Akira Kazue

Akira Kazue (かずえ あきら, Kazue Akira) is a kunoichi of Konohagakure and a member of Team Kakashi. Her dream is to one day defeat her first sensei, Gai Maito, in a taijutsu fight.

She is the main character in LadyArcher's fanfiction, 'Circles Are Square,' which is an AU.

Background
Akira is born a mere eight months before the Kyuubi Attack, and becomes an orphan at birth. Her mother, Ume Kazue, dies in childbirth, while her father, Junon Kazue, is a civilian doctor who is killed some months earlier when an Iwa infiltrator chooses to commit suicide by blowing himself up rather than be captured. She grows up in Konoha's sole orphanage, under the care of the stern but matronly Madame Shigemi, and for the most part keeps to herself, preferring to read or watch shinobi fight at the training grounds.

On her seventh birthday, she runs into Maito Gai while attempting to copy some of the taijutsu techniques she's seen, and he fixes some of her stances before being called away for a mission. When he returns later in the day and sees her still practicing despite being exhausted, he decides to test her dedication by offering to train her - on the condition that she attends the Academy the following year. Akira agrees, and soon becomes enamored with achieving the strength and grace of a true taijutsu master. A young Lee Rock, who catches her training by herself one day, makes fun of her for wanting to learn taijutsu over ninjutsu, to which Akira replies with a challenge - when they are both genin, they will spar, Lee with his ninjutsu, and Akira with taijutsu alone, and they will see who is stronger.

Four years later, having not exchanged more than passing words and reminders of their upcoming battle since, Akira overhears Lee practicing - and failing to perform - the basic ninjutsu that every Academy student learns. She confronts him, and discovers that because of his disability, Lee will never be able to perform ninjutsu, and thus their much awaited battle is no longer a possibility. Undaunted, she decides that if Lee cannot fight her with ninjutsu or genjutsu, he will simply have to do so with taijutsu. In order to make the fight a fair one, she offers to help him improve his taijutsu technique and resolves to postpone their match until they are on an equal level.

The next day, Ino Yamanaka, also having overheard their conversation, asks Akira to give her some tips on taijutsu so that she can impress "Sasuke-kun" with her abilities, to which Akira scathingly replies that she will not help Ino unless the other girl wishes to improve for her own sake. After being rejected by Sasuke yet again and watching Akira defeat him in a class spar, Ino again approaches her, having decided that maybe Sasuke will like her more if she becomes strong. Akira, believing that Ino has changed her mind, agrees to train with her, and the two eventually strike up a tentative friendship. In time, Ino does in fact come to appreciate her new-found strength as more than just another way of attracting Sasuke, and the girls become closer.

Around this time, Akira is approached by her classmate, Tomoe Hachibane, who admits to having a crush on her. Embarrassed and insecure, she refuses his advances on the basis of being too busy with her training. However, while Tomoe is obviously disappointed, he settles for being friends instead. Encouraged by his good-natured acceptance, Akira agrees and they - along with Tomoe's best friend Kiba Inuzuka - hang out together at Granny Motoko's dango stall and occasionally race each other around the village for fun.

When the end of their last year at the Academy rolls around, Akira graduates without fuss or fanfare. Then, to their mutual dismay, Akira and Sasuke are placed on the same genin team, along with the class idiot, Naruto Uzumaki.

Personality
Akira is generally a very straightforward person, with an open, cheerful, and "no sweat" personality. She likes to approach problems head on and get to the solution by the simplest, most logical route, a trait which is both a help and a hindrance in her career and personal life. She appreciates the simple things in life, and does her best to maintain an optimistic, calm and mature attitude no matter the circumstances, though occasionally her dry wit and penchant for mischief get the better of her.

She is also very curious, but has enough sense to know when to leave things alone. While she becomes quickly irritated when others complain about work or complicate a situation needlessly, she generally keeps her opinions her to herself and tries to keep the peace between her hot-tempered team mates. While her teammates like to argue and fight, Akira prefers to simply go about life without conflict or drama.

As a child, Akira is quite isolated from others her age because of her love for reading, and because of this becomes a bit insecure about not having many friends. For the most part, she hides this insecurity behind a mask of confidence and good cheer, but at times it comes out and makes her act shy and bashful. However, after she is put on Team 7 and forms friendships with Naruto and Sasuke and a teacher student bond with Kakashi, she is proven to be quite a physically affectionate person, often slinging an arm around their shoulders, using Naruto's stomach as a pillow while waiting for Kakashi to show, and teasingly calling them "Puppy" and "Ducky" respectively.

On the flip side, she is capable of being serious and startlingly perceptive when the situation calls for it, a trait she picks up from Gai. During missions she keeps a level head and does her best to complete the objective without complaint or mistakes, often encouraging her teammates to be more mature and professional since she feels their antics embarrass the team in the eyes of clients. Overall she is a very obedient student and is always eager to challenge and improve herself.

Appearance
Akira is quite tall and lanky for a girl, with a somewhat boyish face, high cheekbones and nose, and long, bony fingers. Her hair is, thanks to her mother's genes, a dark purple color, and tends to stick out in every direction if cut short. To avoid it falling in her eyes during a fight, she grows it out and keeps it in a short ponytail or a bun - even when off duty, as she is convinced that her hair makes her sneeze. Her eyes are grey like her father's, and during her first mission outside of Konoha, she receives a cut on her cheek which, when left to heal, leaves a faint scar.

Before the Academy, Akira wears a baggy brown hand-me-down jersey and black leggings, sometimes with the purple leg warmers she receives from Gai. As an academy student, she wears dark grey tracksuit pants or black leggings and plain V-neck t-shirts in various shades of orange, purple, blue and grey, with a white and black tracksuit jacket over the top, and a pair of orange and black goggles holding her fringe back - all of which she purchased herself with pocket money from helping at the dango stall, not wanting to be judged by her clothes before she even gets to know people. When she graduates, she keeps this style, only exchanging the goggles for her hitai-ate, worn like a headband. At an unknown point before the chunin exams she buys half-arm length black gloves with metal hand protectors, and wears them when fighting but not the rest of the time.

After being promoted to chunin following the exams and the events of the Sound-Sand Invasion, she opts to wear the standard chunin vest over a grey short-sleeve t-shirt and her usual grey pants. Later, while working part-time in the hospital, she leaves off the chunin vest and wears a white doctor's coat over the top with the sleeves rolled up.

When she is promoted to ANBU at 15, she receives the standard tattoo on her right shoulder, and wears the ANBU uniform while on duty. Her mask is a crane - a red, black and white water bird. The pattern on it resembles said bird to some extent, with a red triangle extending from the center of the forehead to the tip of the beak. On each side there are two thinner black lines that curve over the cheeks, stopping about a centimetre away from the beak.

Gai
From practically the day Akira meets Gai, she idolizes him, both for his taijutsu ability, and for taking an interest in her when it seems to her that no-one else does. She looks up to him as a father figure, and trusts him above everyone else, even her team. As a child, she takes a fair amount of ribbing from her classmates and fellow orphans because of Gai's eccentricities, but refuses to be ashamed of him. In return, Gai takes her under him wing and trains her in everything he knows. Even though he has his own genin team and cannot teach her in an official capacity, Gai convinces his "Eternal Rival" Kakashi Hatake to volunteer as Akira's jonin sensei when she graduates, so that he can continue teaching her on the side.

Tomoe
Tomoe's crush on her is the first time Akira encounters romance in any form, and she is completely mortified by it. She is, of course, also flattered, but her insecurity leads her to reject him. Afterwards, she plans to avoid Tomoe "for the rest of forever, if necessary," but is reassured by Tomoe's good-natured acceptance and offers to be friends instead. Tomoe agrees, and soon becomes her first real friend at the Academy. Sadly, while they remain friends after graduation, they are on separate teams and as such, eventually drift apart. However, both still think fondly of the other and greet each other whenever their schedules allow.

Naruto
Akira's relationship with her Naruto evolves very quickly from patient tolerance to a close friendship as she gets to know him better. Initially, she is resigned to spending the rest of her life breaking up fights between him and Sasuke, but much to her relief she soon realizes that much of their antagonism towards each other is simply their way of expressing their friendship, and not actual hatred. She admires him for his ability to bounce back from anything, but is frustrated by his belief in Sasuke even after the other tries to kill him at the Valley of the End. She finds it difficult to understand why he continues to cling to "the boy Sasuke used to be" to the point where he ignores Akira's own feelings and advice. Eventually, they agree to disagree, but Akira notes to herself that she will never be able to understand Naruto fully because he - and Sasuke, though he would deny it - thinks with his heart, while Akira has always made her choices with logic, not emotion.

Sasuke
From the very beginning, Akira is somewhat standoffish around Sasuke, as his brooding personality both unnerves and irritates her. Likewise, Sasuke tends to ignore her because of his previous experience with girls, which instantly gets on Akira's nerves. However, understanding the value of teamwork, she does her best to ignore it and look at him without bias. Akira finds it difficult to understand Sasuke's friendship with Naruto which, to her, seems unhealthy and liable to end with one or both of them getting hurt. After stumbling back to Konoha with her two gravely injured teammates following the fight at the Valley of the End, she feels justified in her doubts, but also uncertain of how to think about Sasuke knowing that he tried to kill Naruto, but did so while under the unknown influence of Orochimaru's curse mark. She visits him in prison, but finds herself torn between pitying the boy she spent the last year training with and hating him for what he has become.



Kakashi
Being naturally very respectful of authority figures, Akira is at first very polite and reserved around Kakashi. However, as the team get to know him and his quirks, she relaxes a little around him - though she still often chides Naruto for being rude when he grumbles about Kakashi's tendency to be at least two hours late to everything. During training, she works hard and always puts in a full effort in order to make him proud, even though he doesn't show it all that often. Privately, she feels she owes it to Kakashi to do well, since volunteering to have her on his team puts his own reputation on the line.

Lee
Akira's friendship with Lee takes a long time to actually become a friendship, being that neither of them make a very good first impression on the other. As such, it takes Akira nearly four years to be willing to see Lee as anything more than the annoying boy who mocked her taijutsu ability. However, her competitive nature once again rears its head when she discovers that Lee is unable to ninjutsu or genjutsu, prompting her to offer to train him in taijutsu so that they can compete on even terms, despite not particularly liking him. Over time, they become first begrudging training partners, and eventually close friends with a peculiar habit of making competitions out of just about everything. This friendship goes through a rough patch when Gai accepts Lee, Neji and Tenten as his genin team only a year before Akira herself is eligable to graduate. She feels betrayed and is upset with both Lee and Gai until Gai explains to her that having Akira on his genin team would not have been fair to her teammates, as they already had a strong relationship and the other genin might feel left out. Once Akira accepts this, she steps up Lee's training so that he will make Gai proud, a challenge that Lee accepts eagerly. However, their friendship only truly solidifies when they fight during the preliminary round of the Chunin Exams. Though Akira beats Lee, Lee accepts it gracefully, saying that he still has much to learn and that he will let this defeat inspire him to work even harder than before. Akira, inspired in turn by Lee's determination, vows the same. During the two years in which Sasuke is in jail and Naruto is on his training trip, Akira spends most of her free time with Lee, and he becomes an anchor for her after she joins ANBU.

Neji and Tenten
As Gai's former student, Akira often joins Team Gai to train with him and Lee. During these times she becomes acquaintance with Lee's teammates, Neji and Tenten. Tenten accepts her without fuss, but Neji is somewhat disdainful of her friendship with Lee, which immediately irritates Akira. However, she puts up an unaffected façade and secretly gets her pay-back by constantly bugging him about him obsession with fate, dragging him into heated debates on a daily basis.

Ino
Akira's friendship with Ino is more complicated than any of her others, given that all Akira's other friends are boys and Akira herself is typically tomboyish in behavior. Ino is the one to introduce her to fashion and the simplistic beauty of flowers, though neither topic truly interests her. In another contrast to her other friendships, the time Akira spends with Ino is really the only time where she willingly follows another's lead, subconsciously accepting Ino as her guide to the female 'world.' Apart from their first meeting and subsequent training meets, Akira is a lot more reserved than usual, bordering on shy whenever Ino introduces her to new people or concepts.

Ninjutsu:
Despite being merely average at performing ninjutsu during her Academy years, Akira's competitive nature and love for learning drive her to perfect the three basic jutsu (Henge, Kawarimi, & Bunshin) to the point of being able to perform each of them with just one seal by the time she makes chunin. As such, she would be considered strong in ninjutsu for her age group, despite not using or knowing many Transformation techniques until some time after the Chunin Exams. However, over time she gains an interest in Fire-style ninjutsu and begins to improve her ninjutsu techniques, eventually even creating her own techniques.

Katon: Hibana (Fire Release: Spark)
For most of her time as genin, Akira's nature transformation abilities are limited to the simplest technique she can find, which is Fire Release: Spark. It costs her only a miniscule amount of chakra, needs very little control, and is easy to combine with her taijutsu. Simply put, the technique lights tiny fires on the tips of her fingers. While the burns they give her opponent are nowhere near fatal, they can be good distractions, and can even blind someone if Akira attacks their eyes.

However this drawback makes it practically useless in friendly battles against comrades, as Akira can't use the technique to its full potential without permanently disabling her opponent.

Katon: Kuroshi (Fire Release: Black Death)
While practicing chakra control before the mission to Wave Country, she accidentally discovers a technique where, by holding a target in place with the pulling force of the Tree Walking technique and heel palming it with the other hand using the pushing force of the Water Walking technique, she can smash a hole straight through the target. Disgusted by the thought of the gore it would cause, Akira resolves never to use it on a human target, but is forced to go back on her word only days later when she uses it to kill one of the Demon Brothers.

After a number of other incidents where she resorts to using it to defend herself and her teammates, Akira resigns herself to continuing to use the technique. Eventually, she combines it with an adapted version of Katon: Hibana which encompasses her attacking hand in a white-hot flame, vaporizing the target's blood before it can touch her skin. She calls it 'Katon: Black Death' for the way the fire blackens the flesh inside the wound, damaging it beyond the skill of any medic-nin to repair.

Katon: Shiroi Hinode (Fire Release:  White Dawn)
Katon: Shiroi Hinode is a non-fatal technique that involves the user sharply clapping their hands together while using Kuroshi and momentarily over-powering the technique. The extra chakra, combined with the fire nature of it, creates a bright white that completely blinds anyone looking at the user at the time, and partially blinds anyone with their eyes open in the immediate vicinity - about ten metres radius.

Like most of Akira's ninjutsu techniques, White Dawn is a double edged sword. While using it, Akira must also close her eyes or risk blindness, as must any nearby allies.

Katon: Akatsuki Houtate (Fire Release: Dawn Phoenix Shield)
Katon: Dawn Phoenix Shield - more commonly referred to as simply 'Dawn Phoenix' - is Akira's ultimate technique, and the culmination of her mastery of taijutsu, the Eight Gates, and fire-style ninjutsu. In effect, it is a combination of her Complete Chakra Shield technique (see Taijutsu section) and Katon: Kuroshi, where she unlocks five of the Eight Gates, covers herself in a shield of fire-nature chakra and then sets it on fire, starting from her fingertips with Katon: Hibana and letting it spread to cover her entire body from there. Just like with Hibana and Kuroshi, the flame is white hot, although Dawn Phoenix is also characterized by rippling green flames, blowing in specific directions like the feathers on a bird, hence the name.

This shield, unlike the original Complete Chakra Shield technique, simply melts any objects (or people) that come into contact with it, turning them to ash in an instant. For this reason, it is dangerous to use when fighting in close contact with allies, as a single accidental brush could incinerate them. On the other hand, this makes Dawn Phoenix the perfect ninjutsu for taking on many enemies at once. Combining Akira's talent for taijutsu with the literally unblockable force of Dawn Phoenix makes for an awe-inspiringly powerful technique.

However, Dawn Phoenix does have its drawbacks. Because the the shield is the only thing protecting Akira from the chakra fire, any slip in concentration resulting in a gap in the shield could be fatal. As such, the technique requires both unbreakable focus and ample time to prepare. The first time she performs the technique, it takes Akira around a minute of concentration to create the under-shield without flaws, during which she cannot move or communicate in any way. Though she eventually narrows it down to twenty seconds, it is still twenty seconds in which she is completely vulnerable to attack. And, of course, unlocking the fifth Gate has its own consequences. Without immediate medical attention afterwards, Akira typically falls unconscious from the strain to her body and chakra system.

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Taijutsu:
Thanks to a combination of Gai's tutalge and her own determination to one day defeat him in battle, Akira's taijutsu technique is considerably more advanced than that of her peers. Though she is quite tall for a girl, she practices her skills often enough to have developed a certain amount of grace within her chosen style.

Initially, she focuses mainly on her speed, as it enables her to defeat her classmates with ease. However, as she begins to face stronger opponents during Part 2, Akira realizes that in order to become a true master of taijutsu, she must improve all aspects of her style, especially her physical strength.

Akira knows how to open the first five of the Eight Gates, and has the theoretical knowledge of how to open the other three, but rarely uses it since she hates the thought of relying on something other than her own skill and dislikes the way it leaves her injured and vulnerable afterwards. However, she isn't ignorant to the fact that unlocking the Eight Gates can be useful, as seen when she unlocks the first two gates to fend off Haku's senbon barrage during the mission in the Land of Waves.

Graceful Crane Style
Her style is a mix-mash of other styles, including the Academy Little Forest Style, and a few moves from the Hyuga Gentle Fist Style, but is mostly comprised of techniques from Gai's own Springtime Gale Style, using aspects of each to create a style that suits Akira's physique and level of ability.

At the end of Part 1, Lee jokingly calls it the Graceful Crane Style after observing a clumsy crane chick and its more elegant mother, comparing Akira as a child to the chick and noting that her technique has come a long way since the day they met. Much to his surprise, the name sticks.

The thusly-named Graceful Crane Style does in fact resemble the movements of the bird it is named after, emphasizing continuous, fluid movement to evade the enemies attacks and redirection where evasion is not possible.

The user's standard position is with the feet in a front stance and one arm in upper block constantly, though which arm it is can - and should - be switched throughout a fight, depending on which foot is in front. The other hand rests in a fist against the hip bone and can be used for rapid jabs, punches, choke holds and knife-hands to the throat, or even Akira's signature ninjutsu technique, Fire Release: Black Death. However, the majority of attacks are kicks - jumping, stationary, spinning, and combination techniques - as this allows Akira to make good used of her flexibility and longer legs.

Sticky Hands
One aspect of the Graceful Crane Style that is completely unique to it is the use of the Tree Walking technique to stick to the opponent or the surrounding environment. Akira makes good use of this skill to unbalance and trip opponents by upsetting or redirecting their own momentum with strategically placed "Sticky Hands." She also utilizes this during her fight with Temari in the third part of the Chunin Exam, where she crouches and sticks to the ground and walls to negate the effect of Temari's fan.

Her favorite technique using the Tree Walking technique is a throw, and one that she - initially, at least - can't use very often, as it requires her opponent to be lighter than herself or else she risks injury. In it, Akira somersaults over the head of her opponent while sticking her hands to their shoulders. She lands in a crouch behind their back, slides one foot back to knock her opponent's feet out from other them, and then uses her body weight and momentum to fling them head over heels, usually into a wall or a tree.

The first time she uses it is during the Preliminaries of the third part of the Chunin Exams, when she fights against Lee in their much awaited taijutsu-only battle. Afterwards, she has to be taken to hospital for back and shoulder injuries, and is advised not to use it on anyone who is more than two-thirds of her weight. However, once she begins to improve her physical strength in Part 2, she finds she is capable of using the technique without such limitations.

Complete Chakra Shield
Conversely, she also discovers a use for the pushing force of the Water Walking technique, where she can block and redirect blades with her bare hands and forearms by pushing the blade away from her skin with chakra. However, she finds it difficult to use in fast paced battles as she can't move her chakra to the needed point fast enough, and the same goes for using it at the same time as ninjutsu, genjutsu, and even when enhancing her muscles for a taijutsu fight. But, when given time to prepare, Akira can cover her whole body in a chakra shield which repels all physical objects that come in contact with it.

Since she is primarily a taijutsu fighter, this drawback poses a big problem for Akira. However, she eventually finds a way around this by opening at least three of the Eight Gates and using the excess chakra radiation to form the shield while the rest of it goes to enhancing her strength and speed. The final technique, uncreatively named Complete Chakra Shield, causes Akira to glow with green chakra just like in the original gate release technique, and any object hitting the shield causes a flare of darker green chakra.

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Genjutsu:
While Akira lacks the imagination and chakra control necessary to create complex genjutsu, she is proficient in the use of some of the simple illusion techniques taught to her by her friend Tomoe, and is especially fond of applying them while in the midst of a taijutsu battle, reasoning that her somewhat clumsy techniques are less likely to be noticed and cancelled if the target is too busy fending off her physical attacks.

One Step
Arguably her favorite technique is the One Step, which, as the name implies, causes the target to see the user one step to the left or right of where they actually are, making their attacks more likely to miss. Any attacks landed on the decoy will appear to simply pass straight through it, though if the user is talented at genjutsu they could manipulate the illusion to appear as though it is being affected by the attacks.

Sleeping Forest
Of all her genjutsu techniques, Illusion Technique: Sleeping Forest Trap is the only fatal one. It is an adaptation of her other technique, Illusion Technique: Sleeping Forest, which creates illusionary falling leaves that hypnotize the target - or targets - and cause them to fall into a deep sleep. However it is also the easiest to catch, as the effects are not very subtle and an experienced ninja would have plenty of time to recognize it and cancel it. As such, it is best used for civilian riot control. In the fatal variation, Sleeping Forest Trap, the illusionary 'leaves' are actually a cover for proximity sensitive explosive tags, which, of course, would hit the target regardless of whether the genjutsu is still in place.



Kenjutsu:
Although she has never previously used a sword in combat, after being recruited into ANBU at the age of fifteen Akira is required to learn kenjutsu technique, just like all other members of the organization. She trains under her second cousin, Yuugao Uzuki, with input from Yuugao's own teacher (and lover), Hayate Gekko, and with their help eventually incorporates kenjutsu into her original taijutsu style with an acceptable degree of proficiency, though she avoids using it unless she has no other choice.

At some point during her training, Akira confesses to Yuugao that she does not feel she is a suitable candidate for ANBU, as the sight of blood still makes her nauseous, which is part of the reason she is not as enthusiastic about learning kenjutsu as she is about most ninja arts. She feels that bloodshed is unnecessarily messy, preferring to kill with a blow to the temple or a snapped neck, or Katon: Black Death, where the flame vapourises the blood before it can touch her. Yuugao assures her that she too once felt the same way, but overcame it with time.

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Iryo-Ninjutsu:
While learning taijutsu as a child, Akira obtained a numerous injuries which required a visit to the hospital to fix. After one such visit, Akira's nurse informs her that she is putting too much pressure on her young body and that she should not be training to this level without a trained medic-nin on hand. Unwilling to put such a limit on her training, Akira proposes a compromise - if Akira can achieve an acceptable level of competency in medical techniques before the end of the school term, the nurse will not inform Gai about her injuries.

Naturally, being a long-time taijutsu user himself, Gai is already well aware that he has been pushing Akira too hard, and secretly adjusts her training program to focus more on speed than physical strength. When Akira announces her intention to learn medical ninjutsu, Gai immediately approves, commenting that if he had the ability he would happily have joined her.

Over the course of the next few years, Akira does improve her medical technique by a small amount, though it is never her first priority. She is, however, competent enough to heal the majority of her teammates' scrapes and bruises throughout their numerous misadventures.



Fuinjutsu:
Because she is an orphan, Akira does not have access to a lot of funds. As such, she learns how to write out her own explosive tags, sealing scrolls and training weights by simply copying the original seals. However, due to a lack of instructional material in the public library, her knowledge of fuinjutsu ends there.

Introduction Arc:
Akira graduates easily, with the highest score of her class in the taijutsu section, average scores in the theory and ninjutsu portions, and high scores for co-operation and assertiveness. Much to her dismay, she is placed on Team 7 with Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, instead of with any of her friends as she had been hoping. However, not wanting to make the same mistakes she had with both Lee and Ino, she resolves to withhold judgement until she gets to know her teammates better. She suggests eating lunch as a team, to which Sasuke rudely declines but Naruto enthusiastically accepts, dragging her to Ichiraku Ramen and introducing her to Teuchi and Amaye. While there, he lets slip about why Mizuki wasn’t present that morning, prompting Akira to bug him until he tells her the whole story.

Later, while waiting for Kakashi to show, Akira and Naruto leave clones in the classroom and sneak outside. Naruto shows off his Shadow Clones, to which Akira is suitably impressed, though she comments that while they are intimidating in numbers, they are exceedingly fragile and more suited for distractions or long-range backup than actual fighting. To demonstrate this, she engages them in a taijutsu battle and destroys them all with little effort. She uses the tree walking technique during the fight, and ends up coaching Naruto on how to do so as well, though he is unable to master it before Kakashi arrives.

When Kakashi finally appears (and is hit by an eraser placed by Naruto's bored clones), Naruto dispels the clones and they meet Sasuke on the roof. Akira is eager to finally become a genin, and doesn’t bother to ask Kakashi to demonstrate an introduction, cheerfully introducing herself to the team. Incidentally, she not only mentions her likes, dislikes, hobbies and dream for the future, but also who her hero is and why (Gai, for deciding to teach her and "just generally being awesome"), the reason why she chose to become a shinobi (she wanted to learn more taijutsu and make Gai proud), and her nindo ("No-one gets left behind!"), prompting Naruto and Sasuke to also answer a fraction differently.

During the test, Akira and her teammates do not work together at the start, believing Kakashi about only two of them being able to pass. After a number of failed attempts from all three members, Akira accidentally snatches his book instead of the bells. When Naruto sees the ‘mature content’ symbol over her shoulder and goes to read it to find out what it is, Kakashi tries to take it back. Akira manages to dodge and throws it to Naruto, who then shoves it at Sasuke.

In the ensuring game of Hot Potato to avoid being the one holding the book when Kakashi catches them, they end up working together to distract Kakashi and defend whoever is holding the book. Finally, Akira has Sasuke make a small fire with a Katon jutsu while Naruto distracts him with hordes of clones and then threatens to drop the book into the flames if Kakashi doesn’t surrender the bells. Needless to say, they pass.

Afterwards, Kakashi takes them to the memorial stone and tells them to remember that "in the ninja world, those who don't follow the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum."

Wave Arc:
After completing a number of D-ranks, including catching Tora and walking the nin-dogs, and having a joint training session with Team Gai where they loose miserably, Naruto insists on doing something more exciting, and the Third Hokage agrees to send them on a C-rank mission to escort Tazuna, a master bridge-builder, back to the Land of Waves.

Before the mission, Akira runs into Ino and challenges her to taijutsu spar "for good luck." However, during the fight, Ino accidentally reveals that she lied to Akira about wanting to improve her taijutsu for herself, and that she is still doing it to impress Sasuke. Disgusted with Ino and irritated with herself for being so easily duped she goes into a frenzy and destroys the training ground, ending by punching straight through a target with what will become the incomplete version of her most dangerous technique, Katon: Black Death. Morbidly interested, but still horrified, she swears never to use it on another human. During the mission Team 7 are attacked by two chunin level missing-nin, the Demon Brothers, which they shouldn't have been set against on a mere C-rank. When Kakashi "dies" and Naruto unexpectedly freezes up, Akira reacts instinctively and kills his opponent by punching through his chest - breaking her promise to herself - but goes into shock from having made her first kill and being covered in blood. Fortunately, Sasuke defeats the other enemy and Kakashi reappears to tie him up. Sasuke proceeds to mock Naruto, calling him a "scared-cat," to which Naruto responds to by stabbing himself to bleed out the poisoned cut he received and vows upon the pain in his hand never to freeze up and leave his friends to fend for themselves ever again. Upon hearing Naruto panicking about dying from blood loss, Akira snaps out of her shock and heals his hand before excusing herself to go wash the blood off in the river.

When she returns, Kakashi, his suspicions raised by the attack, asks Tazuna for the truth about the circumstances of the mission. Tazuna explains that the Land of Waves has been taken over by a shipping magnate called Gatō, who has effectively bankrupted all the people of the country, and that the only way to revitalize the economy is by building a bridge to the mainland that could render moot Gatō's shipping monopoly. However, Gatō does not want that to happen, and has used shinobi gangs to assert his control. Team 7's actual mission is to support and protect the bridge-building efforts that have been thwarted thus far. Later, after a few false alarms thanks to Naruto, Team 7 and Tazuna are again attacked, this time by the infamous A-rank missing-nin from Kirigakure, Zabuza Momochi, who is one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Zabuza proceeds to cover the area in mist and fight Kakashi, eventually trapping him in a sphere of water, before sending a water clone to fight Akira, Sasuke and Naruto.

Zabuza is eventually defeated, but just before Kakashi makes the final blow, a masked ninja, later revealed to be named Haku, appears to kill Zabuza by impaling Zabuza's neck with several senbon and then disappears with Zabuza's body. Kakashi faints from chakra exhaustion and Akira, the only one on the team with medical knowledge, checks him over before volunteering to carry him to Tazuna's house. Naruto and Sasuke protest, but Akira just laughs, reminding them that girl or no she is still stronger than either of them, much to their embarrassment. While Kakashi recovers, he contemplates the odd circumstances surrounding Zabuza's death and realizes that they have been duped. With Zabuza's return a likely outcome, Kakashi takes Team 7 to the nearby woods to teach them the Tree Walking technique. Akira, however, already knows how to use the technique as well as its other half, the Water Walking technique, so she helps Naruto and Sasuke with it and practices the Kawarimi technique with less seals instead. They later return to Tazuna's house for dinner and hear the story of Inari's father. When Inari insists that they should leave because they're just going to die, Akira looses her temper and points out that if they leave it will be Inari's grandfather who dies, then storms off to the training clearing to cool off. Naruto and Sasuke follow to continue training, and all three of them fall asleep there.

Meanwhile, Kakashi explains to Inari that the three genin reacted so harshly to his words because all three of them have lost not only their fathers but also their mothers, but Kakashi has never seen them cry about it before. The implication that Naruto, Akira and Sasuke all understand his grief but still remain strong leaves Inari touched and thoughtful.

When they wake the next morning, they meet Haku and Akira and Naruto talk to 'her' about their precious people and Sasuke stubbornly denies having any such 'weakness,' to which Haku replies that having something to fight for makes people stronger, not weaker. Haku leaves, and Team 7 return to Tazuna's house to escort him to the bridge. When they arrive, however, they discover the workers have been attacked and the area is covered in a thick mist. Kakashi, swiftly surmising that Zabuza is responsible, has Naruto and his clones guard Tazuna while he fights Zabuza and Akira and Sasuke take on his masked companion, who is actually Haku.

Haku, realizing that they can keep up with and even surpass his speed, uses his trump card, Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, which traps them in a cage of ice, then proceeds to pummel them with wave after wave of senbon barrages which are effectively impossible to dodge as a result of Haku's technique. Akira uses her superior speed to block as many senbon as she can, even unlocking two of the Eight Gates, the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Healing, but eventually she is caught in the neck and is knocked unconscious. Sasuke, believing her dead, activates his sharingan.

Naruto, unable to see what's happening due to the mirrors and the mist, feels Sasuke's sudden spike of killing intent and leaves the clones guarding Tazuna to investigate. He arrives just in time to see Sasuke "die" protecting Akira's "body" and succumbs to the Kyuubi's intense chakra, which shatters the mirrors. He punches the masked attacker, shattering his mask and revealing Haku. Consumed by grief and betrayal Naruto attacks Haku but is unable to bring himself to kill the gentle boy he met in the forest, even believing that Haku has killed his teammates. Meanwhile, Kakashi uses Zabuza's preoccupation with the Nine Tails' chakra to permanently disable his arms, winning the battle. However, as he goes to kill him with Lightning Cutter, Haku jumps in between them, protecting Zabuza with his life. Zabuza remains impassive, stating that Haku was just a tool, but an enraged Naruto manages to convince him otherwise.

At that moment, Gato and his hired thugs appear, revealing that he had planned to double-cross Zabuza and Haku from the very start. Furious that Haku's death had been for nothing, Zabuza fights his way through the thugs with a kunai in his mouth and kills Gato. At the same time, Akira wakes up and removes the senbon paralyzing Sasuke, and Team 7 prepare to fight the rest of the hired shinobi to protect the village. However, it unneeded, as the villagers arrive led by Inari, having decide to take the protection of their home into their own hands, and the mercenaries flee. Zabuza dies at Haku's side and the two are buried together. The three genin, having witnessed the fate of shinobi, announce a shared desire to live their lives their own way without others telling them how. The bridge is completed, and Tazuna names it the Hero's Bridge, honoring those who would lay down their lives to protect others. Back in Konoha, Akira is sought out by Ino, who apologizes and admits that while she still admires Sasuke, she admires Akira's determination and ability more, swearing to work harder from then on.

Part II
Plot in progress.

Quotes
"Stop worrying so much, silly! Sometimes things don't have to be complicated."

"What the- you know, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Just my luck... not even the self-destruct is working."

"Who cares about pretty? I'm going for noticeable!"

"...And when I die, I want to be remembered as a good person, not just a good soldier."

... And one scene from the Academy, a little while after Akira and Ino become friends:

INO: Maybe he doesn't hate me! AKIRA: Who, Shikamaru? INO: What? No! Sasuke-kun! AKIRA: Bah! You're still hung up on that pretty boy? INO: Hey! Don't call him that! AKIRA: Sorry. You're prettier than him. INO: AKIRA!!

Trivia

 * Her favorite words/phrases are "Alright!" and "Come and get it!"


 * She always greets people with "Hiya!" and a peace sign.


 * As a child, Akira helps an elderly lady by the name of Motoko run a dango stall in the food market in exchange for pocket money and stories about the 'good old days.' Motoko dies as collateral damage during the Sound-Sand Invasion.


 * When Gai first accepts Akira as his student, he tries to gift her with a green spandex outfit like his own. Panicked, Akira claims that the green color would clash with her "Purple Aura of Willpower", so Gai gives her purple leg warmers instead, which she wears during her training with him.


 * When asked her favorite color, Akira answers "clear, like the wind," disregarding that 'clear' is not actually a color.


 * Her favorite food is apples, which she habitually eats while reading or wandering around the village.


 * She enjoys challenging herself against others, but hates it when people are sore losers.


 * Her hobbies are reading and tree climbing.


 * Though it is not explicitly stated, it is implied that she has a deep fear of disappointing people.


 * She is, in Naruto's words, a "health freak."

Reference
A shout-out to these sites for giving me the tools to create some awesome pictures. =)

Rinmaru Games' Mega Anime Avatar Creator: http://www.rinmarugames.com/game/?game_id=421

Chibi Maker: http://www.dolldivine.com/chibi-maker.php

Anonymus D.'s Anime Character Maker 2.2: http://www.muchgames.com/games/anime-character-maker-3