Hey readers... I'm back with the second chapter.

To all those who reviewed. Thank you...

Read and enjoy.

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Chapter 2: The Second Test Begins

Team seven sat at the ramen stand, poking their ramen with chopsticks.

"Ayame-chan, one Super Deluxe Hokage Miso ramen please."

All three jumped. Sitting right beside them, was their sensei.

When? I didn't even sense him. Shuuei was surprised.

He's good, just like I've heard. Kisuke analyzed his sensei. There was no dust from a shun shin. Did he use that special teleportation jutsu I've heard about?

He scared me. How fast is he? Ai watched Naruto with wide eyes.

Ayame turned to look at Naruto and smiled. "There you are, Naruto-kun. Congratulations on getting your team."

Naruto grinned back. "It's not sure yet." He said, carefully avoiding glancing at the genin beside him.

Ayame frowned at him. "Don't say that. You will give them a fair chance, right?"

Naruto sighed dramatically. "What's with everyone asking me to give them a chance today?"

"Because that's what's right." Ayame lectured Naruto as the three listened, a little tense. Their sensei was being too flippant about their future.

A large bowl, with enough ramen to last Shuuei a week was deposited in front of Naruto, who opened his chopsticks with "Itadakimasu." And dug in. All three watched in awe as their sensei inhaled the stuff like air. Before they knew what was happening, Naruto had finished his bowl.

"Ahhh. That hit the spot." Naruto stretched, like a content cat. Then he turned towards his students.

He hadn't really paid much attention to them in the academy, as he had been a little pissed at Tsunade. Now that he had decided to give them a fair chance he looked at them closely.

Nara Kisuke was built like a typical Nara. Black hair, pineapple ponytail , narrow dark eyes. He could see the family resemblance to Shikamaru. He wore his hitai-ate around his neck. The boy wore a similar ensemble that Shikamaru wore at this age. Cream-brown shorts, mesh undershirt and a grey jacket with the Nara symbol on his shoulder.

Next he glanced at Tsuchi Shuuei. The boy had dark brown hair, hitai-ate on his forehead. The boy was lean. Probably fast, too. He wore a standard shinobi gear. Very dark brownish pants, wrapped in bandages at the bottom, a light brown undershirt and a sleeveless brown zip-up. He had gloves on as well.

Last, he looked at the female member of his team. In his experience, girls were the weakest link in the team for combat. He wasn't being a male chauvinist. He had just observed. Even Tsunade had once told him, drunk of course, that in a no holds bar fight between the three Sannin, all of them healthy and in pristine condition, she would have lost to Jiraiya or Orochimaru after a long fight.

There were exceptions of course. Temari could kick Kankuro's ass all the way to Kumo with her fan. It wasn't like the girls were weak either, just that when compared to their teammates, they were a little behind. Sakura-chan wasn't weak at all. Shudder. But all said and done, he and Sasuke could kill her before she got a chance to use her monstrous strength against them. Same with Lee, Neji and Tenten or the Ino-Shika-Cho team. He didn't like to admit it but Hinata-chan would lose against Kiba and Shino as well. He pulled himself out of these musings to take a good look at Yuri Ai.

The girl had soft features. She had probably been the prettiest girl in her class. She didn't appear to be conceited, but time would tell later. The girl had a very light shade of lilac as her hair color. This color was common in water country. The girls eyes were a light purple, complementing her hair. She had shoulder length hair and she used hair clips to keep the bangs away from her face. She wore something that was popular with kunoichi these days. A lilac, sleeveless loose top with purple undershirt. She wore a short skirt thingy, with high slits on both sides for mobility and dark knee length skin tight shorts under it.

All in all, he had a respectable looking team. No weirdos, thank Kami. He cleared his throat.

"Okay, since we are going to be working together, even for a short while, let us introduce each other. Tell us about your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams and that stuff." Naruto said, copying a certain silver haired jounin.

"I'll start. My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like a lot of things, like ramen, learning jutsu and training. I dislike snakes. I hate them. I dislike people who act all high and mighty. My dream for the future is to become Hokage, which isn't all that far now. Just ironing out a few creases until granny decides it's time to hang up the hat. My hobby is playing pranks. On a special note, I tend to say 'Dattebayo' when I'm excited, bored, sad, happy or basically anytime I feel like it." He looked at his team. "Dattebayo!" he finished, making his point.

"Um.." Shuuei hesitated but Naruto pointed to Ai. "Ladies first."

"Um- okay." Ai straightened in her seat. "My name is Yuri Ai. I like baking and cooking. I dislike flower arranging. I think it's stupid. My dream is to become a respected Kunoichi and help my uncle and aunt to go on a long vacation that they want to go on, but can't because they can't afford it."

Naruto nodded and looked at Shuuei. "You next."

"My name is Tsuchi Shuuei. I like hot springs, spicy food and fireworks. I dislike the rain. My hobbies are training and teasing my friend Kenchi. My dream is to become a jounin before my twenty third birthday to beat my dad's record."

Naruto smiled. Nice dream. "Nara, let it rip."

Kisuke took a deep breath and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at his new sensei. "My name is Nara Kisuke. I like playing shougi with my oji-san , Niisan and Aneue [T/l: Sister, in a more respectful way than neesan ]. I like feeding the Nara deer as well as taking naps in the open fields." Naruto smiled at this. Yep, definitely Shikamaru's cousin brother. "I dislike people who refuse to use their brains and act snobby. My dream is to make Yoshino Oba-san proud of me, like she is of Niisan."

Naruto nodded at the three. "Okay, then. Tomorrow we will have your very first mission. Actually, it's more like a test which will decide whether you can actually be genin or not." He was a little taken aback by the lack of reaction. "Which doesn't seem to come as a surprise to you…" he observed. Ayame turned and made an apologetic face at him.

"Gomen, Naruto-kun. I accidently let the cat out of the bag."

Naruto grinned back at her. "Nah, it's okay. Doesn't matter whether they know before I told them. Some clan kids figure it out by themselves, anyways, as not everyone in their clans necessary pass their genin test." He turned back at the trio. "You can find me tomorrow morning at six at training ground Seven for the test. Ja ne." In a swirl of wind, their sensei was gone.

"I'm leaving, Obasan." Ai announced to her aunt as she rushed out the door.

At the same time, Shuuei locked the door of his room in the house he lived in with other orphans. He tightened the straps on his bag pack and ran towards the compound gate.

"Try your best, Kisuke." Nara Yoshino handed the boy his bag pack. "I will, obasan." The ponytailed boy said as, in his sleepy state, he walked into a blonde girl descending the stairs, with a large fan strapped to her back.

"Ow.. Watch where you're going gaki." The sandy haired woman flicked his forehead.

"Gomen, Aneue." Kisuke dragged his feet out the door, followed by his sister-in-law.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine. Just don't give up." Temari patted his shoulder and then shunshined away, to her own mission.

Ai was the first to arrive, followed closely by Shuuei. Kisuke arrived ten minutes later, hands in his pockets and eyes half closed. They greeted each other and sat down, leaning against the wooden post. Minutes passed away in silence, waiting for the dreaded test to begin.

"Say," Shuuei spoke out. "What time is it?"

"Around quarter past six." Ai responded.

"Wasn't we supposed to meet sensei here at six?" Shuuei asked. "Is he late?"

Kisuke frowned at Shuuei. "What did you say?"

Ai and Shuuei looked at him, confused. "Is he late?" Shuuei repeated dutifully.

"No, before that." Kisuke sat up straight, all laziness gone from his face as the cogs in his brain started to turn.

"I said wasn't we supposed to meet him here at six?" Shuuei repeated, wondering if his teammate was being stupid. But considering he is a Nara, probably not.

"That's it." Kisuke's eyes widened. "Sensei said that we could find him at the grounds at six, not meet up with him at six."

The other two realized the choice of sensei's words as well. They sat up straight as well. "You mean we're supposed to look for sensei?" Ai asked. Kisuke nodded. "Most likely."

"This was a test as well." Shuuei realized. Kisuke nodded to him as well. "Yes."

Ai asked Kisuke, "And if we hadn't realized this?" Kisuke looked at her seriously. "We probably would have been failed." All three realized that it had been a close call.

"Fine then," Shuuei said, standing up. "Let's find him." Kisuke nodded as he stood up and offered a hand to Ai who accepted.

"So," she asked Kisuke, "What's the plan?" Kisuke seemed to be the sharpest in their team.

"We spread out and search until one of us finds him?" Shuuei offered.

"No." Kisuke disagreed. "That is too exhaustive. There is bound to be a time frame that sensei has set, so we need to do this fast. We have already wasted fifteen minutes. First, we must divide the areas according to the ease of hiding. Sensei is a jounin. If he wants, he can hide himself sitting right beside us and we would never find him. The purpose of this test is supposed to test our skills, so he would be hiding in middle to lower-middle hiding spots." The other two nodded as Kisuke made sense. "I need to know your strengths and abilities to design a plan."

Shuuei nodded. "I can read soil." He began. "Like when it last had water, when it was dug up, I can also understand if something's happening by the behavior of the small insects or worms that live in the soil. I can tell if someone is hiding under it by tapping on it. I can hide underground as well but only for ten minutes or so. I'm trying to master an earth jutsu."

Kisuke listened closely. "Can you track on ground?" he asked. Shuuei nodded. "As long as it's on soil. I'm still not that good with sand or stone."

"But you can do it here right?" Kisuke pointed to the trees. "If he walked on the ground , yeah. If he used trees, I won't be able to." Shuuei admitted grudgingly.

"And you, Ai?" Kisuke turned to the girl.

"I can jump really well. I can already use just trees to navigate in the forest. I learnt a few weeks ago that I can sense chakra as well, but since it hasn't even been a month, my range is still just hundred meters."

Kisuke nodded. "I can work with that. Now, listen up."

Kisuke took out a map of the training grounds and moved to their ground. Shuuei and Ai came closer. "He can either be here." He rested his fingers on a point on the map, "or here." He shifted his finger to the other side of the ground. "These are the only places where he can hide and still give us an opportunity to spot him."

Shuuei nodded and made to move away. "I'll check the first one, you go check the other."

"No." Kisuke stopped him. "We aren't clear on what will happen when we do find him. Either he may give us another task, or the task may begin as soon as we find him. If it's the latter, any one of us alone will be no match for him." Shuuei nodded and stopped. "We need to go together. If we run, we can check both places in half an hour."

All three nodded to each other and began running.

A small squirrel sitting in the clearing vanished In a poof of smoke.

As Naruto received the memories from his transformed clone, he looked up from the book he was reading, authored by his deceased sensei, not the perverted book but 'The Tale of the Gutsy Ninja.' He didn't read that one. At least not in public. He waited for another twenty minutes and then he felt three chakra signatures approaching his position. He didn't even bother to hide. He stayed in his lounging position on the tree branch.

"There he is." He heard Ai's voice call out to her teammates.

As they reached him, he closed the book and slid it into his pouch. He dropped down and surveyed his maybe students. None of them looked out of breath. That was good. If they were tired by just running around for twenty minutes, they weren't cut out to be ninja.

As the kids looked at him, he was pleased to see they were a little wary of him. Good. Never assume a mission is over because you've completed what you thought was enough. Naruto pouted at the kids.

"Heh, you guys found me. I was kinda hoping you would just keep waiting and I could fail you." The two teammates looked appreciatively at the Nara. "But," Naruto continued, "Since you are here, I can have some fun after all." He grinned foxily and the three genin shuddered.

Naruto slid his hand behind his back to withdraw something from his pouch and all three genin entered combat stances. "Relax." Naruto smiled. "I don't need to sneak attack brats like you." Before any of them realized it, he was behind them, whispering. "dattebayo."

All the fresh genins jumped in surprise. Naruto just laughed. "Anyways." He glanced down at them. "This is what I was taking out." He held out his hands for them to see. Two small bells hung from his fist. "This is going to be your test." He explained. "This test has a fixed least failure percentage of 33%. That means at least one of you is going to fail and going to go back to the academy for another year."

"All genin teams are three man squads." Kisuke cut in and Naruto smiled at him.

"Usually they are, but the benefits of being the village savior is that you get to do things that others don't. " He saw Kisuke bite his lip. "I don't want a genin team, but Tsunade baachan convinced me to try taking apprentices. A little different than your average genin team."

The three of them drank this in as Naruto took out a large alarm clock and set it.

"You have two hours. At that time, those who don't have a bell will FAIL. Could be one, could be all three." He grinned widely at them. "You can use all ninja tools and weapons you have. Come at me with the intent to kill or you won't even touch me. Now, Start."

Naruto Hiraishin-ed out of the forest, into the open clearing, leaving the three genin behind. An awkward silence descended upon the group. One of them was sure to fail. None of them wanted to be the one.

Shuuei finally started to walk off. He turned and looked at them over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but I can't be the one to fail. I wish it wasn't like this. I was kinda beginning to like you guys." He ran off. Ai looked at Kisuke a little teary eyed and Kisuke winced mentally. While he wasn't a fanboy, he wasn't immune to doe eyed girls either. Unlike his cousin, he hadn't labeled any and all females as 'troublesome' yet.

"I guess I should go too." She flexed herself to jump off but Kisuke stopped her. "Wait!"

Ai looked at Kisuke with hope in her eyes. "You've thought of something?" she asked. She had also heard about the Nara clan. They were supposed to be great thinkers.

"I do have an idea." Kisuke admitted grudgingly. Ai waited expectantly. "There are two bells." He began. "Shuuei already left to try on his own, so we could team up. It would be logical to join forces. A single genin is no match for a jounin, neither are two genin, actually, but two has to be better than one."

Kisuke could see that it wasn't what Ai had hoped for, but it was the best he could come up with right now. He did have a dozen or so other plans made but this was the best. A little sadly, Ai nodded her assent. The two jumped off.

Naruto stood patiently in the middle of the clearing, waiting. Unlike his test, no one was looking for an open conflict. All of them were hiding. One was alone and the other two were sticking together. He calmly turned a page in his book, waiting. He had learnt the art of patience some three years ago, while preparing for an infiltration mission. Had he been the Uzumaki Naruto of before, he would have attacked them and tied them up within minutes, but that would defeat the purpose of the test. So, he waited. They would make a move. Time was wasting away, after all. He sensed one of them move. The one who was alone. Underground. Naruto was impressed. Not many could pull it off at this age. Naruto made no move and just waited.

He was prepared when the ground beneath him erupted and Shuuei lunged at the bells tied firmly at his waist. Naruto leaned back and moved his waist out of the genin's reach, nimbly leaping away, eyes still in his book. Shuuei cursed loudly at his failed attempt and dashed after his sensei, bent on getting a bell.

"Nice." Naruto said, "but still not enough." He dodged Shuuei's punches and kicks effortlessly and droned in a bored voice, "Ninja use many different arts." He informed the boy as he danced around the boy, not even looking up from his book. "I'll teach you a few." Before Shuuei knew what was happening, Naruto ducked under one of Shuuei's kick and was suddenly positioned behind and under him. Kisuke and Ai watched horrified as their sensei made a handseal while in Shuuei's blind spot. Kisuke immediately sent out his shadow, but he knew he couldn't reach them in time. "Shinobi Tactic Number one: Taijutsu." Naruto grinned.

"Konoha's Secret Ultimate Taijutsu Technique : Thousand Years Of Death."

For a second, the three children were scared. Surely their sensei wouldn't use such a deadly sounding technique on a fresh genin. But then Naruto poked Shuuei in the ass with chakra enhanced fingers, causing the poor boy to fly through the air, clutching the seat of his pants. In the bushes, Kisuke and Ai sweat dropped. Their sensei was a twisted, twisted man.

"I know it's mean of me to say this, but I'm glad it was Shuuei-kun and not me." Ai said, her cheeks tinged with red.

"Don't be so sure." A voice behind them whispered and they jumped. They turned and were horrified to see two Sensei's siting behind them in the same way he had been with Shuuei. Clones? Kisuke was surprised and he remembered that Shadow clones were his sensei's signature technique. "Watch out for them." He yelled to Ai. "Those clones are corporeal." The clones grinned and together they roared and rushed at the genin.

"Konoha's Secret Ultimate Taijutsu Technique : Thousand Years Of Death."

As he prepared to jump, Kisuke saw that Ai frozen in fear and hesitated. He had a choice. To save Ai, he would have to use his shadow. To use his shadow, he couldn't jump. He had to remain on the ground. If he didn't jump, he could only stop one of the clones in time. Cursing his cousin for telling him about the will of fire, he sacrificed himself for his female teammate as a shadow rushed to the clone behind Ai.

At least sensei will mirror my body and look equally ridiculous flying through the air. With this thought as consolation, he felt his shadow connect and the brave Nara began closing his eyes, only to see the captured clone grin and dispel just as a super-powered ass poke launched him into the sky.

Back on the ground, the remaining shadow clone, standing next to the still frozen girl, watched Kisuke land in the middle of the clearing, bouncing of the grass.

"Brave kid." He said conversationally to Ai, glancing at her. "Took that one for you." and then dispelled.

Ai realized that what sensei said was true. She had even listed her jumping abilities as a strength, yet she froze and Kisuke had to take a hit for her. To be poked in the ass, in front of Kisuke would have been mortifying. She noticed Kisuke getting up and rushed to his aid.

The original Naruto smirked from his position some distance away from them as Ai helped her teammate up.

"Shinobi Tactic Number Two." He murmured. "Ninjutsu."

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Shuuei yelled to them, but it was too late. A hand came out of the ground and grabbed a struggling Kisuke by his ankles and dragged him into the ground until only his head was out of the ground. Another hand had tried to grab Ai but this time she had jumped away. She landed next to Shuuei. They both looked at their sensei with wary eyes. Those clones of his were very dangerous. Just because they could see one sensei didn't mean they were safe. There could be any number of clones anywhere.

"Shuuei-kun." Ai muttered to the boy in a low voice. "This will not work." Shuuei remained silent but privately he agreed. Ai continued. "Alone we are too easy to pick. Kisuke-kun said that two are better than one. I say three are better than two." Shuuei quick glanced at her, still keeping an eye on their sensei, who was still reading the damned book.

"What of the bells?" he asked the million ryo question.

"We'll do Rock-Paper-Scissors." Ai offered. Shuuei didn't seemed convinced. "At least then we may have a chance, but right now, it's impossible." Ai kept convincing.

"Fine, but best of five." Shuuei said. Ai smiled at him. Shuuei looked at their sensei. "Go and engage him. I'll get Kisuke out."

"Okay." Ai jumped away. Naruto smiled. He had been listening. At least this team was working together, unlike his own. He turned a page in his book as Ai reached him. As he had read in her file, Ai was good with kicks. She jumped high and kicked at him. He moved out of her reach. A soon as her feet touched the ground, she shot at him like a kunai, trying to ram her shoulder into his abdomen. Naruto leaped over her and landed behind her. This time she was ready and lashed out with a reverse kick. Naruto grabbed her leg and tossed her high into the air. Ai turned in the air and used her balance to land safely away from him. Naruto dashed after her, attacking with his own legs. Ai kept up a good defense but still got tripped up by Naruto.

During this exchange, he saw that Shuuei had taken Kisuke out of the ground. He smirked. It was time for the next lesson.

"Shinobi Tactic Number Three: Fuuinjutsu."

He gathered a small amount of chakra in his fingertips and tapped Ai's arms with it, transferring a seal onto her skin. Ai stumbled as her arms grew heavier than normal.

"Gah." She exclaimed as her arms sunk to her side, heavy as boulders. Naruto quickly tapped her legs as well. Ai collapsed to the ground. A short grunt above him drew his attention to the brown haired boy aiming a kick at his head. As he dodged, Naruto noticed a shadow slithering towards him on the ground.

Trying to use Shuuei as a diversion to use his shadow, nothing less than what I expect from Shikamaru's cousin. Naruto grinned and jumped up himself. He used a surprised Shuuei as a platform and jumped higher in the air.

As soon as Naruto jumped off Shuuei, Kisuke rushed to Ai, who was panting on the ground from her efforts to move her arms or legs. "What happened?" Kisuke asked quickly, checking for any signs of injury.

"I don't know. Sensei said something about Fuuinjutsu." Ai replied. "Then he tapped my arms and legs. Now they've become so heavy. I can't move them." Kisuke saw Naruto land some distance away. He tentatively tried to lift AI's arms and to his surprise, it was as light as normal. Maybe they are heavy only to Ai. Shuuei appeared next to him. "What now?"

"We retreat and recover. We need a strategy." Kisuke replied. He pulled Ai onto his back and both boys jumped away from the clearing and into the trees.

Naruto watched them go and smiled. Accepting the need to retreat when teammates are in danger. Not bad brats, not bad at all. Sasuke would probably had left Sakura to die when we were that young and I wouldn't even have noticed she was incapacitated. He glanced at the sky. Maybe, just maybe, I can get used to you guys.

Shuuei and Kisuke landed behind a large tree at a significant distance from the clearing. Kisuke gently lowered Ai to the ground.

"What happened to you, Ai?" Shuuei asked, also looking the girl over for injuries.

"Fuuinjutsu." Kisuke answered shortly.

Shuuei raised an eyebrow at the answer, asking for more details. Kisuke sighed and sat down next to Ai. "I guess I forgot to mention that sensei is also a Fuuinjutsu master?" he sighed. "Great, just great." He muttered, more to himself than the other two.

"Is that bad?" Shuuei asked, a bit nervous.

"Depends." Kisuke answered. "on whether you're on sensei's side or against. If you are against," he continued slowly breathing.

"Like us." Shuuei said slowly.

Kisuke frowned, not liking what he was about to say. "We are screwed, to put it simply. Fuuinjutsu is very varied and multipurpose. True masters can fight using just seals and win. It would have been better for us if he had used genjutsu. At least that we have been taught to guard against. "

"Should have known." Shuuei sighed as he too, slid down to the ground.

"What do we do now?" Ai asked, nervous. "Time is running out."

Kisuke sighed. "Troublesome." He muttered. "I need to think." He closed his eyes and made the circular hand sign his cousin made and started thinking. For the next five minutes, Kisuke thought. Then he opened his eyes and he glanced at Ai.

"Sensei wouldn't have disabled you permanently for the test. He must have done something that can be reversed by non-Fuuinjutsu users or normal ninja, meaning, us." He shifted to face Ai. The Nara took Ai's hands in her own and lifted it close to his face, inspecting her arms closely. He saw nothing. Then he repeated the process while passing small amount of chakra into the girl's skin through his hands. As he turned the arm to look at the underside, he saw it –a small seal on her skin appeared as he applied chakra near that point. He drew a thumb over it and it smudged a little.

"Found it." He announced. Kisuke opened his canteen and dipped his thumb in the water. Kisuke rubbed his thumb on the mark again, this time wiping it off.

"Hey!" Ai exclaimed. "My arm is back to normal now."

"So we just wipe the seal off?" Shuuei asked, fascinated.

"Seems like it." Kisuke shrugged. "Look on the other arm. You will have to wipe the skin with chakra to make the seal visible" He looked at Shuuei and the brown haired boy moved to the other side of the girl and started looking for the mark on Ai's arm. Kisuke started looking on Ai's legs.

Ai felt heat creep up her face as Kisuke's hands went over the skin on her legs. She knew her teammate had no perverted intentions but the skin contact felt intimate. She squeaked as Kisuke's hands moved upwards of her knee. She felt Kisuke stiffen, but the boy thankfully didn't look up. If he had, he would have seen how red she was. Luckily, the seal appeared just below her shorts, above her knee. Kisuke wiped that seal as well. By then, Shuuei also managed to wipe the seal on AI's arm. Kisuke backed away from her and muttered, "You can do the other leg. You know what to do." Ai nodded, still resembling a tomato.

Shuuei turned to Kisuke. "Now what? Any plans?"

"I need to think." Kisuke leaned back against a tree trunk and closed his eyes. Ai managed to remove the seal on her other leg by this time. She and Shuuei waited, replenishing their chakra as Kisuke went over everything he had seen and heard about their sensei. Naruto-sensei wasn't going at full strength, that was evident to the Nara. If he had, Kisuke wouldn't have had time to save Ai from that ass poke. Who does that to a girl, sheesh? Kisuke sighed. In all honesty, Ai should have been able to dodge, he thought, trying to ignore the burning still present in the seat of his pants. Naruto sensei wasn't actually gonna poke her in the ass, but she froze…. the Nara cursed. Going back to analyzing their fight up till now, Kisuke acknowledged that he should have been able to dodge the Doton jutsu that had him buried to his neck in dirt. So, keeping in mind all that, it was logical to conclude that it was possible to counter attack successfully if Naruto-sensei didn't up the level. All that was needed was a good strategy.

Kisuke opened one eye and glanced at his teammates. Ai was good with her feet and taijutsu. Shuuei was also above average in taijutsu from what he remembered of the academy. They could act as distractions. Troublesome as it was, he himself had greatly improved ever since Temari-aneue started to forcibly train him, so he could probably hold his own as long as their sensei didn't get serious. The Sun was barely in the sky and shadows were longer right now. He needed to capitalize on that. Maybe get sensei away from the clearing and into the trees. Kisuke closed his eyes and started planning.

After fifteen minutes, he opened his eyes and looked at his teammates. Shuuei and Ai were a little encouraged by the look in his eyes. "Okay, this is what we need to do."

Well... There it is. Naruto is going for the bell test. Can the three live up to his expectations?

Kisuke has a plan... Naruto should know, a Nara isn't to be under estimated...

:-D

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