Heyo! This story is a sort of what-if. Here, Naruto turned out to have surprisingly outstanding chakra control and better taijutsu, due to some added self-training. This story follows him as his life progresses according to this somewhat slight, but important change. It will start with his academy days, leading all the way into him becoming a Jounin sensei, getting his own Genin team. Here we go...
Heart beats are rising along with the suspense. While everyone thought Naruto's pranks were immature, they couldn't help but enjoy them at least a little. His latest one was no different. Iruka Umino, their final year instructor, was about to enter the classroom and set off what may be Naruto's most complex prank yet.
As Iruka enters the room with a paper bowl of fries, all the students (with the exception of one ever-brooding Uchiha) are on the edge of their seats, all awaiting the prank of the year to be set off. Iruka starts lowering himself into his chair and takes what seems like an eternity. As he finally sits, a pre-placed pressure plate activates and pulls a string, which is connected to a lever, which activates a small catapult. Said catapult launches a small rock into yet another pressure plate. The pressure plate activates a miniature concealed cannon that projectiles a balloon filled with barbecue sauce at Iruka, hoping to make a certain Inuzuka boy's dog attack the seemingly surprised teacher. The balloon travels towards Iruka at a surprisingly high speed. It is now merely inches from his face as turns to look at it. All year, he has humored Naruto's pranks from understanding. He was once the same hyperactive prankster boy only looking to fill a void left in his heart, after all. This one prank, however, was too much for him. He decided to take the chance to show off and catch the balloon seemingly effortlessly.
"Oh, thank you Naruto. I was afraid these fries might be a little bland" He plays it off, amused at the now wide-eyed kids, and an even more flustered Naruto at having his well-planned prank foiled in an instant.
"Alright, now that I have some sauce for my fries, let's get to what we have planned today. You'll all be having one-on-one spars with your classmates. Your opponents have been chosen based on test scores and should fit you rather well as a sparring partner".
The class seemed to lighten up at the thought of not having to do paper work. Naruto, however, seemed more ecstatic than anyone, even more than the Inuzuka boy, Kiba
"Oi! Does this mean I'll get to finally beat up the teme? He shouted, referring to the gloomy Uchiha, Sasuke. "I don't like the way he always acts like he's better than everyone else!"
"That's because I am better than everyone. All of you, at least." The teme says, referring to the rest of the class.
As Naruto is gritting his teeth, Sasuke's fangirls swoon over how cool and strong he is. This, of course, starts a fight over who owns the Uchiha. All of the girls, with the exception of a shy Hyuuga girl, Hinata, have been obsessed over Sasuke since day one off their academy days. It has something to do with his mysterious and seemingly dark past. His eternal bed-hair plays a factor in it too.
"Alright Sasuke, enough. We are all shinobi of the Leaf. We're comrades who must protect each other and strive to improve ourselves along with our brothers and sisters of Konoha" Iruka chimes in, giving one of his motivational speeches which he whole-heartedly believes.
"Ch." Sasuke grumbles.
"Alright kids, let's head outside into the school's training grounds" He says, trying to change the subject and avoid further conflict.
The class follows him outside, all eager to display their skills. Naruto has a pep in his step as he remembers the hours of practice he has been putting in to better himself. He has a few surprises up his bright orange sleeve that he can't wait to show off.
As the variety of spars occur between various students, Naruto grows more and more impatient as having to wait for so long. He was initially upset that he didn't get to fight Sasuke since the Uchiha was called to go up against Shikamaru, who put up a good fight with Nara-level strategy. In the end, however, he gave up due to the fight being too 'troublesome'. Of course, Naruto cheered on Sakura Haruno (his crush for some years now) as she went up against Ino Yamanaka (Sakura's rival in achieving Sasuke). Ino ended up barely winning by a point because of her prior training from being the heir to the Yamanaka clan.
Naruto perks up at hearing his name called to finally fight. He is paired up to fight Kiba, who looks just as excited as Naruto is.
"Aw yeah, I've been waiting to fight all day and I get paired up with the runt? This will be an easy win!" Kiba says, playfully. He has actually been one of Naruto's only friends in the academy, originally taking a liking to the orange boy's pranks and hyperactive attitude, much like his own. He calls Naruto a runt because he has always been an inch shorter than 'dog breath' as Naruto likes to respond to him as.
"Oh yeah? We'll see about that, mutt! I've been training myself since the last spars a few months back!" Naruto retorted.
"Alright guys, calm down and get ready" Iruka added in, signaling the near beginning of the match. "Begin" He finished after a few second pause.
As he said that, the boys dropped to the academy kata (form). After a second of mental strategizing, Kiba, surprisingly, was the first to attack, as opposed to the usual impatient flurry of sloppy punches from Naruto.
He sweeps his right leg, aiming to knock Naruto down, which usually works. To his surprise, Naruto jumps the sweep and replies with a shin to Kiba's left temple, successfully knocking him down, earning him one of three points needed to win. The crowd suddenly looked on with slight shock at Naruto's sudden improvement. While expecting it to be pure luck, they still began watching Naruto with newfound interest.
Kiba gets up with more shock than the crowd. He approaches Naruto carefully, while in form. Naruto attack first this time, dropping down a little to throw a punch at Kiba's midsection. Kiba blocks the punch and counters with a fist aimed at Naruto's face. Naruto responds by back-flipping away a few feet, dodging the hit. He then aims a kick towards the Inuzuka's side. When he blocked the kick, he suddenly had a palm coming towards his shoulder.
Watching Kiba, one of the better taijutsu users in the class, put on edge by the dead last was a surprise to the audience to say the least. They watched in shock and suspense at the fight occurring before them, wondering who is going to win. Logic would say Naruto will win, but the students couldn't believe the idiot Naruto would win a fight after losing so many times before. He was irrational and impatient, lacking the mindset of a shinobi. He was always sloppy and never really landed an effective hit. That Naruto seemed to have gone away and was replaced with this one.
Iruka watched the fight in mild surprise and interest. Seeing Naruto fight as he was threw him off for a little. He started noticing flaws in Naruto's style, but while still being slightly sloppy in his style, he still improved miles since Iruka last saw him fight.
Kiba was getting tired at constantly having to dodge and block Naruto's strikes. If one good thing could be said about Naruto, it would be his seemingly infinite supply of energy. No one has seen him get tired or worn out. This, of course, was a huge advantage over Kiba.
Finally, he slipped up and didn't see the palm coming towards the side of his face after hastily blocking an attempted sweep by the hyperactive blonde. The palm landed directly to his left cheekbone, knocking him off balance. Naruto acted upon this by sweeping Kiba to the ground, earning him his second point. Kiba, being worn down and exhausted, stands up and drops to a sloppy form. He keeps his distance from Naruto, realizing that he is at a disadvantage. After a couple of seconds of planning, he rushes in towards the blonde and feints a fist to the face, following up with a successful sweep. Proud as Naruto was at himself, was surprised when Kiba finally managed to score a point against him.
The orange-clad boy stood back up into his slightly modified academy kata. Although being a little taken off guard by Kiba's sweep, he remains calm and energetic as always. Deciding to use Kiba's own strategy against him, he fakes a kick to the dog breath's head, only to palm him in the stomach. While Kiba was shaken by that and temporarily thrown off, Naruto faced his back to Kiba, wraps his arm around his opponents neck, and flips him over his shoulder, slamming Kiba to the ground and winding him.
Naruto cheered as it was announced that he won the match, not noticing the shocked crowd of students and the contemplative look on Sasuke's face.
"Nice work, runt. Gotta say, I wasn't expecting you to have improved so much. You only caught me by surprise this time, but next time I'll put up more of a fight" Kiba says as he stands up, playfully hitting Naruto on the shoulder. While he was a bit competitive, you'd never catch Kiba being a bad sport or a sore loser.
The rest of the spars went on with little interest. After Naruto's fight, it was hard to take that spotlight. As the blonde made his way home, he walked with his arms behind his head, satisfied at the events that the occurred that day. He proved himself not a complete idiot, and that was all he needed for now.
He fell asleep dreaming about the usual: ramen and Sakura. Sometimes Sakura was Ramen (the perfect combination in this young boy's mind).
'Poof'
Another sickly looking clone.
"Ah! Why can't I make a simple stupid clone?!" The blonde says to no one particular.
After witnessing Naruto's fight a few weeks ago, it was assumed he'd be better all subjects. This was proven wrong as the boy made the same wheezing, pale clone as always.
As usual, the class laughed at him, no matter how much they now respected his now rapidly-improving taijutsu.
That was the start to hours a day of practice controlling his chakra. After a talk with Iruka, a blushing Hinata, and of course his 'Jiji', the Sandaime Hokage, he now knows that he must use a very miniscule amount of chakra to make a successful bunshin. Given Naruto's unnaturally large reserves of chakra due to his Uzumaki heritage, he found it difficult to only put a little bit into the jutsu.
After a few weeks of training with some lazy Jounin who was constantly late to the sessions (supplied by his Jiji after relentless pouting and complaining), he finally found the perfect amount of chakra to put into his clone, and for once, he made a healthy looking one. It was worth the constant excuses for being tardy to now have impressive chakra control for an academy student. This training also gave some attitude changes to the blonde due to very harsh conditions and his impatient Jounin helper.
When final exams came around, he passed with flying colors much to everyone's surprise. Achieving near-perfect scores only behind the last Uchiha, he finally lost his moniker of 'Dead Last'. He didn't, however, stop the fangirls from continuing to swoon over Sasuke. Not even his rapid improvement convince the girls that Sasuke wasn't the only impressive ninja-to-be around.
The annoying buzz of a sleeper's worst foe was ringing loudly in his ears. With a frustrated growl, the mop of blonde hair tried to crawl deeper inside of his stiff pillow. As his groggy mind unwillingly returned to the land of the living, he lashed out blindly at the noise.
Any relief he may have felt at striking the object was squashed when it fell from the bedside table and clattered loudly on the floor. Succumbing to anger, Naruto climbed out from his mattress to pummel the enemy of his sleep.
He couldn't wait to become Hokage. Then he'd have the village's respect. He could walk proudly down the streets. People would smile and wave. Everyone would be happy and get a good night's sleep. Maybe he could pass a law that outlawed evil clocks—
A glare at the aforementioned instrument made all thoughts vanish when what it was showing clicked in his befuddled brain. Six o'clock in the morning, and the academy started at six-thirty. That would mean...
"I'm gonna be late!" he screamed as he jumped and tried to do a million things at once.
He began getting dressed into a new outfit that was picked out for him by Sakura, who has been talking to him more since he became stronger and less annoying.
Slipping on a sleeveless tight fitting black shirt with orange lined down the sides, he noticed how much cooler it made him look. After a few seconds of checking himself out, he decided to put on some pants.
He less-than-gracefully slipped on some thick, dark-grey pants with various weapon holsters attached, After pushing things around in search of the final pieces of his outfit, he finds and slips on his metal and cloth forearm braces and puts on his thin dark-grey protective vest.
After successfully getting dressed, he heads out in excitement, forgetting to lock his door and heads towards the academy in his new outfit he was waiting to sport until graduation.
The class is sitting and talking with their friends, waiting eagerly for their teams to be announced along with who their Jounin sensei will be. A tired, but confident and quiet Naruto walks in the class with his new outfit. To his surprise, most of the girls arguing over Sasuke stopped and turned to look at him, or rather check him out. Their judgmental eyes prying and cutting deep into Naruto. He plays it off and acts cool as if he doesn't notice them, despite his internal uncomfortableness growing inside. Even though all of the looks were very positive, Naruto understood why the fangirls only annoyed Sasuke.
"Hey Naruto, diggin' the new look!" Kiba says, noticing the newly made Naruto fangirls.
"When did you decide to get rid of the horrid orange abomination you called an outfit?" Shikamaru said with a taunting smirk, which offended Naruto so some extend even though he knew the orange jumpsuit was a little extreme.
Even Sakura had to admit that he didn't look too bad. She was surprised to notice her best friend and rival, Ino, practically eye-banging Naruto. Sakura elbowed her in the shoulder to get her out of her daze.
"Hey, not my fault the idiot decided to be hot today" she replied, not looking away from Naruto.
The cerulean blue-eyed blonde in question hastily sat down in an attempt to break away from the attention, which he wasn't ready for. To his knowledge, it worked, until he noticed he sat down by the shy Hyuuga girl who was secretly crushing on him ever since she was young. Her face was the equivalent to a tomato when she spotted him walking in. Him sitting right by her didn't help her blush one bit. When she noticed other girls notice her Naruto in a whole new light, she felt a tinge of jealousy. Being used to the idea that she was the only one crushing on her blonde surprised her when she suddenly had new competition. When he started talking to her, the blush only got worse-
"Oh hey Hinata, didn't see you there"
"H-hey Naruto-kun. I like y-your new outfit. It fits you w-well" She replied, somewhat surprised at what she said. She complimented him. That was the first step to admitting her feelings.
"Thanks, Hinata-chan! Sakura picked it out for me. She said the orange jumpsuit was too extreme"
Did he just call me 'Hinata-chan'? Could this mean… She was cut off by her love's voice.
"I mean, I only wore it because it was comfortable and I couldn't afford much else, but Sakura-chan helped me pay for it and said it would help with stealth and combat, so I can't argue".
"Sh-she's right, Naruto-kun. You can n-never be too s-safe in battle".
The conversation was cut off by Iruka coming in to announce the teams. "First off I want to congratulate everyone you all passed the exam and it's been my pleasure to teach you all." Iruka said to them all smiling, "I know that you all will make me proud and that you all should be proud of what you accomplished. Now then you'll be put into your four-man cells, three Genin and a Jounin instructor. I'll call out the team name and the Genin that will be in it. Your Jounin instructors will pick you up soon."
Iruka started to read off the names as everyone waited to see where they would be place, he started with the Team One and moved on up through the teams. "Team 7 will be Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."
Sakura brightened up at that and who was on her team.
"What!? How come Sakura gets put on Sasuke and Naruto's team?" Ino whined out loud, acknowledging Naruto as a new crush.
"Ino the teams were placed as they were for a reason now sit down while I finish the teams off," Iruka said to the young girl. She eventually sat down pouting that she wasn't on the same team as her crushes Sasuke and Naruto, although they were glad on hearing that. They weren't sure they could take having someone like Ino who would always bother them.
Sasuke gave a glance at his team, Sakura he wasn't sure of. To him he figured she was one of the less than annoying fan girls but still slightly annoying. Then there was Naruto the only person in school who had given him any type of challenge. It was strange since they fought a lot and yet he couldn't say that he hated the boy, sure he was loud, annoying and sometimes dense but he was also the only other student that Sasuke could measure his progress against. It was also irritating that Naruto was never too far behind him (at least in his eyes) and so Sasuke always had to push himself harder.
In a way Naruto was making him reach his goal of avenging his family faster but he wouldn't be outdone by him regardless he would surpass and leave Naruto behind since he still had to catch up to Itachi's level and then surpass him as well.
At first, Hinata was upset that she wasn't on Naruto's team, but figured it was for the best considering she most likely wouldn't be able to focus while being near him constantly. This was better for her Shinobi career.
As the teams were led out one by one, the newly founded Team 7 was the last one in the room. Sasuke and Sakura were wondering where their sensei was while Naruto was sitting in a desk looking distraught.
He's late… There's only one Jounin I know that is late like this, and I have had enough of his training… Naruto thought frantically while gripping his hair in his hands.
He was so busy panicking that he forgot to set up the prank that he planned for when his Jounin instructor came to get his team.
They all perked their heads up as they heard the door creak open.
"Sorry I'm late, I was distracted saving a young girl from a local gang" Kakashi Hatake said, in a half-assed attempt to excuse is absence.
Team Seven was told to head towards the top of the academy, but was not told why. As they walk, Naruto has seemed to calm down a bit, realizing that while Kakashi has a mean habit of being ever-tardy, he is an extremely-competent shinobi. He's also a rough, but good sensei.
Sasuke was walking in contemplation and wonder. Wondering how much stronger this new sensei can make him. Wondering if he can be made strong enough to take down his accursed brother. Wondering just what is under his damned mask.
Sakura seemed more like the only excited one there. Not only has she finally become a Genin, but she became a Genin with her beloved Sasuke-kun. Having Naruto there was a little distressing at first, but she soon realized his attitude change. He's been a lot more calm and collected lately, while still having his little bursts of noise and excitement that he was well known for. A nice touch, really. Wait, what? She thought. Since when did I start seeing Naruto like that? No, no… I'm still going to get my Sasuke-kun.
As they arrive, they took a seat on a long, stone bench that was apparent on the small roof patio the academy had. Sasuke took his place all the way to the left, while Sakura sat in the middle between him and Naruto. Surprisingly, they didn't have to wait long as their one-eyed sensei did a shunshin and seemingly appeared out of nowhere on the ledge of the protective railing around the patio. While reading his book, he began:
"Hey, guys. Today I'm just going to get you three to introduce yourselves to me. Should be easy enough, even for a group of kids"
The three kids seemed put off and offended at being called kids. While two of them didn't show it so loudly, Naruto seemed to shout his retort.
"Oi! I may be a kid, but I'm gonna be Hokage someday and then you'll have to start calling me 'Lord Master-Sama the Great'!" He spat out angrily.
"Oh do I fear for the day, Orangie" He calmly verbally jabbed. "Anywho, let's get to the introductions…"
"Uh, sensei?" Sakura chirped in, confused. "Can you give us an example of what you want to know?"
"Ah, a smart one. We needed one, I suppose. Sure, I just want things like some hobbies, likes, dislikes, and your dreams" He stated matter-of-factly. Here, I'll start: I'm Kakashi Hatake. I like many things, and dislike some. I don't have all that many hobbies, and my dreams are none of your business".
The Copy-Nin's students deadpanned at that. "That didn't tell us anything! What kind of sensei are you?" Sakura surprisingly yelled.
"I'm your sensei" Was the response, carefully emphasized on the second word. "Now, how about you go first, pinkie"
Livid at her new nickname and her sensei's nonchalant attitude, she reluctantly began. "Well, my name is Sakura Haruno. I dislike bullies and people who have no respect for others, and I like…" She trailed off, looking at Sasuke and seemingly forgetting about her previous anger. "My hobbies are… My dream is…" She couldn't finish her sentences without looking at her Sasuke-kun.
"Well then, while she's in her Sasuke fit, how about you go next, Naruto" Kakashi unenthusiastically said, not looking forward to having to break Sakura out of her childhood crush.
Faster than he expected, Naruto began. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like pork ramen and people who respect me, and I dislike people who dislike me or think they are better than everyone else!" He shouted, obviously referring to the teme. "My hobbies are eating ramen and training, and my dream is to become Hokage so everyone will finally recognize and respect me!" He said with conviction in his voice.
At that, Kakashi raised an eyebrow. From training with the kid, he could tell Naruto did love training and had his heart set in the right place. Maybe he could one day become the Hokage he wants to be. Before that, however, he would need to realize the true way to becoming one, and the heart he needs to have in that position. After seconds of thought, he started. "Well alright, I feel like I've known you two for years" He said, sarcastically. "Now it's your turn, emo."
Sasuke seemed both embarrassed and angry at the name sensei gave him. Nevertheless, he began. "I am Sasuke Uchiha, I have many dislikes and I don't particularly like anything. I don't have many hobbies, and my dream is more of a goal. I am going to kill a certain someone" He said eerily.
Kakashi knew who he was talking about, but decided to change the subject to happier thoughts. "Well, alright. Our meeting is over for today, meet up at training ground seven tomorrow at 6 a.m" He lazily spoke happily. "Oh, and don't eat, or you will probably regret it".
Avoiding the protest at having to be up so early and not being able to eat, he disappeared from the ledge, nowhere to be found. As he always does, he will give these students the infamous bell test. While no one has ever passed it, he has high hoped for this team. Low expectations, but high hopes nonetheless. Not wanting to see the happy, energetic blonde have to spend another year at the academy.
7 a.m. – Training Ground Seven
The Genin of team 7 lay tired, broken, and grumpy on the ground. Not because of harsh training, but because of the lack of it. Or rather, the lack of even a sensei…
"He said to be here at 6 in the morning, so why is he taking so long!?" Sakura howled
"Ch." Was the only angry and impatient response Sasuke gave.
"Better get used to it, he's always at least an hour late to everything." Naruto added in, despite also being angry and exasperated. "Just wait until he comes with some bull excuse".
As if on cue, Kakashi appeared book in hand, and excuse cocked and loaded. "Sorry I'm late, I'm afraid I had to help an old lady walk her tiger" He said, not minding how ridiculous that actually sounded. It's not like he was really trying to convince anybody of his excuses, he just liked playing with them when he could.
"Spare us, let's just get to what you have planned today" Sasuke grumbled almost commandingly, not that it affected Kakashi.
"Alright, alright, we're getting to that, grumpy." The late sensei teased. "Today I'm going to give you your real Genin test" At that the three students seemed surprised to hear that they haven't become official Genin yet.
"Hey! I thought we already passed our graduation exam!" Naruto countered, with the agreement of his teammates.
"That old thing? No, that was to see if you were ready to exit the academy. This is to see if you have what it takes to be real shinobi. The name of the game is the bell test, and the rules are simple: You're all to try getting a bell, and whoever doesn't get one will not only fail and be sent back to the academy, but will be tied to a post and refused lunch while forced to watch the rest of us eat our lunches". Kakashi stated, with an obvious sinister grin on his masked mug. "Now, here's the kicker. If you don't come at me with intent to kill, you won't get the bells".
"There are only two bells though." Sasuke inquired Getting no reply from his sensei except for 'begin', he watched as Kakashi only stood there, seemingly reading his book with little interest to the test itself. Almost as if he knew they didn't have a chance of getting a bell. Naruto observed the same thing, calling his team over to discuss something. Curious, they both followed and huddled with the blonde.
"Alright, guys, you notice anything fishy with this test?" Naruto started. After seeing only Sasuke seemingly agree with him and Sakura frown, he continued. "There are only two bells, yet all teams must be a four-man cell. While I do believe Kakashi-sensei is way too lazy for his own good, he wouldn't give us a test we can't all pass. The only conclusion I can think of is he wants us to work as a team." Naruto wasn't sure of himself, but he couldn't pass up an opportunity to work with his crush, even if he has to put up with Sasuke-teme. "If either of you have a plan that involves us working together, please share".
Surprised at Naruto's newfound maturity, Sakura hesitated to pitch in her plan. "If what you're saying is true, then I do have an idea" she started. "Alright we'll start by…" She explained her quickly-improvised plan, impressing Naruto and even getting a raised eyebrow from Sasuke.
Kakashi stood there, reading and being surprised. He was astounded that Naruto didn't rush him, trying to get the bells, like he had expected him to. Instead, his students disappeared into the forest. He had to admit, it was getting a little boring having to wait on them to make a move. As he was thinking this, he picked up on 'Naruto' rushing him like he initially expected. This Naruto moved differently than he remembered, but he seemed to go along with it, realizing that this team was actually using strategy. It seemed that they discovered the true meaning to this test.
Sakura rushed at Kakashi in her henge as Naruto. As she neared her sensei, she dropped down, attempting to sweep him. When he lazily jumped over her leg just enough to avoid it, he instantly had a shuriken coming at his back. He leaned forward to avoid the shuriken and witnessed it be caught and thrown back to him by a now apparent Naruto. This time it was the real one, he concluded as he saw the blonde back down and re-enter the forest. The Copy-Nin didn't have much time to think as he had a fist coming towards his face. He leaned to his left to dodge, refusing to strike back. There was no need to. He figured Sasuke threw the shuriken and would come back, so he leapt back away from Sakura's fury.
Sasuke approached sneakily through the forest after throwing the instrument. When he reached the clearing and saw Sakura keeping Kakashi busy, he decided it to be time to get to his actual role in the plan. He pulled paper bomb tied to a kunai out of his weapons pouch. After launching it towards his sensei, he henged it as a rambunctious Naruto, charging Kakashi in order to prove himself. They used Naruto 's image in that manner because they believed Kakashi still had that idea of him, not knowing he was the one who gave Naruto his sudden attitude change.
Kakashi noticed 'Naruto' heading towards him at an impressive pace. While he knew it was a henge, he didn't know what or who it really was. He couldn't think about it in too much detail due to having to dodge Sakura's flurry of punches and kicks. He hastily decided to put away his book and kick the henged paper bomb, and was genuinely surprised when it exploded. He managed to get away in time for it not to damage him too much, only to be struck in the face by Sakura's sloppy palm strike. While he was standing there, impressed at his students, it seemed the world moved in slow motion as ne noticed Naruto come from underground. He decided to humor his students considering this was a well-made plan, and stood there in artificial shock as the blonde inched closer to the bells at a 100th of a second. The other two Genin stood there in suspense, wondering if their plan would actually work. As their blue-eyed teammate's hand touched the bells, Kakashi disappeared into a puff of smoke, leaving his students wide-eyed and motionless.
"I have to admit, I'm impressed by your strategic skills and teamwork." Kakashi said lazily but sincerely fascinated. "While you managed to take out my clone and almost get a bell, you still failed to incorporate the possibility of a clone itself in your plan." He lectured on. "You have come further; however, than any other team I've given this test to and failed."
"Does this mean- " Sakura started to speak, panting from the work out she got from continually fighting.
"It means you all three… pass." The teasing sensei interrupted with a dramatic pause at the end.
I'm going to have some fun with this team Kakashi thought, interested as he watched his newly made Genin lay down in relief and happiness from passing. He noticed the blonde one in particular rant about how he helped make the plan, which Kakashi was taken back by. He figured Sakura devised it all on her own, but it turns out little Naruto pitched in. This was becoming the start to an interesting team indeed.
Welp, that's the end of this chapter. How was it? This is my first ever fanfiction, so I would highly appreciate some feedback. I hope you enjoyed because I have a lot planned for this story.