Chapter 3: Real Genin Exam
"I know that already, that's how I passed the exam," Naruto stated. Mizuki continued to smile though he cursed himself mentally.
"There are more jutsu's on there though,'' Mizuki tried to goad.
"Really?'' Naruto questioned.
That was to say Mizuki's anger was justified of course, which it was not. In fact, while his anger was not justified, almost the entire village of Konohagakure felt the same way. They all hated Naruto, all for something that was in no way his fault, but they thought he was the reincarnation of it. That was not to say their fear was not justified, if only slightly. After hearing the stories of what happened when people like Naruto lost control, it was only right of them to fear him at least. A person who did not was strange indeed.
"Yes, however the technique is heavily guarded, too heavily guarded for anyone without your exceptional skills to reach. It's in a scroll, in the Hokage tower. I'll meet you outside the village at night time to see how you're doing. Once you're done learning it we'll return the scroll and continue to practice it."
Naruto paused. Sure, he was a sucker for a new technique, but something about this did not seem right to him. Call it a fledgling danger sense if you would, but something was fishy here. After all why would you need to guard a jutsu that should be open to shinobi? More so, why could only Naruto, a preteen who was not even on par with many chunin, be the only person to get the scroll without getting caught? It made no sense. Originally Naruto would have jumped at the chance, however Kakashi and Anko had beat, literally beat, one lesson into him in particular over the last year more than any other. If something seemed suspicious, don't trust it. In the end, Naruto's love for jutsu, won out.
"Okay sensei. I'll get the scroll and learn a jutsu. But, what happens if I get caught?"
'That's the best part. Nobody will believe what you have to say, they'll believe me. Then you'll get executed for treason, not even the Hokage will be able to stop it. The shinobi side of the council will overrule him, if they recognize that the boy has no use as a Jinchuriki. Even if you do somehow manage to get the scroll I'll kill you in the forest.' Mizuki thought darkly.
"Don't worry, nothing bad will happen to you, it'll all end up fine," Mizuki said. Naruto nodded and jogged off after the conversation had ended, leaving with a, "See ya later then Mizuki-sensei!"
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Naruto walked up to Kakashi smiling and pointing to his headband. "Look here Kakashi-sensei, I'm a ninja now." Kakashi looked over at the boy, smiling once they saw the forehead protector on his…well forehead.
"Congratulations gaki. You're a ninja now, meaning that your training will get intensified. And I assume Sasuke's a ninja as well?"
Naruto looked at Kakashi as he were an idiot. ''Of course he is."
''Naruto, I may not be able to train you anymore due to the council wanting me to train the Uchiha alone without any distractions. Hopefully I end up being your Jonin sensei, but that may not happen.''
Naruto frowned at that. To him it just sounded like more of the Uchiha special treatment Sasuke was always getting. It frustrated him to no end. The fact that somebody like Sasuke could get everything he wanted without having to move a muscle, all because of his damn bloodline and the fact he was the last of his clan. If this clan was so great and powerful why was Sasuke the last one of them anyway? How did one UChiha alone take out such a great clan? That alone made Naruto think that Sasuke didn't deserve all the special attention he was getting.
"I see sensei…so my new sensei is the only one who will be training me from here on out huh," Naruto mumbled looking at the ground, his golden bangs hiding his eyes.
"Don't worry Naruto. I'll still be able to stop by sometimes and train you. I won't be disappearing completely. Plus, I do have some say on what genin I get to raise, and while I technically only have two spots of people I can choose from, you should know for a fact that one of those spots belongs to you, so I may be able to train you."
Naruto perked up at that. "Does that mean you can keep training me sensei?"
"Yes, Naruto yes it does."
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Sasuke groaned as he fired off another Katon jutsu. Those were exceedingly taxing on his reserves, but it mattered not. After all, he was an Uchiha! They were born to be on top, with no one having the power, nor the courage, to oppose them. While he appreciated his newfound friendship he found in Naruto, his training came first and foremost. He should probably go to Kakashi for more additional training. With that in mind he kept up his training, starting his Uchiha-specific style of taijutsu. He bobbed and weaved, pretending there was an opponent before unleashing a barrage of hits. He had to keep getting stronger and more powerful.
''Katon: Housenka (Fire Release: Mythical Phoenix Flower Jutsu)!''
To eventually kill his brother.
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Tenten sighed as her sensei, Might Guy, continued to push them even harder than usual. While Tenten would admit her sensei was nothing short of powerful, he was also rather…eccentric was the nicest word she could use to describe him. In fact he had infected one of her teammates with his, strangeness. Only her and Neji Hyuga, who she had to admit looked very attractive but was a total asshole, were the normal ones in their squad.
In fact, Guy was there now, doing 300 laps around their training field, on one hand. It was nothing short of insane. Still, it did help him, physically and she assumed mentally. He was too absorbed in his so-called 'youth' to get an accurate reading on it.
Guy was tall and well-build with high cheek-bones, unnaturally thick eyebrows, and had black hair in cut in a bowl style. He wore a hideous green jumpsuit, with orange striped leg warmers and the standard Konoha flak jacket, though it was unzipped. His forehead protector, which should have been on his forehead, was tied around his waist with a red cloth, like a belt.
However, that was not the end of her nightmares. No his mini-clone was also there, doing the same style of training as the sensei. It was Rock Lee, a boy who was supposed to have been a dead last who is now undoubtedly stronger than the majority of their graduating class as of now. Guy's training allowed him to bloom into a taijutsu-specialist ninja, much like Neji. However, if there was anything Tenten disliked about Lee, it was who he looked up to. It was Guy.
Lee possessed the same unnaturally thick eyebrows Guy had, and large, rounded black eyes with prominent eyelashes. His hair was cut in the same bowl-cut style as Guy, and he wore the same attire, the green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, red forehead protector worn as a belt, everything. The only difference was the bandages he wore around his hands and wrists.
Tenten sighed as she began running her laps.
"I wonder what Naruto's doing," she mumbled as she remembered her run in with him a year ago at a weapon's shop.
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Hinata dodged another strike from her younger sister Hanabi before moving in for the kill. She lashed out at Hanabi, barely managing to hit her chest before following up with three palm strikes that stopped Hanabi's arm movement. As Hiashi called the match and walked up to his daughters along with the Hyuga elder, he smiled. His daughters were growing strong. However, that also meant that they would have to fight for the position of clan head soon. That was something he did not want happening to soon. The weakest one would be branded on put into the branch family, despite their near royal blood. It would be a sad day when that happened. However, until then Hiashi would train his daughters to become powerful ninja, for the Hyuga's sake, not for the village.
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Naruto hopped outside the village gates with the massive scroll in hand. It was rather easy to steal the scroll from the Anbu, which was surprising. Maybe they thought nobody would try to and their guard was down, or they were preoccupied with something? Or, in the worse case scenario, they had caught Naruto and asked the Sarutobi what they should do, which would most definitely in Naruto getting a stern talking to, in the least. Naruto ignored these thoughts however; as he jumped down from the rock he was on and looked over at the nearby forest. He smiled at the possibilities.
Naruto sprinted off into the forest, showing good chakra control by using small bursts of it, miniscule so the Anbu or any other ninja nearby would not notice, to get far into the forest. Once he had reached a good distance away he sat down and opened the scroll. What he found was beyond his expectations.
The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique) was the first jutsu he found. It was the exact same jutsu he used on the Genin Exam.
All in all Naruto thought it would be a very useful jutsu, plus it was B-ranked, which was the highest rank jutsu he would know. He also read that it was a kinjutsu, meaning it was a forbidden jutsu, although it seemed to be only because of its high chakra cost. That mattered not though, after all Naruto's chakra reserves was abnormally high, higher than even the Sandaime's, which meant it was the highest in the village.
He then read the different variations of the Kage Bunshin. He found a jutsu called Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu (Wind Clone Technique). The description is what caught his attention the most. Who ever the bunshin comes in contact with, the opponent is cut in several various places. Considering how much chakra he possessed, it would be a very efficient jutsu for him.
He quickly got to work on using them, forming the cross handseal he had to make before gathering up chakra. The chakra formed quickly, a large burst of it; however that also meant it was much harder to control.
"Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu (Wind Clone Technique)," Naruto roared. Two puffs of smoke appeared next to him, and when they cleared two more Naruto's were there grinning.
"Success," the three cheered.
"Congratulations Naruto," Mizuki said.
Naruto looked up at his supposed caring sensei, smiling at him gleefully. "Hey Mizuki-sensei, thanks for the tip on the jutsu, it's awesome. Now I can create another variation of the Bunshin without anyone being able to ridicule me. It's thanks to you that I'll be able to be a capable ninja!"
Mizuki smiled. "Really now? Then I have something to ask of you Naruto."
"What is it Mizuki-sensei," Naruto asked.
Mizuki walked into the moonlight, removing the giant fuma shuriken from his back and beginning to spin it wickedly. Naruto frowned at the sight. He now knew the answer Mizuki would give.
"DIE!"
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The entire village of Konohagakure was up in arms. Somebody had stolen the Scroll of Seals right under the Anbu's noses. It was absurd. The Anbu were supposed to be the best of the best, the guardians and assaulters of death that kept the village safe. How on earth did somebody manage to steal a scroll that was filled to the brim with kinjutsu and powerful ninjutsu that was so heavily guarded? It made no sense. No one but an extremely high level shinobi should have been able to do it, key word should.
Still, the village had sent shinobi in every direction to search for the scroll. It was a massive hunt, and the Anbu who failed at guarding the scroll were searching even more furiously than the others. That was a given though, after all they would most likely be executed for their blunder, if it was an enemy shinobi, which was what it was thought to be. If it wasn't they would must likely just be severely punished and put under surveillance for a while, obviously the more preferable of the choices.
Iruka jumped through another tree branch as he checked the perimeter of the village. He hoped he found the perpetrator soon, if only to bring him to the so-called 'justice' of the Leaf Village, after all, there was no true version of justice in the shinobi world. Everyone killed and everyone hated, it was the law of shinobi, kill or be killed.
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Naruto dodged another toss of a fuma shuriken, albeit barely. He looked upwards before he jumped into the air using chakra to propel him higher, even if it didn't do much. However, he was soon met by a kunai-wielding Mizuki who lashed out at him with the kunai. Naruto scrambled in midair, blocking the slash with his hands, which began to bleed. As soon as they landed Naruto shot backwards, followed closely by Mizuki who launched several shuriken at Naruto, however Naruto drew a kunai quickly and deflected the shuriken. However, Naruto soon realized he was not near a high enough level to be taking on a trained chunin and was kicked in the side, sending him flying into a nearby tree.
"Mizuki-sensei…why?" Naruto asked, however what he heard was not what he was expecting.
"Why," Mizuki mumbled. "DID YOU JUST ASK ME WHY!? You, you are a demon! Have you ever wondered why people looked at you with hatred, why every year on October 10th; the day the Kyuubi no Yoko attacked you were assaulted and beaten? Why the Yondaime Hokage died mysteriously on the same day you were born? It's simple! You are the Kyuubi no Yoko! You are the Nine Tailed Fox! But I don't care about that. No I care only about power and what better way to get power than to steal it from under your so-called leader's nose. You, you were just a scapegoat, and a scapegoat that happened to be hated, so no one would care about your death!"
Naruto stood, frozen, at that. He did not care about what Mizuki said about power, but he did care about the beginning and ending of his little speech. He was the Kyuubi no Yoko in human form? No, that was impossible. In the history books it said that the Yondaime Hokage defeated and killed the fox, it was impossible for him to be it. Then again, he had also read that it was impossible to kill a Bijuu, and that was why they had survived so long, terrorizing humanity. He didn't know which one to believe. However, if that did explain one thing it was why the people of the village glared at him with such disdain. They thought he was the reincarnation of the Kyuubi, plain and simple. They hated him, despised him. They wanted his blood split. Naruto began to shake, hyperventilating. While he did not even realize it Mizuki had slowly but surely broke down Naruto's mental barriers he had created with one short speech. No one caring for him, not caring whether or not he existed, people thinking he was nothing short of a demon that deserved death, it was too much for a boy his age to take.
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"NOW DIE NINE TAILED FOX!" Mizuki roared throwing his final fuma shuriken at Naruto's head. Naruto was paralyzed, unable to move. His body wasn't functioning. It wasn't moving when he commanded it to. It just stood there, to deep in shock to do anything.
That was until his hands suddenly began flowing, without him even noticing it. He finished his handseals and slammed his palm on the air in front of him. "Fuinjutsu: Yōyū Tetsu no Shīru (Sealing Technique: Seal of Melting Iron)!"
Naruto removed his hand and formed the seal for the Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone) just as the fuma shuriken made contact with the seal that was floating in midair. The seal was not his, in fact it was a seal made by the author of the first sealing book he had read, Jiraiya, however that did not mean it was not a powerful seal. No it was powerful indeed. As soon as the shuriken made contact with the seal it burst into flames. By the time it had moved past the seal it was just melted iron, as prophesied by the name.
A massive amount of clones appeared around Naruto, around thirty in all. They all charged, including Naruto. They began to fire off a hail of kunai and shuriken as they neared Mizuki; however the chunin avoided them all quite easily, as they still had the accuracy of a genin.
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Mizuki ducked under a wild swing from a clone before getting hit in the back by two more. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of avoiding Naruto's hits, they weren't up to his skill level, but there were too many. A large amount of numbers could overwhelm even the most powerful of opponents, or opponents that outmatched you.
Mizuki ducked under another clones punch before pulling out two kunai, one per hand, and spinning like a top. Instantly the closet Naruto clones were destroyed, vanishing in a puff of smoke and swirling death. Naruto, who was hiding in the bushes and did not even see what Mizuki was doing, was suddenly bombarded with a headache and cried out in pain. He had gotten a splitting headache, for a reason he did not know. He began to think on it.
'I don't have a medical disease; I've never had any of those, strangely. I don't have any mental problems, so why would I get a headache now of all times. Plus, why did that headache come with memories of what Mizuki was doing even though I can't see him. Do the clones send memories back to the user? No, that's impossible…isn't it?'
However, Naruto thought about it to long, plus his cry directed Mizuki to his location, and was nearly hit with a barrage of kunai and shuriken to the head. He ducked under it; however it did take off a few stray locks of hair. He jumped into the heavily cloaked bushes, now fully prepared to fight back against Mizuki, to save his life.
Naruto hid in the bushes as Mizuki landed, looking around. You could see that he was angry just by the way he was furiously glancing around. He had the eyes of a madman, an enraged madman. That was something Naruto had seen before, which made him realize that this was not the time to joke around and let the enemy do what he wanted.
Mizuki began to fly through and seals before ending on the tiger seal, clear signs for a Katon jutsu. Naruto's eyes shot up at that, he couldn't let him finish that jutsu, or else Konoha would flock to this spot in an attempt to find out what was going on, meaning that Naruto would get caught, and that was considering they didn't find the chakra blasts they were sending out already.
"Time to die, Nine Tailed-"
A kunai and shuriken being thrown from two trees made Mizuki stop his jutsu to dodge before he smiled cruelly.
"DUMBASS!"
Mizuki gathered his chakra up again before two Naruto's snuck up behind him and latched onto his arms, preventing him from forming any more handseals.
"The hell!?" Mizuki roared, however as three more clones charged in from the sidelines and landed punches Mizuki forgot about how this was happening, he only knew that he was going to kill Naruto, slowly and painfully.
The second clone punched Mizuki in the face, or at least the clone thought so, in reality he found himself actually punching another clone, which dispersed in a burst of smoke. Mizuki had switched places with it using Kawarimi (Body Replacement Technique), appearing next to the clone with two kunai in either hand that he used to "kill" every clone near him. It was smart, and something Naruto was not expecting, however he was slightly prepared now.
Naruto flew through handseals, knowing that as he gathered this much chakra people would take notice of him. However, he would rather people take notice of him than get killed, he couldn't keep up with Mizuki that much longer after all. He was getting tired, and fighting someone who was way above his level was not a pleasurable experience.
Naruto slammed his hands on a nearby tree to do hand signs and whispered. "Fuuton: Kuki no Uzu (Wind Release: Air Vortex)." Mizuki appeared before Naruto just as the blonde released one of his prized jutsu's.
The air blew Mizuki back with surprising force, and it forced the Chunin to do a Kawarimi. The blonde put his hands together in a seal that resembles that of a Bunshins. "Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu (Wind Clone Technique).''
Fifty wind clones surrounded Naruto and charged Mizuki. The Chunin hit one of the clones with a kick and was surprised to see that hitting the clone left a few cuts on his knee. Blood started to draw from the wound and the other clones used that as an advantage.
The other 49 remaining clones pounced on Mizuki, all dispersing when they made contact. When all of the clones were dispersed, Mizuki was covered in cuts and bruises from the slicing of the winds.
"I-I did it," Naruto said, stumbling over his own words. The blonde fell to the ground in exhaustion. The bout with Mizuki was exhilirating. Iruka then showed up with surprise ridden all over his face.
"Naruto, why would you steal a forbidden scroll? Do you know how much trouble you could be in when you return?'' Iruka lectured.
''I was tricked,'' Naruto started, catching Iruka's eye. "Mizuki told me to take the scroll so I could learn some new Jutsu."
"It seems you've defeated Mizuki on your own. Good job, I'm very proud of you! Leave the scroll for the Anbu to collect when they get here in a minute.'' Naruto nodded at Iruka's words and followed his academy sensei back to the village.
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Naruto walked out of the Hokages office quite tired. He had barely gotten any sleep last night, after the event with Mizuki. After explaining what happened to the Sandaime, he went straight to bed after Sarutobi warned Naruto to never steal the Scroll of Seals again. Apparently the council had tried to get him executed for doing so and Hiruzen had barely been able to save him. The Hokage called him back up to talk to Ibiki, who had some questions for him, the very next day. Naruto shivered as Ibiki tried to get information from him, despite the fact that what he did could be called child abuse. Even though Naruto had already met the head of the Intelligence and Torture Division of Konohagakure, he was still terrified of him. Even more so he loved to prank him. Naruto gave the man one thing though, he was loyal to the village, if his treatment was anything to go by. He was worse than Anko had been when she helped train from time to time, which was saying a lot.
Naruto sighed as he walked through the streets. It was the day of graduation and people were still glaring at him, however soon he would be a ninja and there would be no point in him dealing with them. After all if they didn't want to accept him as a part of this village then he wouldn't accept them as a part of his life. He sighed as two grown men walked up in front of him, both with wooden clubs in their hands and malicious intent in their eyes.
"Well look at this Fruto, the little demon out here all alone."
"Yeah Ruuto, what luck we have. It's time for his daily beating."
"Wait Fruuto, we shouldn't do that, after all he's about to find out who is own his ninja team, I mean look at that headband, he is a ninja now."
The two men smiled and raised their clubs.
"TO BAD WE DON'T CARE!"
They swung the clubs down with a lot of force behind the attacks; however Naruto channeled chakra into his arms and stopped the two clubs with his hands.
"You two are annoying," Naruto said, before disappearing. He reappeared behind them, hands reaching into his kunai pouch. From it he produced nothing, severely shocking the two grown men, who then began to growl. They thought he was making fun of them. However, in all honesty, Naruto was just so tired he forgot his kunai and shuriken.
'Ugh, now I have to beat them up personally,' Naruto thought before knocking the clubs out of their hands with a quick palm strike to their pressure points. The man growled and charged, throwing wild punches, however Naruto dodged each and every one of them. Compared to Kakashi and Sasuke those punches were moving at the speed of a snail, at least to Naruto's perception.
The blonde decided to end it then and there, as he was attracting a crowd. He grabbed Fruuto arm before slamming his knee into the man's gut. As the man held his stomach in pain Naruto jumped into the air and did a tornado kick right to his temple, knocking him out and throwing him to the ground. Ruuto growled before charging Naruto, with intent to kill, however Naruto ducker under the swing before making handseals.
Naruto slammed his palm into Razz's gut harshly, nearly penetrating the man's skin. He tried to groan and shout out at the boy, but found he couldn't soon after. Razz realized that his body was paralyzed.
Naruto looked at Razz. "The seal will deactivate whenever I feel it necessary, when I let up the chakra I'm sending into it, or if I get knocked unconscious or sleep. Good luck with doing nothing until then, oh and by the way it's hot outside, and if you get an itch, well it's gonna be a dick."
Naruto then walked away, still with that irritated and smug look on his face, along with his obvious sleepiness. He forgot to go get kunai and shuriken again. However, as he walked past the crowd that had come to watch the demon get slaughtered, and were surprised to see the demon brat had defeated two grown men right in front of their eyes, they all made a path for him, but it wasn't in respect, it was in fear. Naruto looked at the eyes of the people. They feared him now, badly. If anything, him defending himself just made him even worse in the eyes of the civilians, and Naruto could even see some shinobi in there. Naruto sighed.
There was no winning with these people.
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"Naruto-kun," Hinata called. Naruto looked up at her and smiled as he entered the room. She was sitting next to Sasuke, which was surprising. He thought they weren't friends, however he could tell Sasuke was thankful, judging by the way every time he glanced towards the door he inched closer to Hinata. He was probably worried about his fangirls ruining his life again. Naruto decided to be nice and sat on the other side of him.
"Hey Hina-chan." Naruto said as he sat down. He then looked at Sasuke. "You know, if you want to make it less troublesome for you to protect yourself from your fangirls, just sit at the very edge of the rows. That way one person is all it takes to defend you, and even if they don't that's only one fangirl you have to deal with."
Sasuke scoffed. "Why would I run from them?"
Naruto sweat dropped. "Then why are you looking at the door in fear right now?"
Sasuke hit Naruto on the head, causing Hinata to giggle. While the two had just become friends recently they acted close, and personally Hinata hoped it remained that way. While she didn't really know Sasuke that much she knew that he was a lot like Naruto. It was just the one choice that both of them made that made them so different. The choice whether or not to be boisterous or the choice to be a loner. Of course, Sasuke was now reversing his choice a little, though not completely.
The door to the room opened, Ino and the rest of Sasuke's horde of fangirls.
"The cavalry arrives," Naruto murmured, his classic prankster grin coming to his face. However Hinata glared at him sternly.
"Naruto-kun, d-don't be mean t-t-to S-Sasuke-san. He doesn't deserve to h-h-have those f-f-f-fangirls r-r-rape him."
Sasuke snorted before looking the other way.
Naruto's prankster grin still did not fade. Naruto was about to get out of his seat and move to a new one when Sasuke grabbed his arm, placing a kunai at his neck.
"I swear to Kami if you move from this spot, I will annihilate you."
Naruto grumbled at sat down, although when he looked around the room he saw all of Sasuke's fangirls glaring at him. Apparently they weren't happy with his cowardice, then again, it was either him or them, and in his mind he was not willing to give up his life for any of them, except perhaps Sakura.
Sasuke smiled at that before he looked around the room along with Naruto. He was immediately freaked out. He felt like a lamb surrounded by starving, hungry wolves, and they were surrounding him. Fangirls like Itachi and Fugaku had said were the bane of every Uchiha's existence.
Hinata looked at Naruto pointedly, who just smiled at her.
"Naruto-kun…"
"Come on Hina-chan it was funny."
Hinata just sighed with a light blush on her cheeks. She never could stay mad at him, no matter what he had done.
All commotion ended when Iruka walked into the room.
"Okay kids first off I would like to say…" Naruto zoned Iruka out at that. It was quite obvious that Iruka was just spewing nonsense for his goodbye speech, even Sasuke and Hinata knew it. However, Naruto had a more detailed reason. He knew that some of these students would be sent back to the academy or kicked from the shinobi program all together. After all, they still had to go through the real Genin Exams.
After Iruka finished his speech and began talking about the teams and at that time Naruto zoned back in, although he had missed the first couple of teams, also known as the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth teams.
"Team 7," Iruka began. "Will be composed of Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno."
Naruto slammed his head on the wooden table and threw his fist into the air, confusing everyone in the room, while Hinata just had a depressed look in her eyes.
"What is it Naruto," Iruka asked.
"Well, the good things: I'm good, and begrudgingly so is Sasuke. Also we have Sakura-chan on our team. Bad things: Hina-chan isn't on my team." Hinata smiled at that. It meant that Naruto wanted to be on the same team as her.
Iruka just sighed. "You can't win them all Naruto. Oh yeah, your Jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake."
"Hells yeah!"
Sasuke just smirked. It seemed his Jonin sensei was his and Naruto's private sensei, Kakashi Hatake.
Everyone again looked at Naruto.
"Something to say Naruto?" Iruka asked, his eye twitching.
Naruto shrunk into his seat. Iruka just sighed in finality.
"What's so special about this Hatake guy anyway Naruto?" Sakura asked.
Naruto looked at Sakura like he was crazy. "You haven't heard of him?" Sakura shook her head. Before Naruto could answer, Sasuke spoke up for him.
"Well then, allow me to enlighten you. He's the top Jonin in the village in every aspect except Taijutsu, but there are some quirks to him. He's lazy, he doesn't get serious much, and he's often chronically late for some lame excuse."
Sakura looked at Naruto and Sasuke with a questioning glance. "How do you two know all of this?"
"He's our private sensei, but it looks like it won't be so private anymore now will it?"
Sakura smiled. It seemed she would be getting the same Sensei that brought Naruto from a dobe weaker then herself, to a person in Sasuke's calibre. Though she had improved great deals since she ceased being a Sasuke fangirl, she was undoubtedly the weakest person of Team 7. Hopefully her new sensei could get her up to her teammates level.
Sakura just went back to paying attention to Iruka at that point.
"Team 8, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame, and Hinata Hyuga, your jonin sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi."
While Kiba and Shino showed no reaction Hinata just faintly smiled. She could see the logic in the team after observing the boys skills earlier on. They would obviously be a tracker type of Genin squad.
"Team 9 is still in action from last year so moving on to Team 10. Its members are, Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka. Your jonin sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. Any questions?"
No one had any. "Well then I will leave you until your jonin senseis arrive," Iruka walked to the door and opened it before giving the genin-candidates one last thing.
"No matter what happens, know you have made me proud." And with that he shut the door.
As the genin prospects began to talk Sakura walked over to Naruto and Sasuke as Hinata left to go talk with her teammates. Sakura sat down where Hinata was sitting, right next to Sasuke, with an aura of superiority around her.
"So does anyone wanna go over area of weakness and strength so we can properly function as a team?'' Sakura asked.
Sasuke smirked at the kunoichi's mental prowess. She had really improved from where she had been almost a year ago. If anything, she was intelligent, feisty, pretty now that she cut her hair, pretty strong... Sasuke was getting ahead of himself.
"Great idea Sakura-chan! My strengths are my Chakra reserves, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, speed, physical strength and stamina. I'm mediocre when it comes to Fuuinjutsu. My weaknesses are Genjutsu, weapon accuracy, anaylitical skills and perception as I can't seem to spot too many traps.'' Naruto admitted.
"Hn, Sakura. My strengths are Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, speed, physical strength, weapon accuracy and perception. I'm decent on Genjutsu and my stamina, my Chakra reserves are pretty good. I have mediocre analytical skills, and my weaknesses are of my arrogance, and tendency to overuse my chakra,'' Uchiha Sasuke admitted. To think that Sasuke would admit his fallacies is astounding.
''My strengths are perception, analytical skills, Chakra control and Genjutsu. I'm decent on Ninjutsu, physical strength, weapon accuracy and speed. Mediocre in Taijutsu and my weaknesses lie in Chakra reserves, and stamina.'' Sakura explained.
Soon Jonin started filtering into the room, taking their genin. However, the only ones that looked noteworthy were Team 8's jonin sensei, and Team 10's jonin sensei. Team 8's leader was Kurenai Yuhi. She was fairly tall and had light skin with a slender build. She had long, black, shoulder-length untamed hair, and very unique eyes that were red with an additional ring in them. She wore make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow. She wore a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible, and her entire outfit would remind someone of rose thorns. Her hands and upper thighs were also wrapped in bandages and she wore the Konoha forehead protector on her forehead with the standard blue shinobi sandals.
Team 10's sensei was Asuma Sarutobi. He was tall, with brown eyes and short, black spiky hair, and a beard. He wore the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up half way, the flak jacket, and regular shinobi sandals with the forehead protector on his forehead. Around his waist there was the Twelve Guardian Ninja sash that had the kanji for "Fire" marked on it, the sign of twelve ninja handpicked by the daimyo to guard him. Finally he wore a pair of black bangles and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.
Eventually Team 7 was the last team in the room.
"WHERE IS HE!?" Sakura shouted loudly. Sasuke and Naruto covered their ears before looking at Sakura with slight annoyance.
"I told you Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei is late for anything other than an A or S-rank mission by at least two hours," Naruto said, but Sakura just ignored him.
"Err; whatever!"
Sasuke just groaned. She was overreacting but she was also right. How could a jonin that was supposed to be the best of the best be two hours late to EVERYTHING other than A or S-ranked missions. It made no sense. It made Sasuke wonder how Kakashi even got his position as the best jonin in the village.
Their cries were answered soon after as a man walked into the room, Kakashi.
"Yo," Kakashi said, however he was interrupted with a, "What the hell?" by Sakura. Needless to say Kakashi just looked at her and yawned, not really caring what she said.
"Let's see, other than Naruto and Sasuke my first impression of you is…I hate you."
Sasuke's eye twitched, it was the first thing he had said to him. Naruto smiled, and Sakura face planted. She stood preparing to yell at Kakashi, but she saw him walking out the door.
"Meet me on the roof of the academy as soon as possible, and by that I mean in five minutes, also known as two minutes. Go." Kakashi then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Cheeky bastard," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he stood and walked out the room, followed by Naruto and Sakura.
As per Kakashi's promise he was at the academy rooftop in two minutes, which rather surprised Naruto as he thought he would be two hours late, again. It wasn't abnormal. As Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto sat down on the steps in front of Kakashi he began to speak.
"Hey, I'm Kakashi Hatake. Now, let's get straight to the point shall we. Introduce yourselves, like hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, stuff like that."
"Can you go first?" Sakura asked.
"Okay, I guess I'll go. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"
Naruto smiled as Sakura put her head down, realizing that all he did was tell them his name. However, Naruto was going to rain on Kakashi's parade.
"His name is Kakashi Hatake. He likes reading his smut, salt-broiled saury and miso soup with eggplant. He dislikes anything fried or sweet, and people who say his smut is bad. His hobby is reading his smut all the damn time. And I don't know his dreams."
Kakashi growled at Naruto. "I shouldn't have told you and Sasuke that."
Naruto just smiled and Sasuke snorted. Kakashi sighed and pointed to Sakura.
"You first."
"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like training and trying to become stronger as well as hanging out with my friends," she started. "I hope to become a very competent or great Kunoichi one day." She giggled again. "My dreams," she blushed a little, thinking about Sasuke before changing her expression. "Are to achieve my goal and be a stand out Kunocihi.''
'Is this really the same Sakura. My words must've gotten too her' Sasuke thought with a smirk.
'Amazing,' Naruto thought.
"As for your dislikes…" Kakashi stated.
"People who don't strive become something great."
"I see," Kakashi said slowly, looking at her with intrigue, before pointing towards Sasuke. "Your turn Sasuke. Just because I already know you doesn't mean they know you."
Sasuke sighed. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything besides training and getting more powerful. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone," the last Uchiha muttered darkly.
'Who could it be that he wants to kill? Maybe the person who slaughtered his clan? I'll have to ask later,' Sakura thought.
"Teme," Naruto mumbled. Sakura was about to intervene and stop it before Sasuke muttered, "Dobe," under his breath. The two butted heads, lightning shooting between their eyes.
"You wanna say that again!" they shouted in unison, a hair's length from going to blows. Kakashi just sighed and pushed them apart.
"Break it up. Now, you Naruto."
"But you know me already."
"They don't."
"Sasuke does."
"NARUTO!"
Naruto laughed. "Fine. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and my precious people. I hate the three minutes it takes to get ramen ready and arrogant pricks. Finally I have two dreams. The first is to become the greatest Hokage that way people will look at me like I'm somebody, somebody important. And the last dream is to start a family of my own…" Naruto trailed off at that, reminded of the fact that he had neither mother nor father.
Kakashi frowned. If it wasn't an S-rank secret he would have told Naruto who his parents were, and also told him about the Kyuubi.
"Well then, meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow morning at ten. Also, don't eat breakfast; it'll just make it worse."
Kakashi then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto smiled. Tomorrow was the day, the day he would see if he was truly worthy of becoming a genin.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto yawned as he awoke. It was ten thirty, or at least that's what the clock said. He hoped out of bed without any care that he would be late for the meeting he had today. He sluggishly got ready before checking over his weapons, fully awake now.
"Perfect," Naruto said as he put his shuriken, kunai, and paper bombs inside his pouch. He then sealed the rest of them into a scroll that he slung around his waist. He would have sealed them onto his clothes or body, but he knew that Kakashi was well versed in fuinjutsu, so if he noticed that Naruto had done so he could cause problems with the seals. After all, Kakashi was year's worth of experience ahead of him when it came to the skill, no matter how talented Naruto was in it.
Naruto left his house, and headed over to Ichiraku's to get some food for later. After all, sealed food stayed fresh as long as it wasn't in there for over a week. This would only be a day so it was fine. Still, Naruto wasn't going to eat, as Kakashi had told his team not to. He assumed the test Kakashi was going to give them was about how to fight under difficult situations like starvation. Or he could have them do an eating contest, as Kakashi may be to lazy to even bother fighting them; he certainly had been that lazy when training Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto walked into the shop with a smile on his face. "Hey, old man, Ayame!"
Teuchi came walking out from behind the shop, his eyes twitching.
"Whoever just called me-oh? Hello Naruto."
Naruto smiled at the middle-aged man. Teuchi had blackish-gray hair and wore a white robe with a white chef's hat on his head.
"Hey Naruto, what can I do for you?"
"Five bowls of miso ramen please, I'm gonna need it."
Teuchi nodded and got to work on making the food while a young, teenage girl walked out from the back to check on her father.
"Father, I heard a brats obnoxious voice and I hade to come and save you from the big bad Naruto," the girl teased.
The girl was slender, with long brown hair and eyes, with fair skin. She wore a white robe with the sleeves folded, and a dark blue apron with ribbon ties at the top and a bright white bandanna.
"Ayame-neechan, that was mean," Naruto mumbled, poking his fingers together with a glum expression.
Ayame just chuckled and pattered Naruto's head rather affectionately. "You know I don't mean it," she said. Naruto responded with a rather boisterous, "I know Nee-chan," and settled for double checking his tools as he waited on his food. Ayame watched him as he did so, looking at him curiously.
"Why are you doing that Naruto-kun?"
"Kakashi-sensei is my Jonin sensei. I learnt it yesterday. He said to meet us at training ground seven, and I personally think it is going to involve fighting, plus a ninja should never be without his tools."
Ayame smiled at Naruto, clear pride on her face.
"Very true, Naruto-kun."
"Here ya go brat," Teuchi said setting down the five bowls of ramen. Naruto quickly sealed them into the massive scroll on his back and smiled at Teuchi. "Thanks old man. I'll be heading off now."
"NOT WITHOUT PAYING YOU DAMN BRAT!"
"Come on give me a freebee. I am your best and favorite customer."
"And best customers have to pay too," Teuchi said snatching the required money from Naruto.
"Stingy," Naruto mumbled, however Teuchi managed to hear it.
"No ramen for the rest of the day."
"NOOOOOOOOO!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto grumbled as he walked up to Sasuke and Sakura whom were jogging laps as a warm-upwhile discussing battle strategies.
"So, Sasuke-kun, what should we do if we have to fight Sensei? Any Idea's?"
"I think we should wait until Naruto gets here before discussing this since Naruto's late and all."
"Of course I'd be late, after all, Kakashi-sensei is two hours late to everything, which you two apparently forgot," Naruto said as he walked up to his teammates.
"Tch, I didn't forget dobe, I just had nothing better to do."
"Sure Sasuke, whatever helps you sleep at night," Naruto teased, however Sasuke didn't take well to this and growled at Naruto.
"Don't insult Sasuke-kun, Naruto."
Naruto looked at Sakura with sadness and nodded and just walked away towards another tree.
'Damn it Sakura. Apparently she doesn't seem to realize Naruto and I are friends and do this all the damn time. Still, I need to plan on how to beat Kakashi.' Sasuke thought as he closed his eyes and continued to be in deep thought.
His thoughts were interrupted however as Kakashi appeared in front of them all, with an eye smile.
"You're late again," Sakura commented.
"Sorry, but a black cat crossed my path so I decided to take the long way around."
"560," Naruto mumbled under his breath.
Kakashi sweat dropped. 'He's still counting how many times I give the same excuses? How has he not gotten confused yet!?'
"Anyways, you are all here, meaning we don't have to wait on anyone-" Kakashi paused, expecting an outburst. None came, surprisingly. "-so, we will begin your survival test begin in about a minute."
"Survival test," Sakura repeated. "We took those in the academy. Except not against a Jonin of your calibre."
"Exactly," Kakashi started. "You see, the academy was just to figure out which students had the potential to be ninja. However, this is the test to see who deserve to be ninja. Each jonin has their own right to choose how they desire to test their potential genin and I have chosen the survival test. Basically all you have to do is get these two bells from me," Kakashi said, pointing to the bells attached to his waist.
"Doesn't seem too hard," Sakura said.
"He's an S-rank Jonin, Sakura," Sasuke commented.
"I know that Sasuke!"
Kakashi sighed. "Enough. The point is, I will be defending these bells, and your objective is to get them. You have my permission to do anything necessary to get the bells, including lethal force. You have until six, which is six hours. I hope you make use of those hours. You must have a bell to pass this test. If you don't then you will be tied to those wooden stumps and have failed the test. Now, before we begin is there any questions, comments, concerns?"
"When you say lethal force, we're completely allowed to attempt to kill you right? No consequences," Naruto asked.
"Yes, but why would you want to kill me Naruto? I'm your precious sensei."
"Years of lazy training can do that to a person," Naruto chuckled darkly. Sasuke nodded in agreement with Naruto, his eyes turning blazing crimson with a tomoi for a split second.
Kakashi stepped back, officially afraid of his blonde and Uchiha student. 'Naruto acts like Kushina. And that is not necessarily a compliment. And Sasuke involuntarily flashed the Sharingan for a split second though he probably doesn't realize,' Kakashi thought, slowly taking more steps away from his pupils.
"Wait, sensei, there are only two bells, which means at least one of us will fail." Sakura said.
Kakashi nodded. "Correct Sakura. Anything else?"
"Sakura, he means even we are enemies in this test," Sasuke stated. He just wanted to start, to test his power against his sensei at full throttle. It'll tell him how far he is from reaching Itachi's level.
"Thanks Sasuke-kun." Sakura said.
"What's the percentage of passing this test," Naruto asked, curious as it seemed as people had taken this test before. It was to well thought out for Kakashi. After all, genius he may be he was also a lazy bum.
"Thirty-three percent chance of passing."
'The odds are that highly stacked against our favor,' Sakura thought. 'Hopefully we can pull through.'
'This will be harder than I thought,' Naruto thought. 'I thought it was like a fifty percent chance of failing.'
"Last question. Why did you tell us not to eat?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi eye-smiled, one that made Naruto proud. After all, it was a prankster smile. "So it would be more difficult for you."
Sakura's eye twitched thoguh she contemplated it and realized it made a bunch of sense, while Sasuke did nothing, although Naruto was smiling and frowning at the same time, which resulted in a weird look on his face.
Everyone was silent for a moment, officially ending the questioning session.
"Well then, if there are no more interruptions. Begin!"
The three students disappeared.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Well they've got the hiding part of a ninja down," Kakashi said as he walked around the training ground. While he knew where they were hiding, to your average genin they would be invisible. Kakashi sighed. He had to draw them out somehow. The question was how. He could just reveal that he knew where they were, but that would be no fun, after all it would basically be rubbing the fact that he was stronger and better than them in every way, shape, and form in their face. While he was lazy he did not like to crush people's spirits, especially if they were from his village.
His thoughts were interrupted as three shuriken sprang from Naruto's location.
'Ever the impatient one," Kakashi thought. 'I'll show off a bit.' Kakashi dodged the kunai all while digging into his supply pouch. From it he drew…a book. It was one of his porn novels, the Icha-Icha series.
Naruto's eye twitched as he saw the book. 'Is he mocking me!?'
Naruto growled and formed the familiar cross handsign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He roared.
Fifteen clones sprang to life around him. Naruto pointed to three locations and his clones spread out in groups of five to those specific locations. Naruto however, went to a different location. He went towards Kakashi.
"Foolish Naruto," Kakashi said as Naruto charged him, kunai in hand.
Naruto just smiled and drew smoke pellets from his kunai pouch. He threw them at Kakashi who jumped away, although now there was a large purple cloud of smoke concealing the other from view. Naruto used this to wrap an explosive tag around his kunai. He then drew another kunai, without an explosive tag wrapped around it, and threw them both at Kakashi, or at least where he saw him land.
Kakashi was indeed in the same place, and when he saw the two kunai come flying through the smoke cloud he frowned. He would have expected something stealthier from Naruto. Then again, he still remembered somewhere Naruto's clones were around, plotting his demise.
Kakashi dodged the kunai, noticing the explosive tag on the first one almost too late. He barely finished the handseals for a Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) before the explosive tag lit and exploded.
As the smoke created by the explosion cleared Naruto saw no trace of Kakashi, just a small crater and rocks blown everywhere.
"Where is he," Naruto pondered as he looked around. However, his question was soon answered as his ankle was grabbed. Naruto looked down at the hand, to see part of Kakashi's arm and his hand sticking out of the ground, wrapped around Naruto's ankle.
"Oh fuck me," Naruto mumbled.
"Language Naruto," he barely heard Kakashi say before he was dragged underground. As Kakashi popped out from underground he looked at Naruto, whose head was the only thing visible, as the rest of his body was trapped underground.
"One down," Kakashi said and walked away.
As Kakashi slipped into nearby bushes, Naruto smirked and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
'Look at Naruto, why would he blatantly charge him like that. He got defeated by Kakashi-sensei like he was nothing, though he must've had a plan.' Sakura thought.
Sakura stood and began to search around for Sasuke, determined to find the last Uchiha and partner up with him to take down Kakashi. However, what she found was not what she was expecting.
"S-Sakura, help m-me," said a wounded Sasuke. There were senbon, kunai, and shuriken sticking out of him at all angles, and he was bleeding profusely with one eye swollen shut.
"S-S-Sasuke-kun," Sakura stuttered out, horrified at the sight.
"S-S-Sakura."
Sakura then realized it was a Genjutsu. First off, Sasuke wouldn't have asked for her help. Second off, Kakashi wouldn't do that to Sasuke.
Kakashi canceled the genjutsu and eye smiled from the Shadows. It seemed Sakura was better than he had expected.
"Kakashi Sensei, show yourself!'' Sakura shouted, trying to get a raise out of the Hatake.
As Kakashi took off into the trees to look for Sasuke, he thought on it. 'These guys were called the ideal team, but they don't work together at all. They're horrid at it. The only two I think could work together are begrudgingly Sasuke and Naruto, and that's if you get rid of their rivalry. Their exactly like me and Obito. This is gonna be troublesome. I don't wanna fail sensei's kid, but I will if I have to.'
Kakashi landed on the ground as five shuriken flew by and into him, causing him to tip over. As Kakashi hit the ground he transformed into wooden logs revealing he had used the substitution jutsu.
Sasuke cursed, sprinting away at full speed, sending chakra blasts into his feet to go faster. His attack had failed, Kakashi had avoided it and now knew where he was, and was no doubt chasing after him. Sasuke cursed as once he appeared through a clearing he was hit with a punch to his side, sending him sprawling away and into an even more visible area.
Sasuke stood to see Kakashi rushing towards him, boredom in his eyes. ''Kai (Release)!'' The resistance seals on Sasuke withered away, to make Sasuke feel much lighter and faster.
"I'm on another level compared to those two; don't think you can beat me, WITH THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYE!" Sasuke roared as he charged.
Sasuke drew a kunai attempting to slash Kakashi, however the man jumped over the strike and lashed out with a dual kick to the head, slamming Sasuke's head on the ground. The Uchiha touched the ground with his hand and spun around, flipping away from his sensei while launching shuriken.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!'' Sasuke exhaled a large flame at Kakashi. The inferno consumed him, though when the flame dispersed, Kakashi was no where to be seen.
Suddenly, Sasuke was pinned to the ground by Kakashi himself. The Uchiha's face hit the ground face first.
'Maybe that was a bit to rough.'
As Sasuke shakily stood Naruto appeared flying through handseals and racing towards Kakashi. "Fuinjutsu: Mahi Shiru (Sealing Technique: Paralysis Seal)."
Kakashi smirked and dodged the jutsu, slamming his knee into Naruto's gut. As Naruto held his stomach Kakashi slammed his elbow into Naruto's head before kicking him in the chest. Naruto was sent sprawling as Sasuke stood and charged Kakashi. Kakashi jogged backwards, fending off Sasuke's attacks before Naruto quickly joined Sasuke in his barrage, although Kakashi still blocked their strikes.
Naruto jumped in midair, making handsigns. "Suiton: Teppodama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"
Naruto belched out a bullet of condensed water; however the attack hit Sasuke instead, soaking the Uchiha, as Kakashi swung him into the attack. Sasuke growled at Naruto who waved his hands in apology.
"Sorry."
"Why you little-"
"Um," Kakashi said.
Sasuke forgot all about Naruto, and continued his assault on Kakashi. However Naruto did not join Sasuke, preferring to plan.
'He's stronger, faster, and more experienced than we are, not to mention smarter. We're all around beaten by him. There's no way we can win this fight. But we have to. I refuse to lose.'
Naruto threw some shuriken before making the cross handseal. ""Kaze Bunshin no Jutsu (Wind Clone Technique)!"
Four clones appeared next to Naruto, and as they charged, Naruto charged behind them in a zigzag pattern. Kakashi groaned as he was grabbed by a Naruto clone from behind. That clone dispersed, leaving a tear in Kakashi's flak jacket. Sasuke smirked at that, and launched a punch at Kakashi; however Kakashi switched places with a clone that was charging, causing that clone to disappear. Kakashi than launched three shuriken at the other three clones that had changed trajectory, easily defeating them before kicking Naruto in the chin.
Kakashi then jumped over an attack from Sasuke and landed behind him, back kicking him into a tree. The two remaining clones charged Kakashi however he took them down quickly before turning around. As he did so he noticed Naruto had disappeared and Sasuke was charging him. Kakashi was about to charge back but decided to wait on Sasuke. Kakashi sweat dropped as Sasuke came in with a direct punch.
'Foolhardy.'
However, as soon as Kakashi caught the punch Sasuke twisted trying to flip the man over. It would have worked, had Kakashi not have as much experience as he did. As Sasuke flipped him he grabbed Sasuke's other arm and threw Sasuke, turning himself upright in midair. As Kakashi landed on his feet, Sasuke had landed on his head, spinning around on the ground. Sasuke sneered and stood preparing to reengage Kakashi, however as fifteen clones of Naruto, five from each location Naruto had sent them to earlier, appeared boxing Kakashi in a triangle shape, Naruto came down and grabbed Sasuke, sprinting away before the Uchiha did anything foolish.
"Put me down Naruto!" Sasuke hissed. Naruto complied, putting Sasuke down. However, Sasuke noticed that an Sakura was also here. They were at a large tree in the center of the training grounds.
"Why did you do that!?" Sasuke demanded. Naruto looked at Sasuke with an incredulous look.
"You really thought you could take him?"
"I did better than you."
"I wasn't going all out."
"Neither was I!"
Naruto just groaned and rubbed his forehead.
"Look Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei is a S-rank Jonin; he won't be defeated by three genin, no matter how skilled they may be. Even if they are more skilled, his experience more than makes up for it, and he hasn't reached the age when even experience can't help you. Face it, Kakashi is to good for us to beat, even if we combined our efforts."
"What are you getting at," Sasuke asked, now intrigued.
"While it may be true that we can't beat him, even if you, Sakura, and I worked together, we have a better chance of beating him if we do work together. Therefore, I request a truce, at least until we get the bells."
"Humph. I see no point in this."
Naruto growled. "Sasuke, are you an idiot!? WE CAN'T BEAT KAKASHI-SENSEI WITHOUT TEAMMING UP!"
Sasuke growled and slammed his foot on the ground. "Who do you think you are Naruto? I can do this!"
Sasuke growled until a hand pushed him away from Naruto. It was Sakura.
"As much as I hate to say it he's right Sasuke-kun. Our best bet is to team up. Kakashi sensei probably thinks I'm the weakest link since I haven't really done anything. I'll show him some of my Earth Jutsu. Sasuke, you ignite the mud with a flame, then Naruto should use a wind jutsu to spread the fire. I'll go behind Kakashi and trap him. Then we hit him with everything we've got. Agree?"
Sasuke growled and looked away, grumbling a begrudged, "Fine, I'm in."
''With ya 100%,'' Naruto remarked.
"Well that was entertaining."
The three candidates looked upwards to see Kakashi standing on a nearby tree. "Are you ready?"
"Hell yeah," Naruto said and threw three shuriken at Kakashi. Kakashi dodged the shuriken; however Sasuke jumped up towards him, engaging in a midair spar. Obviously, Kakashi won, throwing Sasuke to the ground; however as Naruto quickly made a clone that cushioned his fall before throwing even more weapons at Kakashi. Kakashi weaved through the hail of weapons, before he heard something whistling. He turned to see even more weapons coming at him, courtesy of Sakura. He groaned and jumped over them, avoiding the attack. Kakashi landed nearby.
''Doton: Doryu Taiga (Earth Release: Earth Flow River)!" Sakura shouted while placing her hands on the ground, making mud around the area Kakashi was standing. The maneuver threw Kakashi completely off guard, capturing him for a moment.
"Now Naruto and Sasuke-kun!"
Naruto and Sasuke weaved through handseals, preparing to unleash fury onto Kakashi.
'Impossible, they can't can they!?'
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
"Fuuton: Kūki no Uzu (Wind Release: Air Vortex)!"
The Katon and Fuuton jutsu combined to create a giant withering vortex of fire.
"A collaboration jutsu!" Kakashi roared, quickly making handseals while his feet were still stuck in mud. The flame ignited the mud and the area all around Kakashi was set on fire. "Kawarimi!" The Copy ninja was replaced with a log as he backed away from the two male Genin.
''Doton: Doryuso ( Earth Release: Rising Stone Spears)!" Sakura shouted as about a hundred stone spears erupted from the ground, nearly impaling an even more shocked Kakashi. This forced the Jonin to go airborne.
"Suiton: Mizu no Tatsumaki (Tornado of Water)!" The water cyclone formed a typhoon around Kakashi's figure as he was about to make his escape. Due to the water being laced in pure chakra, Kakashi is rendered unable to escape it.
"Raiton: Raikou Hitofuki no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Lightning Blast Technique)!'' The final attack in the team combo roared on towards the cyclone. The lightning bolt electrocuted the water in the cyclone, making it five times more deadlier.
When the Jutsu ended, Kakashi fell to the ground in tatters and a few cuts, but relatively unharmed. He had used the Sharingan (Copywheel Eye) to lessen the jutsu from the inside. If he hadn't, the Jonin had to admit that he would be in worse shape.
Sakura smiled at hers, Sasuke's and Naruto's handiwork before throwing more weapons at Kakashi. The Jonin in return moved at blistering speed towards his Genin.
In almost an instant, Naruto and Sasuke were pinned to the ground with a kunai at each of their necks.
"Sakura, give me all the information you know on the hidden leaf or I kill both Sasuke and Naruto."
Sakura stood their frozen. She had no idea what to do. How could she? She had the choice of either betraying her village or letting two people die. It was an impossible choice. Kakashi got off of Naruto and Sasuke soon after that, allowing them to stretch and prepare to attack again.
"Calm down, the test is over."
Naruto stood up, and looked at the sun, realizing that according to the sun the test was indeed over.
"We failed didn't we."
"No you didn't."
Naruto looked at Kakashi curiously. "But we didn't get the bells."
"You didn't have to get the bells to pass. Allow me to explain. This test is not meant to see if you can get the bells, in fact, none of you have the ability to get the bells as you are now. This test was meant to see if you had the potential to work together."
"What do you mean," Sasuke asked, confused.
"This test was to see if you three could work together to defeat an adversary. It was about teamwork. The core to any ninja squad is teamwork, meaning if you don't have that you will die, early on in your mission. However if you do, an A-rank mission can be as easy as a B-rank mission. Teamwork is the key to any shinobi squad. I wouldn't go as far to say as it's more important than your own individual skills, but it is very important. You all have individual skills. Naruto is great at close combat and ninjutsu, Sasuke is also great with ninjutsu and close combat, along with mediocre analytical skills, while Sakura has amazing analytical skills, has potential in the genjutsu and medical fields, and is great at making up strategies. If you combined this you would be a fearsome team, however if you have no teamwork any jonin could easily dispatch of you. The team work you pulled off with tehe three consecutive jutsu's was flawless, if I were a Chunin or even a regular Jonin, I would've been dead from the combo."
"Okay, but what about the thing you just did to Sakura-chan," Naruto asked.
Kakashi smiled. "That was my final test. In the ninja world you may run into situations like that, when you either must betray your village or leave your allies to die. I realize that it is a tough decision and there is no right answer, but remember this: In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Naruto nodded, fully accepting the words. Sasuke just gave his usual, "Hn," and Sakura nodded.
"Good. Now that you get that, let's get going. Our first mission is tomorrow."
A/N: You all probably think I'm over powering Team 7 aren't I? Well I'll have you know that they are only using C-rank Jutsu at most. B-rank and up has yet to come. The teamwork, if they worked together, is flawless. Stay tuned for the next Chapter of Team 7: Ultimate. Peace.