A gentle breeze wafted between the vast range greens adorning the spring leaves that decorated every single tree in the lively forest. Small blossoms appeared here and there signifying the end of the cold, merciless winter. Sunlight beams fell between the small gaps in the lush foliage and brightened the darkness beneath only aiding to wake up the life that was hiding in the ancient trees. One tree stood out from the rest. It's enormous branches covered a vast area area of the ground and it was a favourite spot of rest for many animals especially birds which could hide from the bright sunlight in the cool shade. It was like the guardian of the forest, silent and always on watch.
Today however something else was residing in it's branches, the light bouncing off soft waves of gold slightly leaning out between the bright greenery. That was the first feature that could be noticed, the rest was carefully hidden away from sight. Unless someone were to know what they were looking for, they would never find it. Bright blue eyes peeked out from behind a black mask covering the remainder of the stranger's face. The long hair and lean body could only belong to a female though the tight body wrappings hid anything else that might have been a give away sign. The wrappings stretched from her chest to her waist, also appearing tightly bound on her right thigh. If it wasn't for the graceful way that she moved one might even suppose that the bandages hid deep wounds. The rest of her body was hidden by short trousers ending mid thigh. Despite her apparently defenceless choice of clothing a trained eye could see the danger that she posed. A small pouch was located at her waist and a small bulge could be seen under the wrappings on her thigh. She wasn't one to be underestimated if her opponent wanted to win.

Her sapphire orbs looked into the distance, far beyond the forest before her. From her perspective she could see the small village that snuggled into a close by cliff, colorful buildings peeking out here and there. The village was surrounded by a tall wall that looked like they've seen better days, while 4 large faces were overlooking it from the cliffside watching out for intruders. Children could be seen freely playing within those walls, while their parents focused their attention towards the thousands of colourful stalls that littered the main road. Had the woman been an ally she would have had to trouble at all walking through the main gate, however that was not the case and the ninja hounds would be on her within a second, especially with the enormous bounty on her head. She needed to find another method of breaking in.

Her particular interest was peaked at the two guards currently stationed at the large wooden gate in the front of the village. The weeks she spent watching those two had given her a vast array of information that she could use. Their favourite past time seemed to be sleeping on the job, though that didn't surprise her much since Konahoa wasn't exactly the centre of the trading routes, but she knew that they would be tough opponents to beat especially if they worked together. She had to capture them unaware first.

Jumping down from branch to branch, she eventually reached the soft grass surrounding the enormous pine of the tree she hid in. Like with the trees, flowers could also be found peeping out of the lush grass encouraging her to approach them and simply bask in their glory. Under other circumstances she would have gladly done just that, escaping the harsh reality that followed her. The world was how it was though, and she could not afford to waste any more time in the area. Sooner or later she would be spotted and she would rather stick to her current plan than have to scrap it and go with the flow. It was just not how she did things. Making use of her chakra, she created a clone of herself, watching carefully as it ran off towards the main gate. She would be recognised by the guards but then again it wasn't her that would be fighting. It was a tactic that she had used many times previously on other villages and it had never failed her.

All that was left was the last part of the plan, something to convince them that she would be attacking the main gate. To help convince them that her clone was really her. Forming the correct hand signs, she watched as dark clouds rolled out from seemingly nowhere. Bright flashes of lightning surrounded the village, illuminating the terrified gazes of the villagers, their children hiding in houses and behind their parents. They had been through things like this often enough and knew when they were being attacked. They were ready to fight, but so was she.

Kakashi Hatake was a skilled ninja, no one could deny him that, however it was at times like these he wondered whether he was fit to be a sensei to kids like these. It seemed that his hand refused to leave his head in a continuous facepalm, the exasperation he felt exceeding everything he had experienced ever before. The three genin he was currently testing still hadn't figured out the very point of the exercise despite the fact that it was in the name Team 7. Eventually he decided that the next generation had really dumbed down when it came to ninjas.

The hyperactive blonde had attacked him straight on, and although he had some surprising abilities like the 'Shadow Clone Jutsu' he was absolutely pathetic at thinking of a plan and prefered to do everything himself. It was funny to watch him struggle out of a trap only to fall straight into another one, but he crossed the line when he tried to eat his lunch before the task even finished. He was currently tied to one of the wooden poles in the clearing. The pink haired girl was no better. Her fascination with the third member of the team led to her constant stumbling, and despite her great knowledge a simple genjutsu was all it took to bring her down. The dark haired Uchiha was the most skilled on the team with a great knowledge of jutsu and taijutsu but his pride and overconfidence would not allow him to grow in the way that he should. It ended with him stuck in the ground helpless. All in all their situation would have been comical to him had it not affected the rest of their lives.

A small ring ran through the area signifying the end of the challenge, with none of the genin getting a single bell. Sighing with relief Kakashi stretched and walked back towards the KIA stone. Sasuke and Sakura were already there while Naruto was still tied to the pole. Naruto was eying the lunches, Sakura was staring at Sasuke while Sasuke just sat there silently brooding. They had no idea what was in store for the and if they never learned to work in a team then they would not survive this life

"Judging on your performance today I decided not to send you back to the academy."

The mood on the clearing instantly changed. the genin looked up at me surprised, and Naruto started cheering tears pooling out of his eyes. Sasuke smirked in pride and Sakura seemed to be the only one who thought to question his decision. She was after all the brains of the team.

"But all I did was faint. Do you get points for that?"

"Yeah! I'm going to be a ninja!"

"I have decided not to send you back to the academy, as I am completely removing you from the ninja program. All of you are failures and don't deserve to be ninjas."

"What?! You can't do that!"

"You're all pathetic! None of you even considered what the point of this exercise was did you. Think! Why are we put in teams?"

"Gahh I don't know!"

Kakashi simply stared at them in disappointment until Sasuke finally pulled out a kunai and charged at me ignoring the warning calls of his team mates. The anger and fury was clearly displayed on his face for the entire world to didn't take much to stop him, his speed was nothing to the one that he had built up over the years he was a ninja. Within seconds Sasuke was pinned to the ground with Kakashi on top of him with the kunai on his throat. It seemed that the team miscalculated Kakashi's abilities, especially Sasuke who's eyes were full of hate and desperation.

"Hey you can't squash Sasuke like a bug!"

"Shut up!"

His grip around Sasuke tightened at Sakura's shouting. They just weren't getting the severity of the situation were they?

"The answer is teamwork, yet none of you even considered it! If the four of you had attacked me at the same time, then you might have had a chance at beating me and taking the bells. Sakura, all you cared about was your precious Sasuke, even though Naruto was right in front of you and needed your help. "Naruto, you have to do everything yourself. You didn't even consider asking the others for help, you just attacked me head on without even a strategy. Finally, you Sasuke, you were the worst. You consider yourself above everyone else and only saw the others as useless parts of the team that would slow you down."

"But there were only two bells! We couldn't all pass."

"I did that to pit you against each other, to see how well your teamwork would work under pressure. In a real mission, shinobi have to make tough decisions. For example, Sakura kill Naruto or Sasuke dies." She looked at me with a face full of indecision and horror. "In a real mission it's your lives at stake and you can't make mistakes"

They all looked away from him, and mulled over what I said. Sasuke was still scowling, while Sakura and Naruto looked close to tears. Kakashi got off Sasuke letting him walk back towards his team mates and sit down. He himself turned around and approached the KIA stone, eyes wandering to the names of his friends carved onto there. Two of the names belonged to his team mates, one to his old sensei and one to the only friend he really had. For all the hours he spent sitting here he never seemed to get closure. He had lost so much in his life already, and those kids didn't deserve the same fate. A fate they would get if they weren't prepared.

"What's that?"

"That Naruto is a stone reserved for special heroes."

"That's it then. I decided to get my name on that stone."

"No you don't Naruto you baka. That's theKIA stone for those who were killed in action."

Naruto suddenly looked solemn. The atmosphere dropped back to the miserable state, yet this time it was the stone that was at the centre of it. Four set of gazes watched the rock as if looking for answers. Both Sasuke and Naruto seemed to understand Kakashi's pain the most. Unlike Sakura they felt what it was like to grow up without family and all alone. What it feels like to lose the most precious people to you. Even the trees sang a solemn song pushed and pulled by the merciless wind, just as we all are by fate. Shaking from the trance the melody put him in; Kakashi stood up and looked at the three kids.

"I'm giving you three one more chance, but this time you only have an hour. You can all eat your lunches except Naruto. This is his punishment for trying to cheat. If you feed him you will automatically fail."

With that Kakashi jumped away into the forest. Stopping, he walked up a tree and settled down, his back facing the hard bark of the widespread Oak. From his vantage point he could see the three genin, arguing and talking. Eventually, both Sakura and Sasuke fed Naruto.
A smile appeared on Kakashi's face; they reminded him so much of his old team. Naruto was just like Obito, always late and always cheerful, laughing at everyone and everything. Sakura was just like Rin, always fawning over the cool, mysterious guy that wouldn't give her the time of the day. Sasuke however was like a copy of the young Kakashi. Always quiet, refusing to work with others and always having to be at the top. It was like history was repeating itself. Kakashi just prayed that this time it wouldn't be the case. A face flashed before his eyes, those same big beautiful eyes, with the same kindness and warmth behind them. His heart clenched in pain at the thought of the last time he saw her, those stunning orbs narrowed in pain, begging for help which he could not give. He failed her. Shaking his head from those solemn thoughts, kakashi stood watched as the genin jumped at the sudden appearance of the dark clouds, knowing full well that they had been found were all shaking while Sasuke was clenching his fiststo try and stay composed.

"You broke the rules, you fed Naruto."

"You said we have to work together. The three of us are one."

"The three of you are one?! You...pass."

The sudden panic was quickly replaced by utter confusion at what he just said. They certainly weren't expecting a pass, more like life exile from being a ninja. Joy was peeking out on their face but they seemed to be holding it back, as if to make sure that I wasn't joking.

"You are the only team I trained that disobeyed me and helped their comrade. The others just followed orders and abandoned their friends. In the shinobi world, those who break rules are scum, but those who abandon friends are worse than scum."

Naruto started cheering uncontrollably, while Sasuke just smirked at my words. That boy is just too cocky for his own good. The thoughts on his new team however were suddenly side tracked, at the sudden fall in the temperature, and the dark blue clouds that surrounded them. Sakura started shaking again, but this time it was from the intense cold. Lightning flashes erupted all around the village illuminating everything eerily as if preventing them from escape.

"Eh…sensei? You can stop now. We learned our lesson. Believe it."

"That's not me."

Kakashi frowned. he could sense chakra emanating from the storm controlling it's size and severity. A storm that large could have been easily used to take out members of the village's guards and yet he could see that it's wasn't the case. It meant that the visitor either didn't mean them any harm or was after something else, and he was willing to bet his headband on the second one. At the same time he couldn't shake off the feeling that he knew the chakra. He wished that he had Neji's byakugan instead of his sharingan at that moment, it would have helped him greatly in identifying the familiar chakra. It wasn't just the chakra though. He's only seen one person using the jutsu except him and that was the person that created it, but she was long gone, probably even dead. It just didn't add up. Hope emanated from his heart and surged through his body but he just ignored it.

"I want you to head to the academy and stay there until I say so."

"But sensei…"

"No arguing. I'm going to see the hokage to find out what is going on. This isn't a normal storm."

Kakashi watched his team walking away with glum faces before teleporting to the Hokage's tower, hoping against hope that it was who I thought it was. It was stupid, but it was the only thing that he had left. Hope.