Sakura looked around, wondering if her team mates were as confused as she was, and while she didn't see any surprise on their faces, she knew that they couldn't have expected this kind of introduction.

Moments before she tried to release a genjutsu, thinking that their sensei had casted an illusion on them. But it wasn't the case, he did really just appear in the classroom and disappear just as quickly. He did just tell them to meet on the roof and simply vanished.

She would have to deal with bigger surprises, Sakura supposed. It was common in their line of work.

Without any words, all three of them got up and got up to the roof, where the silver haired jounin was waiting for them. He was leaning on a railing, looking like he had no care in the world whatsoever.

If there is something Kakashi Hatake was good at, it was looking disinterested.

"Well, well, let's introduce ourselves shall we." said Kakashi, still looking out into the village.

The genin gathered round and found nice place to sit just across the jounin, as if he had chosen the exact spot. Sakura thought that he did exactly that, but then again, why would he bother. She found herself looking around the place, it was quite windy and a surprising amount of the village could be seen from the spot.

Kakashi turned to them, and looked at each of the young shinobi in the eye. "Let's start with me. My name is Hatake Kakashi, jounin of the village, and from today on your sensei, I will guide you through our world, teach you what it means to be shinobi, expand your skills and give you enough to survive by yourself, and until you become chuunin, or preferably jounin, you will not be rid of me." One could see the smug, self-satisfied smile appear behind this mask, even though it covered almost half of his face.

The genin all knew that this was simply an icebreaker, a way to ease into working together with their sensei, as they were sure the jounin would have every information needed on them, but nevertheless, they each spoke up and introduced themselves, talking about their likes, dislikes, dreams and ambitions. Nothing of surprise really came up. They had been in the same class for years now.

"Now, I'll be the first one to tell you" said Kakashi, taking on serious tone, his body straightened, his eyes became sharp - almost piercingly so, "This year, the graduates are under larger pressure than what I have seen in a long time, our village has been trying to show its dominance ever since the third shinobi war, and even more so after the Kyuubi attack, and except for couple of special cases" he let the words hang for a second, "We have been unable to bring about shinobi that would strike fear wherever they went, and now it is my duty to raise you to be the shinobi that Konoha needs."

Kakashi looked at all three of them "Remember, other teams might be relaxing, while you will be training, day in and day out, improving yourselves in every aspect of a shinobi. This exact team was chosen by the Hokage for a reason, heavy assault, espionage or scouting, you will need to be able to do everything. But, do not get arrogant, a single moment of relaxation and lack of focus means that all the hard work was for naught. I, and by extent the village, will not tolerate arrogance from young genin. Do not brag, and do not show off, remember, you are the warriors that fight in the shadow and while making yourselves known will be required of you at some point, you should not strive for fame."

Kakashi hadn't raised his voice once, he figured that calm but assertive way of talking would to much more to convince his young genin to actually understand their roles than any kind of shouting or inversely apathy would have done.

He knew what kind of a task was given to him, this team, though rough in the edges, was expected to be the second coming of the sannin, the next legendary shinobi of Konoha. He made a promise and Kakashi would not fail.

He would not fail Konoha.

Their first training was not very active, they mostly spent the morning by getting to know each others exact skill set. Kakashi joined in as well, assigning roles, giving them instructions and getting a good understanding of his teams abilities, more-so than what was mentioned in the report.

The reports given didn't always have the information in full detail, so you couldn't trust them fully. But what the reports did give was a good amount of initial information, which, though basic - was still very important.

Kakashi told his team what to expect from their trainings, and one phrase was ingrained in their head. "Always expect the unexpected" no matter what happens. They were required to keep a cool head and a calm mind. Kakashi outright said that their training would be brutal, it would take place in multiple locations in and around Konoha, so they should not expect the everyday training regime that their classmates would be getting.

Sakura was not sure how she should feel, it was only hours ago that she made the promise to herself. The promise to become stronger, to become a good shinobi. But now she didn't know if she would be able to do it. She understood the responsibility that she had to bear, but felt like she was not the one for it.

It was overwhelming really, becoming the shinobi to prove Konoha's strength. Once or twice in the talk their sensei had given them her knees almost gave way, was it out of fear or nervousness she wasn't sure, though, it could've been both.

She looked at her team mates, expecting them to be handling this much better. She was surprised to see Naruto look anxious, and though he wasn't one to show "weak" emotions easily, she could see him fidgeting a few times throughout the day. Sasuke wasn't that much better, but he seemed to be more ready to take on the responsibilities. Not surprising, obstacles were a frequent thing in the Uchiha's life.

Sakura did feel better about herself after seeing that her team mates weren't being weirdly calm and accepting of the role given to them. It let her regain some of the confidence that she lost when Kakashi told them about their team.

Their day together came to an end, and Kakashi waved at them, smiling - through his mask - a bit eagerly. And in a blink of an eye the Jounin was gone; she supposed she would have to get used to that. Naruto didn't stay around much longer, disappearing almost as quickly.

Sasuke was still there, walking with her out of the training ground that they occupied for the past few hours.

She almost jumped in surprise, and almost as quickly reprimanded herself for not expecting the unexpected.

Sasuke had put his hand on her shoulder and simply looked in her eyes.

"You shouldn't worry too much, we will manage and become the shinobi Konoha needs, know that Kakashi will teach you whatever he can." Sasuke rarely spoke up, but when he did he always chose the words carefully, always being direct.

Sakura slept easily that day, knowing that her team mate would be supporting her.

Naruto did everything but sleep that day.

He wasn't sure why all of the information made him anxious, he didn't really understand why the responsibility was only his teams to bear. And also, he wasn't sure that his team would be able to do what was required of them, he himself was worrying about everything, and how would Sasuke and Sakura take it, one was the last Uchiha in Konoha, the other was a simple civilian, they couldn't take that much on themselves.

Naruto thought about it some more, all the while jumping around Konoha, looking for a place of peace. He let his body take him wherever it pleased, he didn't think about it much, until he came upon a place he had not thought about for a long time

"I used to come here a lot" he exclaimed, quietly surprised that his instincts had taken him here.

It was a brilliant view. Seeing the village in all its glory, lit up only by the lamps scattered around. The fair few civilians and even shinobi walking around the narrow streets, going about their life. The view managed to put things in perspective. As it always had, before he forgot all about it.

But now he remembered coming up and sitting on the Yondaime's head, running away from trouble. This place had always connected with him.

Maybe it was watching the village that he would be protecting, or maybe it was to marvel great creation that was the Hokage rock. The faces of the past Hokage's, looking over the village. It had miraculously been left untouched for years, and no scale of a catastrophe had managed to damage the old creation.

And no later the calming peace of mind came, his worries were slowly lessening, maybe his team would manage, maybe they would be the shinobi that they had to be.

Maybe everything would be fine.

For now the only thing he should be worrying about was his own abilities. Becoming a genin meant nothing if he let himself stagnate. He would have to redouble his efforts if he was to become a great shinobi.

He was still full of energy, and sleeping was the last thing on his mind.

Kakashi was intrigued. When he was first informed that he would be taking on a genin team, the jounin was not sure what to expect. Of course he had guesses, the Uchiha would end up with him no matter what, teaching him Sharingan would be one of the top priorities. That had left the other two spots. And no matter how good his guesses were, trying to predict the Third Hokage was not a task he was yet able to do consistently. But this one time, some decisions had followed the logic that Kakashi himself managed to understand.

Today he introduced himself to the team, got to know them, their abilities and a bit more. He knew that if they all put some work in, they would become splendid shinobi, but that would require full concentration from both parties. Himself and his team, would have to work together towards the goal, or more like the mission that they were given.

Sasuke had been an interesting one. Kakashi fully expected the young Uchiha to be much more apathetic and reserved. But he had surprised him with his attitude. Even in the early stages of them being on the same team, Sasuke was ready to give out a motivating speech to his team mate. The boy had noticed that Sakura was looking quite miserable at the end of the day, and his pride didn't stop him from helping out his team mate.

Sakura was a nice change of pace from the overall gloomy and dark world that they lived in. She still had some naive preconceptions about shinobi, and the kinds of missions they would really be taking, and though she prided herself on the knowledge, she still was hoping it was all quite exaggerated. But still, she seemed motivated enough, and most importantly cheery enough for the team. Someone would have to take that role on.

Naruto was the reason he really decided to work hard on this team. Not because he was a great prodigy, not even because he was their son. But mostly because he saw way too much of his old self in the young genin. He would do everything to make Naruto into something that Kakashi knew he could be. Not a senseless killer with no regards towards his team mates. And definitely not into the person who believes that completing a mission is everything.

He wasn't sure if his initial thought on Naruto were even correct, of course the boy was still quite a bit different from himself, but still, Kakashi would not be able to forgive himself if he put Naruto on the path that would eventually destroy him. It could have been his own past haunting him and his desire for it to not repeat, but whatever it was, he knew that Naruto would have to be different than himself. Kakashi wouldn't forgive himself otherwise.

He went to relax, the next couple of months would at least be interesting.

Naruto wasn't sure if the Academy had properly prepared him and his peers for the gruesome training that they were going through.

Every day their sensei came up with a new and absolutely devastating methods training. Run around the village until their legs gave in - that was normal by now. Be chased by an unstoppable Jounin who did nothing to spare his genins - to be expected. Go on a wild goose chase in the village with all of its districts for the sole purpose of finding a single stash of scrolls - well of course.

Actually, he was sure that the academy did nothing to prepare them to the brutal training regime. And he didn't know if he should blame his exhaustion on them, or their teacher - who went out of his way to be as unforgiving as possible.

Weeks went by, but their team hadn't really bonded. They wouldn't meet each other outside their training. Of course that could've been attributed to the team being exhausted after every single training, but Naruto knew better. He knew that the team really made no effort in getting to know each other. Not a single meal together, just simple greetings at the start of the day, and a simpler goodbye when they departed.

At the end - the blond didn't think much of it. He wasn't really bothered by the lack of communication, their teamwork was still great, and his skills were steadily improving along with theirs.

Nothing more he could've asked for.

For now Naruto was bothered by something else entirely. Their sensei had amped up their training even more. And now the Team Seven found itself in a multiple-stage obstacle course. Which, by no surprise, was filled with an endless amounts of traps, wildlife, and natural hurdles that needed to be overcome. Only to be finally met by their sensei, who probably was masterfully hiding among the tall, almost never-ending, trees.

"Naruto, come on, Sasuke found a nice place to set up camp for a little while"

"Oh, good. Do we need anything for now? Food, water, or firewood?" asked Naruto, he could sort it out quickly if needed.

"Well, we're not really staying for long, so the firewood is enough, and the site is pretty close to water." said Sakura "But if you get a rabbit or something of sorts.."

Naruto was gone in a second, hunting was not fun, but he could do it swiftly if he moved now. Sakura would be better left back to set up traps, even when staying for a short while, couple of traps were always useful. And Naruto would rather be sure that she did them well and methodically.

Sakura looked at the place where her blond team mate was standing a second ago. She shrugged.

"He can do it alone if he wants." she said, to no one in particular. Sakura couldn't say that she understood their blond team mate. Though, she supposed, it came with being a prodigy, they all were weird and quirky in their own ways. Kakashi came to mind.

Their brutal teacher had more in common with Naruto than anyone else she had met. And it wouldn't have been a surprise if their teacher wasn't so laid back after their exercises. While Naruto vanished, he stayed back and calmly read his book with herself and Sasuke.

Naruto was an enigma, but then again, Sasuke was an enigma, but still, Sasuke had changed somewhat after they became team mates. He actually started showing some emotion. It looked like he took all of the teaching from their sensei to heart, and fully understood the role they would be playing for Konoha.

Not to say that Naruto was irresponsible. That would be the word farthest away from the blond boy that she could imagine. But still, he seemed aloof most of the time when they weren't in a dangerous situation. It was as if Naruto wasn't taking their teams commitment seriously.

In her musings, Sakura found herself back at the place where Sasuke set up camp. He neatly got everything ready for when Naruto brought the rabbit, the boy had already set off the fire, he had arranged all the firewood they would need. Sasuke was nothing if not methodical, everything he did was with purpose.

Or at least it seemed like that to her. Sakura didn't really think that she could fully understand the boys on her team, they were all quite a bit different, while at the same time inexplicably similar to one another.

"Sakura, you should really set up some traps around, even staying here, Kakashi might do something unexpected." said Sasuke, direct as always. "I'll help out if you want, got nothing to do until Naruto comes with the food."

"Uhm, sure. Not sure if the traps we set will catch Kakashi off guard, but still, some protection is always good" said Sakura.

Sasuke thought that Sakura really ought to become more confident, while the traps she set weren't perfect, and weren't the ones to catch a Jounin off guard, it would be more than enough for this occasion.

It was weird, how strangely close he became to his team. Sasuke didn't know if it was because of the gruesome training they went together, or because he felt the eerie sense of peace around them. What he did know however, was that his initial estimations of his team mates were not truly correct. Sakura was not all she seemed, and Naruto was not all he thought he was.

Sakura, he took for a simple civilian with no motivation to become a great kunoichi. And she did honestly exceed his expectations. Her skill with traps, and her actually exceptional chakra control spoke for itself. He still was sure that Sakura could be a Genjutsu master if she wished so, and with a right nudge in teaching, she could become fine kunoichi. What mattered the most, though, was that she was actively trying to work with the team. And that was quite impressive.

Naruto. Sasuke knew that he was quite possibly the best genin in the village right now, even being younger than himself, and actually younger than any other active shinobi, he still exceeded where it mattered. But Naruto was not the one to actively try and become close with his peers, he much preferred to be left to himself and let others approach, rather than initiate contact himself.

His skills couldn't be questioned, and his determination merged with the ability to learn anything quickly made him a great shinobi. But as a person, Naruto was simply indistinguishable from a stranger. Sasuke wagered that he could find out more about any person in a matter of minutes than he learned about Naruto in more than a month.

And Sasuke was getting frustrated. Entrusting your life and security to some one who couldn't bother to tell you something about yourself was getting on his nerves. And even with the amount of patience that was drilled in his head, he felt himself ready to burst.

For now, all he could do was wait to go on a mission, where they would have more time to actually talk about more than the task at hand.

Sasuke took a quick look around, the forest was still hauntingly quiet, even though he knew that there was a an abundance of deadly predators around them. And still, even with the threat of being mauled he felt at peace, as if he could relax. in the tall, almost unending trees, he could find a nice branch or even a good place to relax for a bit.

Of course, he was a shinobi, so relaxing wouldn't to. But it was mighty tempting, even in his house he wasn't truly relaxed, not really. Kakashi made sure to make him ready for everything. So relaxing a bit would be quite... relaxing.

Sasuke was very slowly realising that something was off. But he also thought that relaxing would do him much good.

He was also becoming acutely aware of how much the word relaxing was floating around in his head. Almost as if.

A burst of chakra and a quick shake of his head was all it took for him to come back to his senses. It was a simple genjutsu, simply suggesting an idea to someone and making them more prone to the psychological trick. But Kakashi obviously took into account that he truly hadn't rested for a long time, and put the exact thought that would work the most on him.

It was scary how easily he could have been tricked, and how dangerous a simple genjutsu could be if you didn't pay enough attention.

Sasuke noticed that Naruto brought a rabbit back with him, and it looked like he broke out of a genjutsu as well. He felt the slight burst of chakra that Naruto emitted. And it was quite potent. Sasuke hadn't picked up on how well he could feel Naruto's chakra, as if it was strangely different.

Sakura was also just getting rid of the genjutsu that was put on her, and Sasuke was quite happy that his team all managed to recognise and snap out of the illusion quickly, even if it was a simple one. There was no way of knowing what their enemies would come up with, and being ready for anything was his teams motto.

It was him that spoke up after the ordeal, "What should we expect? Kakashi is nearby but running away shouldn't be impossible." He was only throwing out ideas, running away or staying would be a team decision, even if he would quite like to hide from their jounin-sensei.

"That's exactly what Kakashi is leading us towards" said Naruto, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and started thinking about their options, "He knows this forest and he already has traps set up all over it, the only advantage we have right now is the traps Sakura set here, if we run even that is lost." Sasuke and Sakura contemplated on what Naruto was implying, it was either fight here. Or do nothing at all.

"Our goal was to engage Kakashi, and right now the best place to do it is here. We have traps and we can pretend to rest by the campfire, Kakashi will not be far away and we might just surprise him if we plan something." Sasuke knew that everything Kakashi did lead up to them being trapped deep in the forest. At this site they were as prepared as they could be. Kakashi wouldn't allow them to plan out the fight. But maybe they could have the element of surprise.

"Naruto, can you sense Kakashi anywhere close to us? And Sakura mind explaining to Naruto where exactly your traps are, we might lure our sensei in somehow." It was interesting how Sasuke managed to become the defacto leader of the team, even though Naruto acted as their tactician.

Naruto mentioned that he could not sense Kakashi, but if their sensei slipped up he would let them know immediately. This didn't come as a surprise to any of them. A good sensor Naruto might be, but Kakashi was a jounin with over a decades worth of experience with him. He would not be easy to track down.

These were the times when Team 7 relied on the skills they had learnt over the month. Listening to every noise, paying attention to every movement, and becoming utterly accustomed to their environment meant that they could detect shinobi even when they were masterfully hiding their chakra. All three of them understood and took to the concept easily and eventually were able to track down even the most elusive wildlife in the lush forests hidden away inside Konohagakure.

A sudden drop of a twig drew the teams attention and in an instant they were prepared for an inevitable fight. A small breeze there, a little movement here meant that the team was now fully alert and anxious. Sakura steeled herself and nodded, as if she was finally ready. She also remembered that a fight with their sensei had never yet gone well, not for a lack of trying. What trap had they not used, what kind of teamwork had they not shown, what tricks had they not utilised. Still their sensei remained basically untouched.

At the moment they were all surrounding the small traps Sakura had laid, making sure to avoid each and every one of them, as they might be crucial in managing to get away from their sensei.

"Did you hear that?" hushed Sasuke.

"Yeah. Was it Kakashi?" asked Sakura. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to know the answer.

"Probably, all the birds have flown away for quite some time, and all the small wildlife has to be a bit more far away. Naruto scared them off."

"So, we all know just about where he is. Should we wait for him to come or do we use our element of surprise and go on the attack? I might manage to lure him back here, but I would need help with that." Said Naruto, he knew that shinobi should be patient and should wait until their enemies make mistakes, but this was as large of a mistake they would get from their sensei. The perfect time to strike would be now.

"We should attack now, if me and Naruto manage to lure him here, Sakura would be left behind to maybe set up one or two more traps which would help us out a lot." Sakura only nodded, she agreed with the boys. And in an instant they were gone, leaving here alone in the small clearing.

Naruto came to a halt on a small branch. "If this works..." he said, ending the sentence with a sigh. He wasn't sure if anything would work.

"Always expect the unexpected right?" replied Sasuke, but then again, even he wasn't quite confident.

Sakura took the matters in her own hands. "Now that they've gone, a couple more traps might help us out a lot." she said to nobody. She was getting her tools out of the small pouch that she carried. It contained a number of shuriken, kunai, shinobi wire, and most importantly seals, all of which were an instrumental part of her traps.

"Well, well, well." an ominous voice came from the forest, "Did they leave you all alone? That was quite irresponsible of them." this time it came from her left, and again from her right. "I will have to reprimand my cute genin for their actions, you should never leave your team mate alone. Let alone someone who works with traps." Sakura was ready for a fight it seemed. She held a kunai in her hand with such confidence that one might think she wasn't a genin at all.

She wanted to speak out, but even knowing that this was a training exercise she still got quite anxious. But in the end she managed to speak out, just before her sensei unknowingly leapt into one of her traps. "I'm sad that you think they would be this irresponsible Kakashi-sensei." And against all the expectations of her teacher, she also leapt forwards.

Kakashi was being attacked by a barrage of mixed signals, and a barrage of kunai and shuriken, but that didn't matter. He wasn't sure where she gained her confidence from. Taking him one-on-one was surely against everything he taught up to now. It took only a moment for his slight confusion to turn into a giant surprise.

His cute little genin actually jumped out from his back, and now all three of them were going for a hit. All the while they knew where the weapons would go, and he would have to dodge them. And from what he noticed of the trajectories of his genin's jumps, they were all covering the possible places he could end up. Clever. But how? that was what he was asking himself now. When had they appeared behind him, and most importantly, how had they gone unnoticed.

Kakashi Hatake wasn't surprised often, but this was a definite exception. He had not expected for his team to manage a strong, calculated blow on him in their first month. Perhaps he underestimated them. But that didn't matter now. He had to find out how they set up this trap. Well, after he got hit in the face, because right now he was getting hit in the face.

The genin of team 7 didn't know what to do after they managed a blow on their sensei. They didn't know if they should celebrate, run around the forest, or simply fall asleep where they were with the happiness of knowing they completed their "mission". Instead of all those options, all three of the genin unknowing of the others decisions decided to be smug.

"I'm not saying that we beat your obstacle course" said Sakura, "But we definitely beat your obstacle course. Or was it a mission? Well it doesn't matter does it" She said with a large happy smile on her face.

Sasuke and Naruto were obviously a bit more reserved than that, being prideful. But even they couldn't hide the smile that crept up on their face. They could finally relax, and be out of this damned forest.

"Well done. I must say, they way you executed you trap was perfect." said Kakashi, even he was smiling, proud of his students. Or maybe coming up with new ways to torture them. One of the two. "But also I have to ask. How did you do it?"

It was Sakura who spoke up. "It was a combined effort of Sasuke's strategy and Naruto's tactics. Sasuke decided that the best way to manage a blow on you would be with the element of surprise, and that we should somehow lure you into here so you would have to avoid the kunai and the shuriken as well as us. That was the plan, and Naruto thought of how to do it." she quieted down, and allowed for the tactician to explain himself.

"Well, the idea was to lure you into here, but we knew that you would never come here if all of us tried to bring you here, and you wouldn't face us all at once, you prefer taking us out one-by-one." that was an observation they had made during their training. Kakashi never attacked multiple people at once, well not without his sharingan at least. "When you broke off that twig it created the perfect chance for me and Sasuke to hide away into the trees while our clones replaced us. It was a risk but we counted on you trying to observe our reaction more than our movement." said Naruto, it was at that moment that everything started off, there was only a moment where they could hide away. And while he was fast enough to only leave a bit of breeze, Sasuke's movement was noticeable.

"Oh, so just before Sakura nodded to herself? I didn't pay attention to that, thought it was just a nervous reaction." That was also a necessary part of the plan, Sakura had to somehow show she understood what they had done, and she simply nodded to herself, which was effective, but a bit obvious.

"Then came the part that we relied on heavily, during our training Sakura shown herself to be an effective ventriloquist, our clones couldn't talk, but we had to somehow make the noises appear, so our clones only moved their mouths, while Sakura impersonated our voices and acted as if we heard you move." That was really the crux of their plan, they had to make it believable that the Sasuke and Naruto standing in the clearance were actually them and not clones of sorts. As Kakashi would undoubtedly notice them after long enough. "By that time we were already hiding in the trees while making no noise, so you couldn't figure out where we were. And we also were sort of hoping that you wouldn't check our chakra, because you would be to preoccupied with Sakura in the clearance." Naruto continued

"The place where our plan could've fallen apart were the traps, thankfully one of the traps were actually triggered, but we also hoped that you wouldn't be able to dodge all of us coming from multiple directions while you were also a bit taken aback by our appearance. That was the gist of it, The plan relied heavily on chance, but we never let Sakura get into a dangerous position and ultimately it worked out."

Kakashi didn't speak for a bit, he was remembering every detail, and even now he wasn't sure if he would've acted any differently, Sasuke's strategy combined with Naruto's tactics were truly effective, and all the while Sakura was there to support them wherever needed, and she always made sure not to get left behind.

"I guess congratulations are in order, my cute genin team managed to land a hit on me. I'm so proud!" said Kakashi with exuberance that he didn't show around them, "you have deserved your rest, so make sure to use it fully. Because I won't be falling into the same trap again."

That was enough for them. The day was a victory they would never forget.

And maybe this victory would be the one that ultimately got the team closer. Maybe this would make Naruto open up a bit more to his team mates, who were desperately waiting for their blond team mate to become someone they could say they know.

But all that lies ahead. For now our three genin would be making the full use of their well deserved rest.

A/N: And that's that, as you might have seen, the fight scenes while often following the normal route of showing the fight, sometimes have a hidden element to them that you should look out for.

Peace.