Introduction Arc

The Introduction Arc was included in Part I of the series, and comprised episodes 1-5 of the Naruto anime, which is parallel to chapters 1-5 of The Life of a Kunoichi Shinobi. The main characters of the series were introduced during this arc. This arc is followed by the Land of Waves Arc.

Prologue
Since the begining of time, there have been many different Shinobi who are the patriarchial ancestors to the clans of today. The introduction of the story gives a small look into the begining of the Hatake Clan, describing its first shinobi, and the first Kunoichi born into the Clan. The segment goes:
 * "The Hatake clan goes back to the beginning, as far as the Shinobi itself. This clan is skilled in various jutsus.
 * The first Hatake was Vitrin. He is the great ancestor of their clan. His Shinobi skills were matched by only a few other clans. Vitrin was one of the best Shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village. And once he met his true love, Zephryn, the two settled down and started the Hatake clan. Their first child was Zyra Hatake, a wise Kunoichi beyond her years. She was the only Kunoichi in this clan's history. It is said that only a very skilled Hatake daughter can become a successful ninja. She must have the purest of the pure hearts and willing to lay her life on the line for those she loves."

Graduation
Opening with a dream sequence; the legend of the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tailed Fox spirit that destroyed the village: "Twelve years ago, there was once an evil monster known as the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. It one day attacked the village of Konoha and killed many innocent people that night. None of the ninjas of Konoha could stop it, so the village leader, the Fourth Hokage, cast a jutsu on the Nine-Tails that sealed it in a newborn boy and cost the Fourth Hokage's life."

Twelve years after the Nine-Tail's attack, at the Ninja Academy, Naruto Uzumaki's reputation as a delinquent and a troublemaker had earned him infamy among the teachers and students. Iruka Umino and to a lesser extent the Third Hokage, were the only two positive influences on him. Despite this, Naruto continued to fail the graduation exam, which required students to demonstrate how much they had learned by performing the Clone Technique. While Naruto was decently skilled in most of the basic techniques taught at the Academy, for some reason he has never been able to perform this one correctly.

Contrastly to Naruto, Kristin Hatake (the title character for The Life of a Kunoichi Shinobi) has a good conception of this skill, as well as many others. She has her own reasons for striving to become the best she can be; the main being from which the clan she was born into. Her skills as a student don't hinder her friendhsips with three young boys whom she is very close to; Choji Akimichi, Shikamaru Nara, and Sasuke Uchiha. When the graduation test came up, Kristin passed by creating five perfect clones with using a minimal amount of chakra. She was given a headband by Mizuki.

Formation of Team 7
In order to officially obtain the rank of genin Academy students must be organised into groups of three to undergo a field evaluation administered by a jonin, who would be their squad leader should they pass. Upon arriving there, Naruto showed off his headband to the other students, who thought he had failed; one of those students being Kristin Hatake. To Naruto's delight, Sakura Haruno started to approach him; however, his glee was quickly stifled when Sakura pushed him out of the way so that she might sit next to Sasuke Uchiha, which would anger all of the girls in the room. Naruto, jealous of Sakura's affection for Sasuke, leaped upon the desk at which they were sitting so that he could look Sasuke in the eye. To the disgust of Naruto, Sasuke, and every girl in the room, Naruto was bumped by another student and accidentally kissed Sasuke, earning him a beating from Sakura, and all the other girls, minus Kristin.

As Naruto recovered, Iruka arrived to announce the three-man teams, and as he started listing the members of Team 7, Naruto was pleased and Sakura was saddened to learn that the two will be on the same team, and Kristin was annoyed that she would be with the "village idiot" and "a know-it-all" and more specifically, not be with her best friends, who are the only people she trusts. As the fourth member was revealed, Sakura was pleased, Kristin was agreeable, and Naruto was saddened to learn that Sasuke was that member, who happened to dislike being teamed with the both of them. As Iruka announced the remaining teams, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame were revealed to compose Team 8 and Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka were revealed to compose Team 10.

Later, Sakura went off to look for Sasuke, ignoring Naruto, who wanted to have lunch with her. Kristin showed no interest in dining with her new team, instead she ate her lunch with Shikamaru and Choji, seeing it as her last time to be with them before they started their ninja careers. Kristin asked the two if their friendship would last even though they were on seperate teams, and also voiced concern that they would replace her with Ino, seeing that she was prettier than her. Shikamaru told Kristin that she was prettier than Ino and their friendship would last, Choji agreed and added that no one could replace Kristin because she was a unique girl.

Upon finding Sasuke alone in a room, Naruto leaped inside, where an unseen fight ensued. As things settled down, Sasuke was shown to be the only one leaving. Later on, Sasuke approached Sakura, who expresses her feelings for him and her distaste for Naruto. As the two were about to kiss, Sasuke, who was revealed to be a transformed Naruto, suffered a violent stomachache and ran off to the nearest bathroom.

While Naruto dealt with his mysterious case of diarrhoea, the real Sasuke approached Sakura. When she expressed her jealousy of Naruto for having no parents to tell him what to do, Sasuke stated that those without parents grow up lonely, and that Sakura made him sick. Sasuke left the crushed Sakura by herself, and she began to consider treating Naruto better. As Naruto finally exited the bathroom he ran into Sasuke, and it seemed as though revenge on Sasuke's part was imminent.

Elsewhere, the Third Hokage took Kakashi Hatake, Team 7's reluctant jōnin leader, and Kristin's father, on a tour of Naruto's home, and the latter noted that the milk Naruto seemed to have had for breakfast was expired.

Evaluation
Soon afterwards, the members of Team 7, after a long wait, finally met their jōnin-sensei, who used the meeting as an opportunity for them to get to know one another. Kakashi went first, and said he didn't feel like telling them anything about himself. Naruto proclaimed that he wanted to become Hokage one day, and that he loved ramen. Sakura implied that she loves Sasuke and stated that she hated Naruto. Kristin revealed that she liked training by the water and hanging out with her best friends. Lastly, Sasuke asserted that he hated a lot of things, didn't like anything, and that he would someday kill a certain man. Kakashi ended the meeting by telling the others to be at the training grounds the next day with their ninja gear, and advised them not to have breakfast.

The next day, Kakashi arrived at the training grounds last, four hours later than planned. Kakashi then explained how the evaluation would work: it would be a survival battle, in which the aim was for each of the prospective students to take one of three bells (seeing as how there was four to the squad) from Kakashi. Anyone who didn't get a bell before noon would receive no lunch, which, as the others realised, was why he'd told them not to have breakfast. He then explained that, because there were only three bells, at least one person would fail and return to the Academy. He did, however, allow the others to use shuriken if they would like, and informed them that they would fail if they attempted the mission with anything less than the intent to kill him. Naruto laughed at this suggestion, saying that Kakashi had no talent. Kakashi rebutted this, stating that class clowns were often the weakest link and that they didn't normally pose a threat, causing Naruto to attack Kakashi before the test had officially begun. Kakashi easily countered the attack and noted that he was starting to like the team, due to Naruto's attack having the intent to kill. He then sent off Team 7 to begin the test.

As the test got underway, Kristin, Sasuke and Sakura applied stealth methods, staying hidden from Kakashi. Naruto, however, decided that attacking Kakashi would work just as well, and called him out. As Naruto charged at Kakashi, the latter pulled out a book, "Make Out Paradise", causing Naruto to hesitate slightly, though Kakashi assured him that the book wouldn't prevent him from defending against Naruto. Naruto began a series of attacks, each of which was dodged by Kakashi. Eventually, Kakashi ended up behind Naruto, and used his One Thousand Years of Death to send Naruto into the nearby lake. Naruto recovered and attacked Kakashi with a number of Shadow Clones, whose quantity impressed Sasuke, Kristin, and Sakura. Kakashi evaded all of the clones' attacks with Body Replacement Technique leaving them to fight amongst themselves. Upon realising this, Naruto dismissed his clones, and then noticed a bell lying under a nearby tree. When he went to pick it up, however, he was trapped in a snare set by Kakashi, leaving the young ninja dangling upside-down. Kakashi retrieved the bell and lectured Naruto about falling for obvious traps. At that moment, Sasuke, believing Kakashi to be distracted, attacked Kakashi with a barrage of shuriken and kunai, apparently killing Kakashi.

This, too, was revealed to be a trap, as the attacked Kakashi turned into a log, the result of another Body Replacement Technique. Sasuke, his location revealed, went off to find a new hiding spot, while Sakura went looking for Sasuke. As she searched for him, she was tricked by Kakashi's genjutsu, Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique, and, as she recovered, Sasuke fell prey to Kakashi's Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique. Kristin, however,  set off a few traps of her own before attacking Kakashi head-on. She used the Clone Technique and created five clones of herself, then dove into her Water Release: Wild Water Wave (Water Style: Raging Waves). All the clones used the jutsu, then Kristin executed the Water Release: Striking Serphent (Water Style: Serphent's Whip). All the Clones restrained Kakashi while Kristin came out from the trees and threw a shuriken and cut a bell loose from Kakashi's belt, grabbing it and Kristin used the Hidden Water Jutsu and dissapeared.

Naruto, using Kakashi's absence to his advantage, released himself from the snare and attempted to eat the lunches that Kakashi had left behind; however, Kakashi caught him in the act and tied Naruto to a wooden post. Noon eventually rolled around, and the three students had failed to get a bell, while Kristin being the only one who did.

After their failure, Kakashi berated all four for their lack of teamwork. He explained to them that the purpose of the exam was to work together, and not to act independently as they all had done. He said that he would give them all a second chance after lunch, and allowed Sakura, Kristin, and Sasuke to eat; however, he ordered that Naruto, because of his attempt to eat all of the food himself, should be barred from eating at all, and that anyone who gave him food would fail automatically. After he left, Kristin, Sakura, and Sasuke realised that they'd need Naruto in top shape if they were to retrieve the bells, and decided to defy Kakashi by feeding him. Kakashi, who had been watching, appeared before the genin in a puff of smoke, a furious look upon his face. At this moment, the Third Hokage elsewhere revealed to Iruka that Kakashi had never passed a team of Academy students, and that, although the failure percentage was astounding, the reasons behind it were perfectly just.

Back at the training grounds, Naruto, Sakura, Kristin, and Sasuke claimed that they were a team, and that, therefore, if one of them failed, then they all failed. Quickly changing his attitude, Kakashi informed them that they had passed, reciting the exact message he was trying to get across as his reason: "In the ninja world, those who don't follow the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum".

Trivia

 * The history of the Hatake clan is debuted in this chapter, this is a basis for Kristin's character development throughout the story. (Introduction)
 * This chapter is a combination of the first two episodes of the Naruto anime series. (Debut)
 * The chapter title is not only a reference to Kristin's first appearence in the series, but the appearence of the other Rookie Genin as well. (Debut)
 * Shikakau Nara debuts earlier in this story than in the actual anime. His anime debut wasn't until episode 59. (Debut)
 * The author did keep the scene of Naruto and Sasuke kissing to add humor to the story. (Friends or Foes? Squad Seven Established)
 * Kristin's hair color is one of her main self-concious issues and how she feels about it will be elaborated on in later chapters. (Friends or Foes? Squad Seven Established)
 * The scene between Shikamaru, Kristin, and Choji, foreshadows a few more later on in the story. (Friends or Foes? Squad Seven Established)
 * During their introductions, both Kakashi and Kristin said their last names, revealing that they are the same and are related. Yet Naruto seemed to remain oblivious to that fact. (Pass or Fail? Survival Test)
 * The fact that Kristin said she liked training by the water hints at the fact that she can use Water-style techniques, which is revealed to be true in the next episode. (Pass or Fail? Survival Test)
 * Kristin's nature affinity is revealed in this chapter. (You Failed! Kakashi's Final Decision)
 * The Water Release technique "Striking Serphent " is a move created by the author. The Hand Signs are Hitsuji-Tatsu-I-Tora-Ne (Ram-Dragon-Boar-Tiger-Rat). (You Failed! Kakashi's Final Decision)