Written with string cheese, fangirling over Jaejoong's return from the military, and Audiomachine tracks.

I hope that first chapter was better than the original. For those of you who had previously read this story and felt confused about Sakura's kekkei genkai, the last chapter should have clarified things. Reading the first few chapters, I realized I made her too much of an OP character. This time, she'll get those powers along the way.

Random thought (because no one geeks about the same stuff I do): While the new Power Rangers movie looks cool, it's just not the same. The rangers aren't the same, Rita doesn't look the same. I'm going to watch it no matter what but it's just...weird.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Some quotes are borrowed from the English-dubbed or English-subbed anime which I also do not own.

Chapter 2: Beginnings

I had spent most of the night debating if Kakashi was telling the truth about how teamwork would be the key to completing the test. It was unlikely that he expected the three of us genin to go to the training grounds after our introductions, meaning he was simply asking a casual question to the other jōnin. On the other hand, he had been aware that I had been at the training grounds the entire time and could have been doing something else with the jōnin before coercing him into a conversation about teamwork. The truth still eluded me.

The Sandaime had given me a basic, single-room apartment with an attached bathroom to live in because I was uncomfortable sleeping in the house where my family met its match. It was small but enough for one person. The walls were white and the floors were unpolished hardwood.

I found out a couple of days after moving in that Sasuke was also handed an apartment in the same area. We had never bothered to exchange conversation.

After waking up the morning of the test, I took a quick shower before getting dressed. Ever since my family was killed, I had tossed any clothing or shoes that hindered my abilities, such as my dresses. My usual outfit consisted of a sleeveless black shirt with red enamel plating on the shoulders, a light maroon skirt with open sides, black shorts underneath my skirt, and standard open-toed shinobi shoes. I tied my hitai-ate around my head, metal plate on my forehead. I wondered if I should bring my usual weapons, consisting of a metal whip and an axe, before deciding for forgo them. Instead, I packed extra shuriken and kunai in my weapons pouch.

Despite how punctual I believed myself to be, Sasuke was at the place Kakashi had designated for Team 7's genin test before me. A number of possible greetings floated through my head but I settled for nodding at him. He stiffly returned the gesture although I doubted he actually cared.

Naruto bounced in a bit later with a clearly irritated face. I briefly wondered why but he burst out explaining that he had not eaten and was not in a good mood. Even if Kakashi had told us not to eat breakfast, I had anyway, puke be damned. If I had nothing to give me energy, there was no point to seeing if I was genin material.

There was silence for a good ten minutes where even Naruto felt awkward. It seemed like he decided that complaining was the only thing that would fill the space and started ranting about Sasuke's poor choices in outfits.

As Sasuke's eye started twitching, I recalled what I heard yesterday between Kakashi and his strangely dressed friend. "Hey, you two. Listen up."

Naruto seemed glad to not talk about Sasuke anymore and gave me his full attention. Sasuke still looked annoyed but since he glanced at me I knew he was listening.

"I don't know what the test is going to be like but I heard Kakashi talking with another jōnin about teamwork," I explained.

And the prospect of our team cooperating with one another just got slimmer as Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other.

"Well if this bastard decides to get off his high horse maybe we could actually work together," Naruto sneered with his arms crossed.

"Maybe if you were less of an idiot," Sasuke retorted with an eye roll.

"Who're you calling an idiot?!" Naruto's voice increased exponentially in volume.

"You, dead last."

This was getting nowhere fast.

"Guys-" I started.

Neither seemed to want to listen to me and they continued arguing with each other. I knew I needed to make them understand that this was important. Words were ineffective though and I was not going to use my chakra to get their attention.

I ended up listening to what seemed like an hour of arguing. Where was Kakashi anyway? Certainly jōnin were not allowed to be this late when they met with the Hokage.

At some point, Naruto and Sasuke both decided that they were done talking to each other. I opened my mouth to re-suggest that the team should work together only to receive looks that clearly told me to butt out.

Butt out I did. If they had no intentions of listening to me then I was wasting my time.

We were in complete silence by the time Kakashi did show up a good few hours after the set time he had given us.

"Sorry about that. I got lost on the road of life," he said with an obviously fake eye crinkle.

"Lost on the road of life?" More like "you guys aren't worth my time."

I ignored the feeling of mistrust in my gut and turned my attention to what he was saying next.

Kakashi pulled out a pair of bells. "Your test today is to take these bells from me."

"Wait, but aren't there supposed to be three, sensei?" Naruto asked for the group.

"There are two because one of you will be sent back to the Academy."

Naruto guffawed while Sasuke and I donned expressions of surprise. After everything we had gone through to graduate, there was no way we were getting sent back. How could this test be about teamwork when only two of us could get bells?

Kakashi was holding an alarm clock. "I'm setting the time for noon. You may use whatever you see necessary to get the bells. If you don't get them in the time limit, I'll tie you to a post and you can watch me eat lunch."

The blonde of the team gasped. "No way! That's just cruel!"

"Any other questions?"

A silence followed. I was unsure of what I could ask.

"Right, let's go!" Naruto charged head on with a kunai.

Our jōnin instructor caught the blonde's extended hand with ease. "Don't be in such a rush, Naruto. I didn't say start yet."

Naruto was released and Kakashi cued for us to start. The three of us made quick work of hiding. I hid my chakra as best I could and took cover in the trees. It looked like Sasuke concealed himself in the bushes. Where was Naruto?

"HEY, OLD MAN! YOU AND ME RIGHT NOW! LET'S GO!"

Never mind.

I glanced through the gaps in the leaves and saw Naruto jump down from a tree branch before charging at Kakashi. He had made such a job of overt display that Kakashi seemed bored. I saw he had his Icha Icha book in his hand.

Kakashi dodged Naruto's attack and the boy fought to whip back around for another attempt only to find Kakashi had vanished. I put my guard up in case he decided that it would be easier to try and attack Sasuke or I. Kakashi however reappeared behind Naruto.

"Don't let your opponent get behind you, Naruto." Kakashi had his hands formed in the tiger seal. "Konoha Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!"

Oh, that looked painful.

Naruto's hands covered his offended butt as he bulleted through the air, screaming along the way.

That meant Kakashi would be looking for Sasuke and I.

It was time to find a new hiding spot.

I decided it would be better to keep moving and throw Kakashi's search for me off.

At some point, Naruto had returned from wherever he ended up and had a decent strategy of trying to hold Kakashi still with his shadow clones. Kakashi knew how to escape, rather easily too it seemed, by using a substitution jutsu. Naruto was left punching his own clones.

I had to come up with a strategy. Subconsciously, I knew I was being manipulative but there was no chance I was going to be sent back to the Academy. Maybe if I could keep Kakashi busy with Naruto then it would be easier for me to sneak in and take a bell.

That being said, I grabbed a kunai when I saw Naruto getting caught in a trap. He was hanging upside down with a leg tangled in rope hanging from a tree. I threw the kunai when I was a safe distance away and watched as it severed the rope before finding a new hiding place in the foliage of a tree. Naruto fell to the ground with an oomph and wasted no time in reengaging Kakashi.

I was about to use a clone jutsu when Kakashi disappeared. Naruto furiously searched the area. I prepped a couple of shuriken and started moving again.

Up ahead, I heard metal clanging and seeing that Naruto was still in the clearing, Kakashi must have found Sasuke. Even if it was not Naruto who was distracting Kakashi, he was still being distracted. This was another chance to grab a bell. I started heading in that direction, using the trees instead of running on the ground.

My urgency to reach where I heard the sounds stopped when I realized it was completely quiet. On the next tree I landed on, I tried to make as little sounds as possible. It would be unwise to use chakra because that would rebuke the whole point of hiding it in the first place.

Suddenly leaves started to swirl around me. I looked around frantically, shuriken poised to launch, trying to find the source.

But then, the leaves disappeared.

I narrowed my eyes. It looked like Kakashi tried a genjutsu. For some reason I could never figure out, genjutsu was ineffective on me. I remembered even when I was younger my parents thought it was odd that I was immune to genjutsu.

That was not the important matter at the moment. Kakashi was nearby and I had to get a bell. His chakra was hidden which meant I would have to encourage him to use a jutsu to make him come out in the open. I needed to make him intimidated. Looking down, the tree I was in was a good start. I charged my fist with chakra and punched the tree while at the same time jumping to another. The tree fell to shreds and I heard rustling behind me in the foliage of another tree. I threw the shuriken I held as quickly as possible. The very audible sound of deflection echoed, giving me Kakashi's location. Earth release jutsu, my specialty, would be ineffective in the trees.

I started to wish I had brought my specialty weapons. But I had other ways to attack. I gathered chakra in my mouth, converting it to oil. Ignoring the nasty taste, I started forming the seals for a katon jutsu.

"Katon: Endan!" I released a large torrent of flames and hastily grabbed a kunai to throw right after. Something sizzled and I anxiously moved forward a bit to see if Kakashi had gotten hit by my jutsu.

He did not; it looked like he used a substitution jutsu and the . I had to get moving again and as I left the trees I felt my lips stinging from burns. Looking at the clearing where Naruto had been, I saw that he had abandoned it. His chakra was on the move, although I was not sure where. Sasuke it seemed, was not moving at all.

Hopefully Naruto would distract Kakashi. I headed in the general direction where I heard weapons clash earlier.

There was Sasuke, with his head sticking out of the ground. As amusing as it was, I kept an expression of disinterest.

"What happened to you?" I asked, although I had an inkling that this was Kakashi's doing.

He looked disgruntled. "Kakashi pulled me down from underground."

I knew I needed him to get a bell. "I'll try to get you out."

The skeptical look on his face irritated me but he seemed to realize he didn't have much of an option.

In order to avoid hurting him, I needed to just loosen the dirt. I charged my fist with a light amount of chakra, enough to make an impact but not so significant as to hurt him, and punched the ground. A crack appeared, heading for Sasuke. To my relief, it simply crumbled the earth around him. He climbed out and dusted himself off.

"How did your chakra control get so accurate?" he asked. I figured it was out of curiosity for himself and his abilities, rather than an actual question about me. His stunned face was enough to please me though.

"Family abilities," I replied, a slight hint of pride entering my voice when I saw him frown.

Sasuke directed his attention to a tree behind me. "You used a fire release jutsu earlier."

Mentally, I added a question mark to his statement. "I did."

"But seeing the burns on your mouth you don't normally use fire."

He was analyzing me, I realized. "And you do, I'm assuming."

A smug ressemblance of a smirk curved the corner of his lips. "Apparently you can accurately guess things. What a talent."

I did not like being insulted. "You're wasting my time. I have to get a bell."

Apparently I offended him because he blocked me before I could leave. I glared at him through narrowed eyes.

"We both have the same objective and we can send that dead last back to the Academy," Sasuke said as if that explained everything.

He was suggesting working together. I took his points into consideration. Maybe that was the teamwork we needed to have. There was a twinge of guilt that we were putting Naruto aside but I forced myself to ignore it. "Fine. We need a plan."

Sasuke nodded and gave me an expression that said he thought I was an idiot. As if he was going to voice the obvious. This time I only gave an eye roll.

"We'll attack with close-range simultaneously. Both of us will try and grab the bells," he stated.

I dipped my head slightly to indicate I understood. Based on how quiet it was at the moment, I knew Kakashi and Naruto were not fighting. Sasuke was searching for Kakashi as well. Not wanting to lose even this small task to him, I concentrated as hard as I possibly could. Once I had a location, a clearing, my feet moved automatically. Sasuke was beside me but I had no clue if he had moved when I did or acted on his own. The thought that he could have sensed Kakashi before me sprouted irritation.

As we converged on the area I, or we, had sensed Kakashi, Sasuke and I glanced at each other in wordless communication. He headed left and I took off to the right. It surprised me how we just understood each other in that second.

Because I had left my favored weapons at my apartment, I would have to rely on my fists.

Sasuke was probably a fire type based on what I knew about his family. If he decided to use such an attack, it would catch Kakashi's attention.

Fortunately, it seemed he had the same idea. As Kakashi came into view, I heard Sasuke shout: "Katon: Gokakyū no jutsu!"

That was my cue. I rushed towards Kakashi with fists charged with chakra. He was quick to use a substitution jutsu and as I searched around, I was unable to find him. I recalled how I found Sasuke stuck in the ground and decided that if Kakashi was hiding under my feet, I would have to get him out. With more chakra than I had previously, I slammed my fist to the ground. The land split in jagged slabs of earth and I felt a rush of adrenaline. To know that that was my doing made me proud.

Kakashi's head was poking out of the ground a small distance from me. His face, or what was exposed of it, was stunned and as I glanced to where Sasuke was, he had a similar expression. There was no time to dwell on that though. I gestured for Sasuke to attack Kakashi and thankfully he obliged with several shuriken. Kakashi must not have been as stunned as I thought and a log replaced him. He was still around if my senses were accurate. Sasuke looked on alert too.

Just as I was about to move and investigate elsewhere, Kakashi appeared in front of us. I gathered chakra to my hands in preparation and I saw that Sasuke was starting seals for another fire release jutsu. But the timer halted us.

"It looks like you were unable to get the bells. That's fine, but you missed the point of this test which is teamwork," Kakashi said and eyed me in particular.

I was incredulous. He had to understand that I couldn't say anything to the two thick-skulled boys I had as teammates. My exasperation was only heightened when Sasuke's gaze on me made my insides jump.

"However, you two have managed to work effectively together and your ability to do so without talking is impressive. So you two will get lunch. If either of you give lunch to Naruto, you will fail." Kakashi pointed to where Naruto was tied to a log before pulling his book out and disappearing.

Sasuke and I exchanged confused glances before heading to where Naruto was shouting and thrashing around. If we were no longer trying to get the bells, were we still trying to show teamwork? If so, how were we supposed to show it when we were banned from feeding Naruto?

If I had learned anything in the last few hours of my time with Kakashi, it was to bend the rules.

"Sasuke, I know he told us not to feed Naruto but I think we have to," I said, hoping he would agree.

I was not entirely surprised that he did not. "Then you feed him. I'm going to eat," he retorted. I figured that he had obeyed Kakashi's words not to eat breakfast.

"Suit yourself." We reached Naruto and spotted two lunches that Kakashi must have prepped. He must have taken the meal meant for Naruto because there were only two.

"You guys gotta help me! I'm so hungry! I think I'm gonna die!" Naruto whined and it was clear that he was quite hungry. His stomach growled at that moment, clearly supporting his desire for food.

I opened one of the lunches and snapped a pair of hashi. As I was about to offer some of my food to Naruto, someone beat me to it.

"Eat some, idiot," Sasuke ordered through clenched teeth as he handed the blonde a bite to eat. "You'll just be a liability to our teamwork if your stomach won't shut up."

I followed his gesture and shot him a smirk which he pointedly ignored with pink-tipped ears. He flipped his hashi to use the other ends as he started eating. I suppose he loathed to share eating utensils with Naruto of all things.

Kakashi materialized in front of us with a "poof." Suddenly, I felt somewhat nervous. Were we not supposed to feed him after all? Sasuke's eyes were on me again and I decided that if he wanted to gloat at me I should punch him.

"I specifically told you that you would fail if you gave Naruto food," Kakashi started.

I swallowed my doubt. "Naruto is a member of this team and if you prevent us from treating him as an equal then that just demonstrates incompetence as our jōnin instructor."

Both the boys looked at me in disbelief that I would say something like that but I eyed Kakashi's reaction. He seemed...amused at me.

"Congratulations, you pass."

Naruto let out a sound that seemed similar to "egaaaah" and Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise. I felt my jaw drop a bit.

"You are the first to pass my test and you three are now my students." Kakashi's exposed eye crinkled but this time, I knew it was genuine.

Sasuke was looking at me again. I glared at the ground because I could feel myself flush.

"What you should take away from today is this: those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum," Kakashi told us, eying Sasuke and I in particular.

We had formed a partnership without including Naruto because we weren't able to see past Kakashi's instructions. A mistake, but one we could move on from.

Team 7 was now genin rank.

I don't know if you were bored or not but the hardest things for me to write are dialogue, romantic things, and action scenes, which is practically this entire story. In other words, I probably suck. So apologies if this was not an exciting chapter.

Sakura's top half of her outfit is on the cover for this story. I based it off of her main Shippūden outfit.

Review please!