she headed to the Academy. She was resigning immediately.

Ryuu, though listening to his sensei's words, couldn't bring himself to straighten up just yet. It was only after he said that they'd be doing it tomorrow did he finally straighten, only to look at him in slight disbelief, quickly wiping the look from his face. He didn't want to end up on the guy's bad side, even if this was his only day on his team. "Goodnight sensei," Ryuu repeated after Rachel. He too was headed towards the Academy. He couldn't take this kind of training!

Kana listened to what the silver haired guy said. They were going to meet in the same place? Great, she could just show up there then. She wasn't giving up on this!

The next day, Kana showed up at the training spot earlier than she had the day before. She was a bit surprised to find a black haired boy already there. But...he wasn't from the squad the day before. "Who're you?" Kana asked, looking at him sternly.

The boy, named Renji, looked at the blond haired girl as she approached. He'd been casually tossing a kunai up and down, seemingly working on his timing. He had stopped when he heard someone talk to him. "The name's Renji Kader. You?"

Kana shook her head. "That's not what I meant. What are you doing here?"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Waiting for my sensei to show up," he stated plainly. "Now. Your name?"

"What happened to the other two?"

"They dropped out, I guess. Are you gonna answer me or not?"

Kana gave him a light glare. "No. I don't think I am." That had seemingly surprised the black haired kid, but he ended up just giving her an irritated look before turning his head to the side and pushing his tongue against one of his cheeks. If she was on his team, he didn't want anything to do with her.

Felix stood at the office door of his superior. Captain Izua had requested him. Felix had a clue what this was about. Knocking on the door once, he stepped inside. "You wanted to see me?" Izua looked up at the silver haired man. "Yes, it's about your squad." Felix gave a slight grin and closed the door. "Go on," he said as he leaned against it. "Felix, I thought we had an agreement that this year kids wouldn't quit your team left and right. Both Rachel Karianno and Ryuu Tomigashi quit your squad. And from what I've heard from the Academy, you've also kicked Kana Kianashi off your squad. Kuriyama, you don't have a team anymore. I can't can't keep supplying you students like they're missions." Felix shrugged. "It's not my fault they're all weak minded. Karianno and Tomigashi didn't have the heart to be ninja anyway. And Kianashi is a brat, I don't train brats."

There was a long pause. "Felix, you can't go kicking people off your team because you don't like them." Felix merely shrugged. "Well give me a team that actually want to work to become ninja. If I train them like they're kids, that's exactly what they'll go out into the field as, kids. Children don't survive in the ninja world." Izua shook his head. "Felix, everyone can't be as cold hearted as you. They can't just shut down and block everyone out. We send these kids to you to make them better ninja, not to make them permanently quit. Cut them some slack." Felix knew he wouldn't win this argument, no matter how many good points he made. Izua was his Captain, therefor he had to listen. "Fine, I'll take on another group, but I'm not promising anything. I'll be nicer in my introductions, is that good enough for you?" Izua gave the other shinobi a small look. He placed his chin on his hands. "We'll see when I get the results. Your new team will be waiting for you at the same spot as today." Felix sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going home." With that he turned and started out the door. "Kuriyama." Felix paused. "Captain?" "Kianashi is back on your squad." Felix sighed. "Yes, sir."

The next day Felix was dressed in all black with his white jacket hanging open as usual. His headband was still hanging loosely around his neck and his hands were tucked in his pockets. He had a blank look on his face as he approached the training grounds. Today he had another group of kids, with Kianashi there to bother the hell out of him. Felix would fix her though. He'd planned it all out before he'd gotten here. When he got to the training field, he looked at the group, every single one of them was separated from each other. Felix sighed. Was he ever going to get a 'team'? "We're a day behind in training, which means we'll be training twice as hard today. Let's get introductions out of the way and then we'll be on our way to running."

Tamia was quietly sitting on a tree log away from Renji when Kana arrived. The girl's response was ever so rude, so she didn't bother making conversation with either of them. These were her teammates. Okay, they didn't look friendly. When she saw a man walking towards them, she immediately deemed him to be there sensei. She quickly stood up, her hat toppling forward and she caught it in her hands as she hurried over to him as he spoke.

Kana looked at the silver haired guy as he walked up. She wondered if he was irritated with her showing up yet. Hey, at least she'd had the decency to hide herself when she'd followed them yesterday. As far as she knew, he hadn't even known she'd been there. Well, chances are he'd know now that he saw her there. She wouldn't let the other two know that he'd kicked her off the team. She went to speak, but blinked when she realized she'd been beaten to it.

Renji looked up as he heard someone approaching. Silver hair? How peculiar. He started towards the guy, standing next to the brown haired girl, grinning lightly as she fumbled with her hat. Wasn't she just nervous. When he was asked for introductions, he didn't hesitate. "Renji Kader, sir. I just graduated to genin and am on my way to being one of the Crested's top infiltration specialists," he said.

Kana couldn't help but notice how confidently the black haired kid spoke. She'd also noticed those black gloves he had on his hands, and wondered what they were for. If they were for anything other than show. "I'm Kana Kianashi, and I'm going to become a member of the ANBU Black Ops." She glanced at Renji and gave an irritated look when she saw him smirk. What the hell did he think was so funny?

Tamia waited silently for everyone to speak before she spoke. "My name is Tamia Zakura," she said shyly. She had her eyes on the ground as she spoke, which was prohibiting her voice from projecting. "And I'm going to be a Master Strategist for operations such as politics and war," she said with a swallow. She crossed her hands behind her back, squeezing her hat as she waited for Felix's response.

Kiyo walked up with his hands behind his head. "Sorry I'm late, I had a bit of trouble finding my way here," he said with a smirk. "Anyways, I'm Kiyo Igarashi, the newest member of Squad 8 and I'm ready to train. Oh yeah, and I'm going to be the next Captain of the ANBU Black Ops." He gave the biggest smile. He looked at the other three. "Wait a minute, why are there four of us? Are we short on sensei's or something?" He looked at Felix with a quizzical look upon his face.

Felix went to speak again once the kiddies had gathered and had spoken, but was interrupted with the presence of Kiyo. "Glad to see you could make it," Felix mumbled. "As for the number of students here, little girl, you've been replaced." Felix turned back to Renji, Kiyo, and Tamia. "As for you three, you're the new squad 8. " He ushered them to the other side of the field. "I'm glad everyone has worthy goals, now I know I'm not wasting my time. Each of your goals will make you the perfect team."

Kana looked to the girl who introduced herself as Tamia, then back to their sensei. He hadn't said anything about her being there, so she was going to assu-....Who was that?

Renji watched as some blond haired boy walked up, his face suddenly a bit confused. Weren't there only supposed to be three people to a team? His gaze went to his new sensei for an explanation, and when it was given, Renji's red eyes blinked a couple times. Replaced? Renji looked to Kana, who had suddenly lost her attitude and looked near-mortified. Why had she been replaced? He knew she had an attitude, but replaced so soon? Ah, wait. Hadn't she mentioned something about the other two kids from the squad? That had to mean she'd been on this squad before them, right? Then maybe she'd done something wrong. But even so, for their sensei to just outright say it like that sounded kinda wrong. Shaking his head lightly, Renji followed where he was told to go.

Kana looked at the boy as he introduced himself, then to their sensei as he told her she'd been replaced. Her eyes widened in disbelief and her gaze turned from their sensei to the blond boy and back again. She didn't even move when the other students moved to the other side of the field. She...didn't understand this. She thought if she kept coming, to show that she had drive, he'd accept her into the team. Her hands suddenly clenched and she turned to look at the silver haired man, walking up in front of him so that she could look up at him. "Why won't you train me? I'm just as good a ninja as any of these other kids, I can do just as well as they can," she insisted, sounding more desperate than angry, though there was some anger that still shown through her voice. "I-I don't get it, why?"

Felix looked down at the girl when she approached him. Her tone made it clear that she'd just about had it with his cruelty. Felix however ignored her. He looked right over her blond little head to the kids on his squad. "Let's start with some stamina training," he said. "Take three laps around the forest, it's marked with yellow tap to keep you on the right path. Once you're done, report back here. If you stop for any reason, don't bother coming back." Felix didn't tell them that this trail was rather long and very much challenging. He then looked to Kana. "Go home." Felix started towards the woods, hands still in his pockets.

Tamia and Kiyo watched as Kana confronted the silver haired jonin. When she asked why he wouldn't train her and Felix so rudely ignored her, Tamia looked off to the side, while Kiyo gave a tiny giggle. This was rich. When ordered to take three laps, both of them started off. Kiyo a little later than Tamia, because he'd had a feeling that Felix had something else to say. He gave a snicker when Felix told the girl to go home. "Man she's pathetic," he said as he hurried off along the trail before Felix could start after them.

Renji looked at the blond haired girl and shook his head a bit. He didn't want any part of this. If she'd done wrong, that wasn't his problem. She wasn't his teammate. When he was told three laps around the forest, he was the first to get going. He didn't mind running. Didn't particularly like it, but didn't mind it either.

Kana's face flushed a bit red in embarrassment once more when he ignored her again. Her shoulders dropped and she suddenly looked a bit hopeless, at a loss for words. She didn't know what to do. She didn't want another teacher, she'd heard that he was the toughest. She didn't want some pushover teacher. If she couldn't get trained by the best, what was the point of even being a ninja? Kana had nearly slapped herself for that one. Her parents had been ninja, the best ninja in the village. She was going to take after them no matter what! "N-no," she said adamantly when he told her to go home. Even if he was to try knocking sense into her again, she wasn't about to give up. When he started walking away from her, she looked at him for a moment, but found she couldn't move. "Stop!" she called after him. "Please...why won't you train me?" She wasn't going to beg. No matter what he did, she refused to beg.

"You're not my student, I don't have to train you," Felix said without stopping. "Go home." He disappeared into the forest after his students. He quickly caught up with the group. He wondered if any of them would try and finish ahead of the others. Probably so, he didn't really care. They had a whole day of training, so if they would push themselves to impress him, they were only hurting themselves. Felix didn't need them trying to impress him. They'd already done that with their goals. He was taking this one step at a time.

Tamia had started at a steady pace. She wouldn't wear herself out in the first lap. She wanted to make sure she'd have enough energy for afterwards, but use enough now to not look weak. The first lap would give her some insight as to how much energy she would need to use. Kiyo on the other hand was just having fun. He wasn't here for real training. The blond haired boy was Izua's nephew and had his own squad. Felix had more or less borrowed him to prove a point to Kana. Hell, Kiyo wasn't even a genin, he'd just become a chuunin.

Renji wasn't pushing himself with the running, but he wasn't going slow either. He was keeping a nice, steady pace, so as to not wear himself out completely. It seemed Tamia had the same idea as well. Looked like they think alike. The thought made him smile. This would be a good team.

Kana watched after the silver haired man as he started off, bowing her head with her hands clenched. He was so mean. So cruel. She hated him. How could he do this to her? She was only trying to become a good ninja. It was about a minute later that Kana quickly shook her head to keep herself from tearing up, before she started running too. This time she didn't have to keep them in sight, she had yellow tape to follow. Maybe she wouldn't be able to train in combat with them, but she was sure as hell going to pay attention to this guy's teachings whether he liked it or not. She would train for as long as they would, as often as they would, and as hard as they would, whether she was on his squad or not. She refused to be put onto another team. It was the only reason she hadn't gone to the academy to tell them she'd been kicked off. She wasn't sure if they knew or not, and she didn't really care. Kana didn't realize that she'd been running faster than the rest of them, and only after another minute did she realize she could see the last runner of the group. She slowed her pace to keep in time with the person in front of her, so she didn't have to pass them. She didn't care who it was, she wasn't in the mood for dealing with any of them. If her anger wasn't gone by the third lap, she wasn't stopping. Besides, the silver haired man probably wouldn't let her train with them anyways. And that thought alone served to add fuel to the fires of her anger.

Felix was jogging with his students as any sensei should. He led by example. The shinobi looked back over his shoulder when he saw running along with them. The girl had even passed them and was coming up along the group, but she seemed to have stopped trying to pass them. Felix didn't care. She could run with them, but he wouldn't teach her until she learned what he was trying to teach her. (don't ask. Squad 3.8 shall reveal it all). When the laps were finished, Felix looked at the three. "Two minute break and then it's back to work." Felix was very time oriented. Two minutes meant exactly two minutes. Not two minutes and one second and not one minute fifty-nine seconds. "And ninja do not sit. Those who sit should go home to their mothers and fathers."

Tamia came to a stop after the last lap. She gave a small sneeze which caused her hat to go toppling to the ground. She hurriedly bent down and swooped it off the ground, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Her mother had told her to leave it at home, but she felt so plain without it. Considering that she'd paced herself perfectly, she wasn't really tired, but she did want to sit down. However, Felix made it clear that would not be happening. Didn't matter, sitting for two minutes was ridiculous anyway. She wondered what she could do in such a short amount of time.

Kiyo took his too minutes to stretch thoroughly. He wasn't going to be training without warming up first. He was personally excited to be spending the day as a genin. It was fun and reminding of the way he'd trained. Although his sensei didn't make him run three laps on the first day without stopping or send students away without much acknowledgement. Felix was kind of mean in his opinion, but his uncle had warned him ahead of time.

Renji kept pace for the first lap easily. He was very well in shape, so he wasn't tired either. He looked to his sensei when he said two minute break, then nodded. He watched as Kiyo and Tamia came out, blinking when he saw Kana as well. Hadn't she been kicked off the team?

Kana came out behind the team, but kept her distance. If she wasn't a part of the team, she wasn't going to bother keeping close to them and acting like she was. She leaned lightly against one of the trees, giving an inaudible scoff at the teacher's statement. "Yeah, if you have parents to go home to," she mumbled quietly. No, that short little run hadn't helped her anger fade at all. She didn't like the fact that they were taking a break either. She wanted to keep running. Running until she couldn't feel a damn thing.

Felix watched as the three went about their own task. Kiyo had the right idea. Stretching would be smart at this point, to get crazy intense. When Tamia's hat fell off her head, Felix shook his head. That girl was a klutz. When Kana made her comment, Felix looked at her. Those icy blue eyes of his very much uncaring. "Am I suppose to care about your dead parents?" He asked. "If so then you've got the wrong idea kid. I don't weep for the dead. So bringing it up to prove a point which is very much irrelevant just proves that you're a brat." Felix turned away from her. "Break is over. Everyone on the ground, push up position, I'll count. We're going to fifty." Felix too got on the ground. "One," he started. He waited ten seconds before counting. "Two." Each time he waited ten seconds before allowing them to drop.

Tamia was silent at Felix's harsh words. If Kana's parents were dead, shouldn't he be a bit nicer? Apparently not as he told them to get down in push up position. The small girl did as she was told, a bit bothered by the fact that Felix had them holding for ten seconds before allowing them to drop again. They had to go to fifty doing this? She was good in taijutsu, so she could easily hold her own, but after all this holding, it would get tiring. Fifty was a lot of push-ups.

How does belittling her help get his point across? Geez, I'm glad I wasn't assigned to him a genin. I would have quit. Kiyo got down on the ground, giving a groan when Felix said they were going to fifty. I take it back, I don't want to be a genin anymore. Take me back to the ranks of Chuunin!

Kana nearly felt like snapping at the guy. She wanted to throw another something at him, but knew he could kill her at a moments notice. He was way too fast for her. But there was no doubt in her mind. At that moment, she hated him more than she'd ever hated another human being. Her brown eyes were glaring at him, and her body was practically shaking with the effort of keeping her anger under control. For the remaining amount of time that was left for the break, she held her arms crossed and her hands clenched tightly so she didn't do anything stupid. She was no calmer by the time he'd told them to get into push-up position, but did so anyways.

Renji looked at Kana when she mumbled something about if they had parents. He suddenly felt bad for the girl. No wonder she was trying so hard. He figured it couldn't be easy living without parents. Not that he knew. Both his parents were alive. Divorced, but alive. Shaking his head, he also got into push-up position, a bit surprised at how long he was having them wait between push-ups.

Kana paid no attention to anything around her except for when the numbers were called out, so she didn't know if the other kids finished the push ups or not. By the time the counting had finished, she was sweating, and her arms were shaking lightly, though she didn't seem to notice.

"Not exactly impressive, but it'll do for now," Felix said after they'd finished. "Take five laps and then we'll move on to the next task." He waited for all the kids, minus Kana to get ahead of him before joining after them.

Tamia had stopped going down at twenty-five. She'd wait a few moments before following the group with the push-ups. When they finished, she stood, dusting her shirt off. When adjusted her hat on her head and started for the forest to run the five laps. It didn't look like they were getting a break. She was getting a bit tired. Okay, a lot tired.

Kiyo got up when they were finished. His arms were sore as hell. He looked at Felix with a pleading look in his eyes, asking the ninja to let him go home. Why did he have to suffer because Kana was a complete screw up? He shook out his arms and looked to Felix when the shinobi said they were going to the forest again. "You have to be kidding me," he mumbled. He did fall into line with the running though.

Kana pushed herself up after she finished with fifty, but she didn't look at the others. She didn't care anymore. She was a complete fuck-up, end of story. Even that old man had said so. She had no parents, no family, and she couldn't even get onto a team. Ninjas were supposed to take everyone. And if even she couldn't find her way in, then it was pretty clear that she wouldn't be able to get anything accomplished in life. Kana didn't complain or even flinch when Squad 8's sensei said the team would be running five laps. Instead she just ran behind them without a word. She figured after this she'd just leave the Crested. Maybe see if another village would take her. If she couldn't make it into another village...hell, she had no place in the world then.

Renji's arm were aching by the time they'd finished the push-ups, and while he wanted to sit down for a minute, he didn't want to get scolded. While the teacher was definitely harsh in training, the black haired boy figured it was nothing he couldn't handle. He didn't become a ninja to sit around and be trained to fight battles he couldn't win. He did, however, give a small groan when sensei said they'd be doing five laps. Renji guessed there'd be no breaks this time either. Shaking his head, he started off after instructions were given.

Felix had called the kids to training during the morning, but it was now getting warm outside and he could tell by the way that Tamia was stumbling despite her even pace. "Roll up you sleeves," Felix told her as he came up next to her. He didn't need her passing out on him. That would only waste time. He didn't have time to take her to the hospital. Then again, he could always get Kianashi to do it.

Tamia was drenched in sweat. When did it get so hot? The young girl was trying her best not to stop, but it was so hot. When Felix came up next to her, telling her to roll up her sleeves, she jolted awake and rolled her sleeves up. "Yes sir," she said embarrassed.

Kiyo looked over his shoulder at Tamia. He hoped she was okay. While the others were just beginning the life of Genin, he'd just ended his. Felix's training however was proving how weak he really was. He wondered why other sensei's didn't train like this, or better yet, why the Academy didn't prepare them for this type of training. He had to admit, Felix was a good sensei for pushing them like this, even if he was a uncaring jerk along the way.