Chapter 2: Konoha inadvertently creates the strongest team in history… again.

"Couldn't you have just thrown a shuriken or something?" Naruto grumbled, his orange jumpsuit hanging on a nearby branch of one of the many trees that grew directly out of the roof. He was sitting there in a white shirt and his noodle patterned boxers. "Iruka sensei is going to blame me for the room being all wet and the empty pond by the window. Besides that thing takes forever to get dry and it's heavy."

"Don't know why you wear it then," Sasuke said honestly, though he was still putting most of his focus into fixing his hair back to how it had been earlier.

"Hey it's good clothing! Don't hate on the orange," Naruto argued indignantly, though he kept the heat out of his voice. It was a sensible statement after all. Of course, if something like wet clothing was enough to slow him down he'd be a failure of a shinobi in general. "You okay over there Sakura-chan?"

"I'm fine, Naruto." Sakura was just sitting with her knees to her chest, body angled away from the boys. "Everyone can see straight through my shirt, why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Ah, sorry," he said quickly at her blunt sarcasm, turning away from her with a light blush. Sasuke just rolled his eyes at the exchange, taking a moment to squeeze any extra water out of the bottom of his shirt. Naruto wasn't kidding about the empty pond.

"You're… not what I expected," Kakashi admitted freely, looking between the three of them with his single eye.

"What were you expecting, Sensei?" asked Sakura, curiosity peeking through her annoyance.

"Honestly?"

Kakashi took a second before pointing to her.

"A dieting, lovestruck girl who doesn't actually know the first thing about being a shinobi."

He pointed to Sasuke.

"A broody avenger with an extreme ego problem."

He pointed to Naruto.

"A weak idiot who's somehow convinced himself he can prank his way to becoming Hokage."

The three exchanged silent looks before turning back to their new sensei, now sheepish.

"Ah, yeah I can see that."

"Makes sense."

"Could be worse I guess."

Kakashi just gave them all a blank look. "Well in that case why don't you tell everyone a bit about yourselves. Name, age, strengths, likes and dislikes, and any dreams you might have. Keep it short. How about you go first," he added, motioning to Sasuke who just shrugged.

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha, twelve years old. I'm a close range fighter, though I can use thrown weapons well. I like tomatoes and dislike being surrounded by airheads. My dreams…" He paused while the others looked at him expectantly. "Well, I'd really like to travel the world." Before it's wrecked by war, he silently added.

"Oooh!"

Naruto had jumped to his feet, the picture of excitement.

"Yes, traveling!" he agreed wholeheartedly. "Where do you want to go?"

"Tea Country!" Sakura exclaimed, hand raised high, though the other was still over her chest protectively. "Oh, and Waterfall! I've heard it's beautiful there."

"Doesn't matter where, just want to travel," Sasuke replied.

"Yeah, make sure to take us on lots of missions out of the village, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto.

"I'll keep that in mind," the man said dryly. "You next."

"Naruto Uzumaki, twelve years old!" he said brightly. "Close to mid-range fighter, and I'm pretty good with stealth and traps. I like ramen and hate having no money to get some when I'm hungry. My goal is to become friends with a ton of people from all over the world!" He paused for a second before adding, "Here too."

Sasuke gave a small snort of amusement which masked his surprise. Not Hokage?

"What's wrong with wanting to make a lot of friends?" Naruto demanded, giving the boy a cross look.

"Nothing," said Sasuke with a shrug, leaning back on his elbows. He mentally smirked at the surprised look Naruto was giving him. "It works out anyway because we're going to be traveling a lot. Just don't embarrass us."

"Why don't we just finish the introductions," said Kakashi, cutting off whatever Naruto had been planning on saying back. The sole girl of the group sat up a bit straighter at this, addressing them all.

"Of course! I'm Sakura Haruno, twelve years old. I'm a close-range fighter. I like flowers and dislike people with poor hygiene. I would really like to…" She broke off, looking between the three of them. "What?"

"Close ranged fighter?"

Surprisingly it was Naruto who'd said it, though the other two were definitely thinking it. Sakura just blushed.

"I've been training a lot lately and I think I do best close up," she said hotly. If you knew how good I was you'd snap! she mentally shouted.

"Awesome!" Naruto said excitedly. "I can't wait to see you in action Sakura-chan!"

"Your dreams, Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"I want the people I care about to be proud of me and to be useful to my team."

"An admirable goal," Kakashi said kindly. He could surely relate to something like that, especially given what he'd been expecting her to say. How interesting. "At any rate, I am Kakashi Hatake, Jonin sensei assigned to Team Seven. I am skilled in all aspects of being a shinobi. I like reading and dislike wasting my time. Maybe if we become a team I'll share my dreams with you three."

"Oh I- hang on," Naruto was on his feet. "What do you mean if we become a team. We are a team, sensei. Were you late to that meeting too?"

Kakashi chuckled, smiling at them with his one visible eye.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, all the academy graduates are given a final test by their Jonin sensei to see if they will become actual Genin. Most fail to be honest. Go back to the academy or get put with the reserves. Some drop out altogether and stay civilians. Quite sad."

"So we aren't actual Genin yet?" Sakura asked, surprised. Privately the girl was highly pleased at how perfectly she'd delivered the line.

"Nope."

They all spared a moment to watch Naruto fume over wasted years in a classroom before returning to the task at hand. Sasuke simply let out a huff.

"Fine, when is the test? Now?"

"Tomorrow morning at eight, training ground three. Come geared to fight. You'll want to skip breakfast as well," Kakashi added, getting to his feet at last. "You'll puke otherwise."

And with that he vanished in a swirl of leaves. Silence fell on the trio for a few seconds before it was broken.

"Ah, Sakura-chan can I talk with you for a second?"

The girl looked over at a somewhat nervous Naruto in surprise but nodded all the same. She knew what he was going to ask her anyway.

"I'm heading home then," said Sasuke, getting to his feet. "Make sure you eat tomorrow, even though he said don't. It's obviously misdirection."

Receiving surprised nods from his teammates he turned back to the rooftop door, heading for the stairs. Naruto waited until he was gone before speaking.

"Sakura-chan, I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for the way I've been bothering you this past year asking you out all the time."

Sakura, who had already been half way to gently rejecting that very thing, froze mid motion. What? Where did that come from?

"I uh…" Naruto looked off to the side, not willing to fully meet her eyes. "I got to talk to someone recently about how to get close with people and he said I've been doing it wrong, asking you out the way I have been. I really just want us to be friends."

"Oh." Well, what else was there to say? She'd been wondering how to go about making peace between them and he'd actually come to it himself, albeit with some guidance. She couldn't help but wonder who talked to him, considering how few adults there were in the entire village that actually wanted to help him. Especially now in his life. "Well then in that case, I'm sorry about how I've been treating you too. You didn't really deserve any of it and I've been pretty mean to you…I guess I was just trying to get attention from the wrong people," she added softly in reflection.

But Naruto was shaking his head, now beaming at her. "No way, Sakura-chan, water under the bridge. Uh, friends?" He held out his hand, palm up.

Sakura eyed it for a second before grinning, hitting it with her own in classic low-five style.

"Sure! We're teammates now after all."

"Ah Sakura-chan, your shirt," Naruto said quickly turning away, though he was still watching from the corner of his eyes.

Sakura immediately turned around, arms crossed over her chest once again.

Past or future, he's still a bit of a perv…

Meanwhile, Sasuke took his ear away from the door and began to walk down the steps, finally heading home. Well that had been entirely unexpected, if not extremely welcome. He certainly wasn't in his original timeline if things like this could happen. A small smile made its way onto his face, refusing to budge.

Maybe this time travel thing wasn't so bad after all.

Xxx

Naruto let out a long breath as he finally closed the door to his apartment behind him. He could barely still believe that it had worked out so well. His apology, which had only been given to hopefully lower Sakura's dislike of him, had actually turned into her apologizing back and agreeing to be friends! She didn't even mention Sasuke once the entire day, something that was strange in itself, but that fact had given him the confidence to approach her.

"Am I really back in time?" he wondered for the hundredth time, sinking into the worn out couch with a thump. It looked like everything was the way it used to be, hell it felt like the way it used to be, but there were definitely differences. Sakura was… nice? Sasuke didn't say his "dream" was to kill his brother, but the massacre still definitely happened so what was different? Clearly it was something but was that necessarily a bad thing? He seemed much more level headed in general now. Sasuke's obsession with vengeance had driven them all apart. Perhaps even caused events to end as they did. This time though… if he were able to keep the team together…

Naruto quickly shook his head, stamping down on the feeling. The sheer amount of hope that had risen within him just then was simply intense to experience. He was still so torn about being young again. True none of the bad things had happened yet, but everything he'd worked for and achieved had also been undone. All the people he'd become close to… none of them cared about him anymore. Not even Tsunade. It was bittersweet at best.

Still, it didn't change the fact that his reality was a replay of his past. No matter what happened he would deal with things as they came. Better to focus on more present issues...

… like the fact that he was getting embarrassed over seeing through Sakura's soaked shirt? What the heck! Just the thought was getting him red faced again! Maybe as an actual twelve-year-old he'd have been embarrassed, but he was a bit more than twice that in actuality. Thinking on it though…

"I've been acting pretty immature," he said aloud, frowning at the ceiling. "Did the kid me just not go away? Am I both?"

"Well this sucks."

xxx

"The Hokage is ready to see you Hatake-san."

"Thanks, Tenri-chan," the Jonin said with an eye smile, heading down the hall to the Hokage's office.

"Kakashi, I take it you finally met with your team?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him a knowing smile as he took a pull on his pipe. The papers that covered his desk were forgotten as he focused on his guest. "If they are anything like my old kids I'd imagine they'll be quite the handful. I was reading the final academy reports earlier, always interesting to see what there is to say about our star rookies..."

Kakashi took the seat opposite the Hokage's desk with a small exhale.

"I read them as well. Did you know that Sasuke wants to travel?" he asked blandly. "That was his dream. To see the world, apparently. Didn't matter where, just wants to travel. Sakura wants to make the people she cares about proud of her, and Naruto wants to become friends with people from all over. He seemed pretty excited at the prospect."

The Hokage slowly took his pipe from his mouth, placing it lightly on the desk.

"...What?"

"When I went to pick them up they were all knocked out too. It was cute to see them asleep like that. Got a picture," he added, holding up two fingers in a V shape.

Before I hit them with the water jutsu, anyway. Gold star reactions.

"So their profiles were…"

"More than a little inaccurate, if what I've seen is true," Kakashi finished with a shrug. "I'm actually curious to see how they do tomorrow," he continued with a smile. "They seem like a friendly group."

"You don't say…" Hiruzen chuckled, glancing over at the portrait of his predecessor at the side of the room. It wasn't often that the academy profiles were wrong, but it had happened before. Particularly with more notable shinobi.

"How interesting. Maybe I'll watch as well."

Xxx

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura politely as the man finally drew close to the three soon-to-be Genin.

"Sakura," Sasuke interrupted, tapping his wrist.

"Oh you're right. Good afternoon, sensei."

"Hey everyone, sorry I'm late," the Jonin said easily, looking between them. "I got lost on the road of life."

"It's a nice day," Sakura agreed, looking up at the clear blue sky. Indeed it had been a while since she'd relaxed under the warm sun without a care; her village at relative peace with the world.

"I see, did you all eat?"

"Just finished lunch actually," said Naruto, pointing to a couple takeout bags by the nearby tree. "Want some? We have a little left over."

"I ate on the way," Kakashi replied, completely unsurprised they hadn't been tricked by his light scare tactic. "I've been thinking about what you all said yesterday and I've decided to modify the original test I was going to give you."

"How so?" asked Sasuke. Indeed all three looked very curious at the news. Had they possibly heard about his test before this? If so then he'd definitely made the right decision.

"Well instead of making you fight each other to get some bells from me I think I'll just have you get a single one instead. A half hour time limit sounds good." He dangled the single bell on a string before their eyes. It gave off a minuscule jingle. "However…"

Kakashi pushed his forehead protector up to reveal a fully matured Sharingan spinning expectedly.

"It'll be harder."

Silence.

Then…

"Isn't that one of your eye things?" Naruto asked Sasuke, turning away from his sensei. The Uchiha actually blinked in surprise. He always thought Naruto hadn't known about the Sharingan initially.

"How do you know about that?" he demanded, the statement not entirely forced. Naruto, however, scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"The KMP caught me a lot when I first started doing pranks," he admitted. "Their eyes were like that sometimes. Is Kakashi sensei part of your clan? I thought, you know..."

"Hn… Sharingan Kakashi has always been a popular topic with the Uchiha," Sasuke said with a nod, adding after a moment, "Back when they were all still alive, that is. And no, he isn't."

"You don't say," said Kakashi with a smile, though they all knew he was humoring them.

"You're one of the top ninja in the entire village, taught by the Fourth Hokage himself," Sasuke responded, as if that explained everything. Well, to be honest it pretty much did. From an outside perspective, the three genin had hit the proverbial jackpot on senseis.

"Really?" Naruto gave Kakashi an awed look. He bumped past Sasuke to get closer, giving the white haired Jonin a wide eyed look. "That's so cool!"

"He was a very good sensei," Kakashi said after a moment, eyes lingering on Naruto. "And a good mentor. I was lucky to have him."

"I'm so psyched!" Naruto exclaimed, practically bouncing with energy. He was looking quite eager to begin. "Sensei, can we start?"

"Whenever you'd like," Kakashi said with a shrug, glancing over at Sakura. The girl was watching them with uncertainty but still ready to move.

"Okay."

At that the boy dropped into a seated position, giving Kakashi a momentary view of Sasuke with his hands in a tiger seal. It was only for an instant though because he was immediately engulfed in an enormous fireball. Naruto, seemingly unconcerned by the proximity of the flames directly above his head, was laughing.

"Hahaha, tricked him," he said happily.

Sasuke just huffed, cutting off the jutsu and looking around.

"Of course we didn't, dope, he escaped."

Indeed there was a blackened log where Kakashi had been seconds before.

"Oh come on that was perfect timing!" Naruto said grumpily. Okay he hadn't expected it to work at all but he was still annoyed a bit. Sasuke had caught onto his plan instantly and carried it through easily. Their sensei, of course, was long gone. Even now he couldn't detect the guy. Kakashi really was one of the top ninja around.

"So what's the plan?" Sakura said quickly, coming over to the other two. True they'd just pulled off a nice combo, but if they didn't want to work together-

"I wasn't kidding about what I just said." Sasuke gave each of them a serious look. "Father talked about him all the time. Our sensei is one of the strongest ninja in the entire village. He's been a possible Hokage candidate for years. Unless we work together we just don't stand a chance. Especially with his Sharingan out."

At least not without being found out, the three all unknowingly thought at the same time.

"If there's anything you've been holding back from the academy, now's the time to say so."

Damn sensei! Sasuke thought in annoyance. Why couldn't he have just kept the regular test? What caused the change? That small meeting the day before? Had that really been enough?

"I can do this."

There was a puff of smoke and suddenly there was another Naruto standing with them.

"Hey," he said, waving at them.

"I thought you were bad at bunshin," Sakura said in a very convincing confusion. It helped that she'd been expecting at least a dozen of them at once as opposed to one. Naruto's chakra control was simply abysmal. He'd probably gotten lucky for once.

"Um, I had a breakthrough," Naruto said with a shrug. "A big one," he added when Sasuke poked the grinning clone, eyes widening immediately.

"How about you?" Sasuke asked Sakura.

Unknown to the other two boys, Sakura was going through quite the inner dilemma. She couldn't reveal anything regarding her medical abilities or knowledge without some significant preparation. She also couldn't use any of the techniques Tsunade had taught her. Who knew how she'd even arrange getting trained by the legend once again. Without that what did she really have? Everything she typically did revolved around it after all.

Oh, hang on…

Xxx

Kakashi smiled to himself as he watched the three genin (plus one clone) huddle together closely as they talked strategy. Sasuke, given his knowledge of the sharingan as well as the Jonin himself, was most definitely leading the group at the moment. The white haired man was quite curious to see how he'd try fighting against his clan's famous bloodline.

Then there was his sensei's son. Apart from checking in on him occasionally there wasn't much he knew about the boy except through frequent reports. Anbu hadn't really afforded him the kind of freedom to keep personal tabs on anyone. Captain did have its perks though.

Finally, Sakura was a total mystery. He honestly didn't expect much from the girl compared to the other two. Of course, it wouldn't do to start training his team by underestimating them. After all, they might actually get the bell.

"Pfft, yeah right."

xxx

An older man chuckled lightly as he watched Kakashi through an unassuming glass sphere. He manipulated the control seal to give him a better view and sat back, prepping his pipe for a long smoke.

"Tea, Neko?"

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," the purple haired Anbu said softly, taking the freshly poured cup in her hands. Her eyes however stayed focused on the crystal sphere.

xxx

The battle started in the typical fashion most shinobi battles started. One moment there was nothing, in the next there was movement. Kakashi stood among a number of trees, paying little heed to the flickers that danced between them. His sharingan rendered the cover useless as the masses of chakra surrounded him. The whisper of cut air reached his ears, causing him to lean back as shuriken crossed his vision in both directions. Absently he noted that they had immediately gone for the kill.

A small grin hid from the world under a face mask.

Kakashi lept upwards as the ground at his feet burst open, orange sleeved hands clawing for his feet as dozens of Narutos emerged from all around, shuriken filling the air in a storm. Kakashi pulled a kunai, deflecting the incoming projectiles that were actually going to hit him while watching the vast majority miss him entirely. Ninja wire suddenly filled the air around him, ready to entangle him and bring him back to the ground.

A decent strategy.

Kakashi formed a single hand seal.

But not quite enough.

He vanished, allowing the log he'd changed places with to become trapped instead of him.

And suddenly ducked as a foot passed through the space his head had just been occupying. His legs left the ground as another attack made to drop him. Now completely horizontal he struck out, simultaneously repelling both his attackers as he returned to a regular stance. Both Sasuke and Naruto slid back, having guarded against the hits with their crossed arms, but were moving forward again nearly instantly, having been helped each by another Naruto clone. How many of those things could the boy make?

Deciding to test they boys' taijutsu skills, Kakashi engaged them at the upper levels of a typical genin, only to quickly accelerate into chunin territory. Perhaps individually they were manageable, but the two worked incredibly well together, covering each other when he tried to sneak in extra hits and setting one another up for follow-up strikes. If he were even an average chunin, he likely would have eventually fallen to their combo.

Without the Sharingan, obviously. Using it just made everything absolutely hopeless for the lot of them.

I should go find Sakura, I wonder what she is up to.

The thought crossed his mind innocuously and he moved with a burst of speed neither boy could keep up with. A devastating kick to the chest sent Naruto bodily from their current battlefield while the second kick had Sasuke joining him, though not before another immense blast of flame raced back to cook the jonin alive.

Kakashi disappeared in a shunshin, now standing above the area against a tree, scanning the masses of chakra below for the one he'd identified as Sakura before their battle had even begun.

Found you.

The girl was actually quite a distance away, hiding at the edge of a clearing he'd scouted earlier. Within seconds he was upon her, aiming a strike at her unprotected back. Instead of hitting the off guard girl though he connected with a suddenly appearing Naruto, sending them both rolling into the clearing but saving her from the hit.

Of course, Kakashi wasn't to be denied. Two kunai buried themselves in the ground at Naruto's feet, hissing for a split second before the explosive tags on them detonated with force. Sakura was knocked into the air and hit the ground hard, though pushed herself to her feet despite the damage. Naruto, who had once again taken the brunt of the explosion, was gone. He had been a clone.

Almost at once, eight more Naruto clones joined her from the trees.

"Stay back Sakura-chan, I've got this," one of them said confidently. Not even waiting for a response they all charged.

Kakashi almost smiled under his mask as the eight dashed in to meet their doom. There was no way Sasuke hadn't warned them about facing his sharingan head on. Had the frustration of nothing working finally gotten to his head?

With what could almost be called precognition, Kakashi strolled through the eight, never taking a single hit while expending minimal effort to end each clone. Within four seconds they had all been dispatched.

Suddenly he flashed back five feet as both Sasuke and what was likely the original Naruto crashed into the spot he'd just been standing in. He had to give it to them, they didn't back down for anything. Now though…

"Leaf Village Secret Technique-"

His hands separated into two, half-tiger seals.

"Two Thousand Years of Pain!"

And that was the end of them.

While Naruto and Sasuke both crashed into the ground in the distance to recover, Kakashi finally faced off with the third member of the group. She was a little worse for wear, her clothes were singed in places and outright missing in others, but apart from a light blow to her modesty she looked well enough.

"I hope you don't think it'll be any easier if it's just me, even if I'm already hurt," Sakura said with a huff, already in a stance that immediately reminded him of the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist. The buildup of chakra in her hands was also quite clear, was she actually going to try to copy her classmate?

"I think I do best up close."

How interesting.

A tensing of her legs was all the warning he had before Sakura was within his guard.

Fast!

His arm came up to block her open palm, causing the chakra she'd gathered to splash out and dissipate, doing nothing. He blocked four more strikes like this before Sakura withdrew, circling around his right as she threw a series of shuriken he rapidly deflected with a drawn kunai. He watched them fall in a very slow motion, his sharingan spinning as it drained his chakra at a light and steady rate.

Sakura veered to the side as the shuriken she'd thrown came speeding back at her, using the chakra in her hand to sharply angle herself back at the jonin for another chakra infused salvo. Still the attack was blocked effortlessly, and after a dozen or so strikes she retreated, rejoining her partially recovered squad.

"Che- a lot harder than it looks," she grumbled, glancing at the boys. "You two okay?"

"We'll live," Naruto said with a wince. Two lifetimes of that attack was two too many. "This guy is crazy, he doesn't have any openings! Everyone has openings!"

"I told you it's the sharingan, we're moving in slow motion to him," Sasuke said, also doing his best to wipe the last few seconds of his life from his mind. "The only hits we're even landing are because he wants to block them."

"Don't stop now, your time's almost up," Kakashi said with a cheerful smile.

"If he doesn't have any openings we'll just have to make some," Sasuke said with a scowl. "One more time, give him everything you've got. It's all or nothing!"

Again the three dashed in at multiple angles, Sasuke opting for a dual wield style with two kunai, Naruto with a single, and Sakura again with chakra in her hands. Still holding the kunai of his own Kakashi wove through the three, blocking the attacks he couldn't easily dodge and striking back with pinpoint precision. Barely two seconds went by without one of the three being knocked from the melee, but they always recovered quickly and rejoined the fray.

"I have to wonder why you three hid your skills in the academy," Kakashi mused aloud as he ducked low beneath a sweeping kick from Sasuke while simultaneously parrying an attack from Sakura to the side. His hand darted up to grab Sasuke's still extended leg and used his superior strength to throw him into an oncoming Naruto. "Anyone want to explain?"

"Being subtle has its uses," Sakura said briefly, lunging forward suddenly. Kakashi sidestepped her by just enough so that her hand almost touched the bell at his waist. He really did enjoy giving them the illusion it was just out of their reach. He then helped her along into the dirt with a kick at her back.

"In combat as well," he smiled back at her, turning away when he saw that she wasn't getting up. It looked as if her stamina had finally given out. About time too, even just minimally using his sharingan for half an hour was draining.

"Are you two done as well?" he called over to the boys who were untangling themselves. "You've got about two minutes left so you can still try to not fail."

"I don't know…" Sasuke finally pushed Naruto off of him and stood up, dusting himself off. "What do you think, Sakura?"

It was then that he realized something was wrong. Kakashi's eyes darted to his waist where the bell that was dangling peacefully suddenly melted away as he cleared his body of the genjutsu he'd been unknowingly placed under. Continuing to turn his head, he saw Sakura get to her feet.

"Haha score!"

Sakura held up two fingers in victory, a beaming smile on her face as she presented the bell.

Kakashi, who had frozen at the sight, suddenly chuckled and pulled his headband back over his sharingan.

"Ma ma, you actually got me."

xxx

Meanwhile, on the other side of the village, the Hokage was chuckling as he watched the scene through his glass orb. Though Neko's face was still masked, he could tell she was giving the scene a shocked expression.

It was indeed exactly as Kakashi had said. Team Seven, and they were a true Team Seven, was an exciting bunch. He was proud of all of them, not only for their exceptional skill and ability to work together flawlessly, but for seeming to have accepted one another as comrades. It all fed into the same thing. Leaf shinobi were taught that their true strength laid within teamwork. There was no replacement for an excellent team.

Add to the fact that Kakashi, that Kakashi, actually seemed interested in teaching them?

Those three were going to be absolute monsters.

xxx

"It is my dream…" Kakashi began, instantly grabbing the attention of the three new Genin, "to ensure my sensei's legacy lives on, and become a person worthy of my best friend's memory. Maybe I'll get a cute wife too," he added with a small, undeniably perverted chuckle.

Not like that you won't, they thought as one, all with flat expressions.

"So congratulations. As of this moment we are officially Team Seven."

"Yatta!"

Even sprawled out on ground, Naruto was able to give a whooping cheer of joy. Sasuke wore a satisfied grin as he holstered the two kunai he'd been using with a flourish and Sakura went to go help her hapless blonde teammate up, smiling widely all the while. There was no denying that at that moment, things were good. Better than good. Better than great, even.

It just felt… right.

And for a reason that he couldn't quite explain, let alone begin to understand, Kakashi felt it too.

"Team Seven," Kakashi paused as the three snapped to attention from their various positions. "Meet here tomorrow morning at eight for our first assignment. Also, make sure to eat breakfast," he added with an eye smile. And with that he vanished in a swirl of leaves.

XXXXX

AN: There you go, hungry readers. I hope this will hold you over for a bit while I finish the next one, whenever that is. If the response is absolutely insane I'll see about cranking it out quicker. The Naruto community is a fun one to give to, so look forward to some friendship and fun in this one. As always, any questions hit me up.