OOC: lol, wow. So stricken with grief he forgot his friends' names. lol. Just kidding. It's fine. Got your PM. I'll post it as soon as you answer the question I had.

Konohamaru led his suddenly larger team to the training area and stood glaring at two of them with crossed arms. Haru-kun had an excuse for being late and Haruto wasn't part of the team yet. However Sano and Lexi were going to have to be reprimanded for their tardiness. He hated being strict with them, but they had to learn some responsibility.

Temari hurried home after signing the release forms for Kaida. She went straight to the girl's room and deposited her on the bad. "Lay down and get some rest, Kaida-chan. Are you hungry? I can fix you something." She intentionally did not mention anything about Shineji or his mother. Baki was like a grandfather to Kaida and Temari didn't want to explain the circumstances of their first time in Konoha to the girl. She was self-conscious enough without worrying about people blaming her for something that happened over twenty years ago.

Sano stood beside Lexi with as she had a grin on her face with a sweat drop. "So, what's our punishment Konohamaru-sensei?" she asked. Yep, she felt bad for coming late that day but she was still curious about what cruel and unusual punishment that was ahead of her.

Shikaharu fell on the ground in a dusty heap as he thought of the new member on his team. "Sano, there is no way you can understand how I feel right now. No offense, but I'm the only guy on this team. Chivalry is all I have with the squad." He frowned and looked at the birds that rested in the tree, "Man, those birds sure have it easy. They only have a couple goals: Survive and repopulate." He closed his eyes and saw what was going on between Konohamaru, Lexi, and Sano, shaking his head indifferently. "Sucks to be those two. Glad it isn't me though." He turned to Haruto and dropped his smile, saying solemnly, "I'm sorry you got drafted into our squad. I'm Nara Shikaharu, you know how to defend yourself right?"

Sano shrugged. Not much to say to that in her opinion. She just thought about what Shikaharu said about the birds. 'I guess he's right. They kind of do have it easy. But we have to get used to our lives..' she thought. She continued to wonder about her punishment. Will it be another long lecture about tardiness or a severe task? 'Man, the suspense is killing me..!' she thought. Sano sighed and looked up at her kitten that laid on her head ever so peacefully. She picked it up and held it in her left arm as she pet it with the other hand. Her kitten relaxed on her arm and began to purr softly.

Konohamaru frowned at the two girls. "Because you seem unable understand the importance of proper behavior and punctuality, I'll have to see if I can drill it into your heads. You are going to meet me here for training every day at four AM, for two weeks. If either of you are ever late, by even one minute, I'll add another week to it. Haru-kun and Haruto will join us at nine AM for normal training. If they are late, they will join you. You will learn to be responsible or I will have you all sent back to the academy. Is that understood?" He said sternly. He'd never threatened to have them demoted before. It was proof of how serious he felt their negligence was.

"Yes sensei.." she said miserably with a groan. "but don't expect me to be smiling in the near future." she said bluntly. Sano just let out a deep sight as she leaned on the nearest tree petting her kitten.

Konohamaru looked at her sharply. "There is absolutely nothing to be smiling about. What if that mission had been life or death? What if someone died because you weren't where you were scheduled to be? Or because you were too busy goofing around, or pulling pranks? Would you be smiling then? That is what this is about. If you want to advance as a ninja, heck, if you want to even survive," He paused to let that sink in for a moment, "Then everyone on this squad must be dependable and be able to trust each other completely." He frowned sadly, "I blame myself. I tried to be your friend but you all obviously need a teacher. I've failed you all so far. Our squad has terrible teamwork and no organization, but that changes now."

"It's alright, I was just teasing, Shinji." Kaori smiled, folding her arms behind her back. "Anyway.. Your final test.." She slipped a hand into her right short pocket and pulled, of all things, a whistle from it. "I spent this morning planting three flags throughout the village. You each most obtain one and bring it back here." She tossed her head to the side and smirked. "Buuuut there is a small catch. You only have half an hour to retrieve them. Each of you must have a flag AND each of you must be back here within the time limit. It's all or nothing." She shrugged nonchalantly, taking a couple steps toward the sleeping Nagi. "Oh, and did I mention that if you all aren't back here on time with the flags, all three of you return to the academy for another year?" She made an innocent frown and sighed playfully. "Now, I'm sure you're all thinking, 'how the heck am I supposed to know where these flags are, Kaori-sensei?' Well, that's simple." She paused right above the sleeping chuunin. "The flags are near or at sites that are significant to all shinobi of Konoha." She lifted the whistle to her mouth. "Any questions?"

Kaze stood and brushed herself off. Her mind was already calculating the likeliest areas. She'd start by heading to the memorial stone. It was important because almost every ninja ended up on it in the end.

Shinji pushed away from the tree. When he tried to think of the most important places in the village, he first thought of the Hokage's office. Then he decided that Kaori-sensei wouldn't want to disturb the hokage. He struggled for a moment, then it hit him. The mountain faces were the next best thing to the hokage himself. Perhaps in the cave behind them? It was also important because it was the civilian evacuation area in the event of an emergency. He would send his insects ahead to check for him. He pondered other likely locations and started explaining the mission to his insects.

Kaze looked at Alex and sighed, "Are we supposed to do this individually or as a team?" She asked reluctantly. Alex might not need help but it didn't hurt to ask. "Also, what do the flags look like?"

OOC: Faiyth, Do you want to dictate whether they find things there or not? Do you actually have specific spots in mind?

"Well, you all fail or succeed together, but that's your call. I won't force you to work with eachother." Kaori replied, shrugging. "The flags are triangular and about a foot long. They will be staked into the ground. Oh, and each is a different color. One is green, the second is red, and the third is white."

((OOC: Ehhh. I do have three specific places in mind. Plus, It'd be easier if they do find them all but whether or not they make it in the time limit, is your call. I have a whole speech planned out to explain the significance of each location and flag anyway.))

OOC: Okay, that's fine. Just be sure to post and let me know whether we've found one when we get to the areas we're searching, kay?

Kaze nodded. "Let's work together, okay?" She asked her teammates with a small smile. "We'll search more efficiently if we can't double back on each other. Plus, Shinji can send out his bugs to check places faster than we can get to them. Then we'll just have to split up and retrieve them. Okay?"

Shinji nodded, he'd been planning to use his bugs to search anyway, but with three people to come up with ideas they were sure to find the flags in time.

OOC: Or rather, whether the kikaichu find anything...lol. Kaze believes in being lazy in a very efficient manner. This way they only each have to actually go to one place. Bet she still thinks it's a pain though. *giggles*

[[OOC: Alrighty. :3 ]]

"Okay, now that that's settled. You have thirty minutes. Begin." Kaori lifted the whistle to her lips and blew. The shrill noise was abrupt, and she felt bad for Nagi. Hopefully, he was a heavy sleeper.

Kaze turned to face Shinji and Alex, "Try the memorial stone, the academy, and the gates. Any other ideas?"

Shinji nodded, "The Hokage monuments." He sent kikaichu winging off towards those places. He'd know within five minutes if any of them were correct.

Kaze nodded, "Good idea. Alex, any suggestions?"

OOC: Are any of those right, Faiyth?

When she turned to look at the squad that was stuck with her, Haru caught the look of fear that the male ninja near her had. He jerked in a dramatic way as though to express the disgust he had for her. "I guess all Nara men are cursed with being surrounded by women. What a drag." He said before exiting, looking tired. Taking care not to show her uncertainty, Haruto began to wish that she hadn’t asked for a group to join. It was embarrassing to be seen as a burden. Another female ninja in the squad went up to convince Haru(apparently his name) that girls weren’t troublesome. He responded with complaints that he was the only male ninja and then went on to comment about birds.
Konohamaru-sempai(Haru decided to address him this way since he’s not officially her teacher) went and admonished the girls for being tardy. The boy came to face her and stopped smiling as though he saw something bad.
"I'm sorry you got drafted into our squad. I'm Nara Shikaharu, you know how to defend yourself right?"
Haru smiled politely “Not at all Nara-kun, I should be the one sorry for tagging along when I’m not wanted.” She tapped her Konoha forehead protector. “Yes, I do know how to protect myself and I won’t be extra weight for your team.” The last part came out a bit viciously and her face turned apologetic. Not wanting to get off on the wrong foot and appear unfriendly, Haru searched in her mind for some other topic to talk about. Looking back at the tree where the birds that he had talked about were, she saw that they had flown off. After scanning a bit further, Haru pointed vaguely towards some songbirds who were perched on a telephone wire.
“Birds can seem simple sometimes…but I think they share many similarities us. Always on guard for their lives and looking out for each other when danger comes by. We ninjas aren't really different from that.” By that, Haru was referring to the bird’s distress call, which they sing out for the others when they sense predators. "Except we have kunais to defend ourselves rather than beaks." Giving a nod, she added. "You can depend on me to watch your back even if I'm not a guy."

Sano smiled at Konohamaru and patted his shoulder. "Aw c'mon sensei! It's not your fault I'm tardy or Lexi likes pranking. You didn't fail any of us! Don't give up! Remember Konohamaru-sensei, no matter how far ahead we are it's still the beginning." she said. "Oh and as a side note, I don't prank. I just stay to watch." finished with a shrug. She carefully placed her kitten in on of her pockets and leaned on a tree staring at the clouds.

[[OOC: You got them all. XD Green - Academy, Red - Gates, White - Memorial Stone. ]]

Kaida took her panda's two upper paws and played with them for a moment before whispering a "No thank you." to her aunt. She looked up after a moment passed and tilted her head slightly, "Can I go meet my team now?" She asked. She expected a no, obviously, since she had just been released from the hospital but there was no harm in asking right?

Temari hesitated, "You are supposed to be resting..." Still she didn't want to discourage Kaida from reaching out to her squadmates, "but I suppose it wouldn't hurt, if you let me take you to the academy." She said with a grin.

Konohamaru shook his head. "Pair off for sparring. Sano, you're with Haru-kun. Lexi, you're with Haruto."

OOC: Really? I got them all on the first try? lol, Kaze really is smart...

Shinji's insects returned after about five minutes. He listened to them for a moment and then turned to his teammates. "The gate, the memorial stone, and the academy."

Kaze grinned, she was right. She loved being right. It made life so much easier. "I'll take the memorial stone. Shinji, the academy. Alex, the gate. We have twenty minutes. Let's move. School was a pain the first time." She blurred out of sight for a minute before settling into a more sedate pace, skirting around the village towards the clearing that held the memorial stone.

Shinji nodded and took off for the academy. It was the furthest away but it was also the biggest area to search and his insects could lead him straight to the flag. He wasn't worried about the test. He was still rather worried about Alex's new obsession with his eyes.

OOC: Ninja? Where are you?

Nagi finally felt himself waking up from his nap. All he hoped for was that he didn't sleep longer than half an hour, but at the same time he didn't really care. Slowly opening his eyes and rubbing his neck from the stiffness of sleeping propped up like that, he stood up. When his eye's were finally fully opened and he saw Kaori, but not her squad he figured that she had sent them on their test,"So, how is your squad doing? Or do you just not keep tabs on them?" Nagi made his way over to Kaori, at the same time he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Kaida let a grin split her face and nodded, "Thank you." Then she looked down at her clothes. She got up from her bed and walked unsteadily over to her closet to pick out more comfortable clothes first.

((oh my so short >.>))

Sano was surprised when she was paired with Shikaharu for combat. She slowly looked back at Shikaharu and then back at Konohamaru-sensei. She sighed deeply. "I'll try my best." she said with a nod. 'Aww man, I'm so gonna lose!' she thought. Sano believed she wasn't strong enough, especially to beat a Nara like Shikaharu.

OOC: What happened to Mecheo? Maybe she's waiting on Kaito or Moegi? Also, where is Ninja. Poofed again? *goes to poke ninja with a stick as promised*

Kaze reached the memorial stone and spotted the white flag laying on the ground in front of it. She picked it up and checked the time. Fifteen minutes to get back. No problem. She looked at the stone for a moment, wondering which of her classmates names were going to end up on it first. Pushing the terrible thought away, she headed back to the training area.

Shinji crossed Konoha at top speed. He arrived at the academy and followed his insects to the green flag on the roof. He headed back immediately, knowing he only had ten minutes to reach the training grounds. It was going to be close.

Shikaharu smirked a bit and looked away from Haruto, "Yeah, I'm sorry about the comment that I made earlier. It wasn't aimed directly at you, it was more of an ambiguous statement. You shouldn't take too many of the things that I say to heart. I'm a bit of a cynic to some folks, but I'm not too hard to get to know because you seem to have a good head on your shoulders." He smiled a little more warmly at her as she spoke in a more sympathizing tone. He threw his arms behind his head laxly as she talked about the birds that were a considerable distance away from them. "You're right about that, but the talons are also useful weapons when necessary." When Konohamaru paired the teams up, he nodded nonchalantly as he backed away from Haruto to train with Sano. He turned back to his sparring partner and saw the look on her face and sighed, "Sano, there's no need to be worried about training with me. I'll be sure to make this a fair fight." With those words, he threw his fan behind him to show he wasn't going to use his wind-based tool.

Sano nodded. She took out her large sword out of the holding pouch and laid it beside the nearest tree. "So, would you like to do the honors?" she asked with a small smirk across her face. Of course she can't strategise a plan if she's the first one to attack. She went into her fighting stance preparing for combat.

Haru smiled almost enthusiastically Sano asked him to proceed the training match. "I hope you don't think that this will give you some sort of edge in this little event, but if you insist. Just one thing though, try to do your best." Shikaharu spread his legs slowly, planting his feet firmly on the ground and threw a couple of shurikens at Sano's feet. He wasn't planning on moving from his spot except for a couple of circumstances.