Slouching slightly from tiredness, Sasuke frowned.

Where were they?

Here he was leaning against the tree—looking cool, might he add—until his feet became numb.

Their supposed sensei, fine, but Naruto and Sakura?

"Woah, Sasuke?" He turned to see the former finally arrive. "What are you doing here so early? Better yet, how long have you been here?"

He scowled. "An hour, dobe."

"Pft. Then what are you still doing there? Train, idiot."

Oh, she did not just say that. He glared.

"Well, whatever. I came early to get some training of my own in… I'd never had expected you to be sitting around doing nothing, though. Wasn't there a man you wanted to kill?"

"Shut up." Sasuke's glare intensified. "Don't go around spouting things that have nothing to do with you."

Naruto smiled wryly. It has quite a lot to do with me. "Oh? Well, you saying it to our team makes it officially something we should care about." But damn, she thought with a small frown, I can't practice anything with you around. That was, until a thought appeared in her head. "Hey, wanna spar with me?"

"You want to lose?"

Naruto grinned, "You think I will?"

"Hn. Of course you will, Dobe."

"Prove it with plain taijutsu." The blonde grinned.

Sakura had sported a major sweat-drop at the sight of Naruto straddling Sasuke's back, shoving his head into the soil. "What in the world is going on here?"

"Get off, breast-less!"

"Oh, you did not just go there, dick-less!"

"Are you even a girl?"

"Are you a guy? 'Cause it would be a major problem if you aren't!"

"Shut up, she-hulk!"

"Why you—!"

Kakashi's voice caused Sakura to jump. "Oh my, what are they doing?"

"Having a wrestling match, apparently." Sakura deadpanned.

"Duck-butt!" Naruto screeched as she grabbed a fist full of jet black hair, "Eat dirt!" and shoved Sasuke's face in the grass again.

Kakashi and Sakura sighed.

"Alright, Sasuke, Naruto, we need to get on with the test…" The jounin spoke, increasing his volume to catch the two's attention. "Or we can just drop it so you three fail."

Sakura yelped, before storming to her still bickering teammates. "Naruto! Sasuke-kun!" She bopped their heads this time. "Shut up!"

Well, she surely surprised Sasuke and Kakashi by her actions. Though, Kakashi was more pleased than anything. Naruto grinned approvingly as she nursed the glowing red bruise that was developing.

"The rules are simple. You are to steal these—" He jiggled the two bells hanging from his hands like cherries. "—by noon."

Sakura frowned, "But sensei, there are only two bells…"

"Correct. One of you will automatically fail and be sent back in the academy." Kakashi gave them his eye smile. "You may come at me with the intent to kill—I'd prefer it that way, too."

Sakura gulped, while Sasuke only smirked. Naruto's face, held no humor, seriousness etched all over. Kakashi watched her expression with level eyes.

"Ready," Sasuke and Sakura tensed "get set—" Kakashi smirked under his mask, "—go!"

He disappeared with a 'poof,' smoke left behind in his place.

Naruto yawned, for what seemed to be the billionth time this morning, and formed a scowl on her face; Stupid nightmares.

She smirked, remembering the fight she and Sasuke had earlier. No matter how close she felt with the prick, she couldn't dismiss his attitude. But, she thought with a scowl, I still need to train.

Whenever she fought, she felt as if her limbs were way too short. She hadn't gotten used to her physical changes yet—not at all. She'd have to resort with using jutsus, but can't since most of the techniques in her arsenal were too advanced for her age. Kakashi would surely notice the change in her ninjutsu skill.

But, she reminded herself, she had lost the better chakra control she had in the future—and she hadn't trained much to improve that. Not like she had the time recently to do that.

Shaking her head and sighing, she stared intently at Kakashi, standing idly by as he read his orange book. She let her eyes flick towards the hiding spot of her teammates, and suppressed the urge to sigh again.

It would be hard to convince them to work with her, no matter how better she got along with Sakura recently, and Sasuke surely has a grudge against her for their spar this morning. Fine. She'll just have to wait for the second chance Kakashi'll give them.

…But what if something screwed up and they wound up back in the academy?

Naruto shook her head furiously; that would make a major setback in her plans of saving Konoha, and it won't help prevent Orochimaru getting his hands on Sasuke either. In fact, it would surely give Orochimaru an advantage.

In conclusion, if she didn't actually try in this test, there was a high possibility that Kakashi would give up on them early, resulting in the eventual destruction of the world.

Well, isn't that just terrific?

Naruto growled as she jumped down and ran down in front of her sensei causing him to look down at her in feigned surprise. She grinned cockily, "We just have to get those bells, eh?"

He raised a brow, "I'm jounin for a reason, Naruto-kun." He offered her an eye-smile.

"Mm, so I'm guessing it's perfectly normal for a jounin to be a pedophile?" She was still aggravated that he hid for three hours before deciding he had made them suffer enough torture—she wasn't in the lightest of moods this week.

His eye seemed to harden a little, and Naruto presumed it to be out of seriousness than anger, before returning back to its usual lazy droop. "Ah, I guess so. It's become quite a trend, lately, especially for a soon-to-be sensei like me, but I'm not so sure little fresh-out-of-the-academy students like you were supposed to know about that."

"Ah, it's becoming quite a trend for us students to look underneath the underneath, you know?" Naruto smiled knowingly. She knew she was pushing it, but she figured the Hokage will inform Kakashi about her time travelling identity anyways, so why not poke some fun out of it?

Sasuke squinted from where he hid, and dark eyes narrowed through what his ears could make out of the conversation the blond and their sensei were having.

How the hell did that blond idiot notice something he couldn't?

He trained a heck of a lot more than average; even he realized that. He had the motivation that could keep him running for all eternity. He had the hate. The domineering hate in his mind would soon change itself to power. He would be stronger than him. He would be stronger than enough that he can beat Itachi without even breaking a sweat—

Okay, that's just wishful thinking.

He sighed, and refocused his gaze on Kakashi. Letting a hand stray close to his holster, he couldn't help but smirk at how sloppy Naruto fought. She surely hasn't changed; it was only the fault of his drowsiness in the morning that he lost to that idiot.

Naruto had tried to do a roundhouse kick aimed at Kakashi's head, but the jounin had simply leaned back to avoid it. Growing frustrated, Naruto made clones midair and the two copies sent a leg down to Kakashi's shoulders.

Sasuke scowled; how did she manage to snag the shadow clone jutsu?

Sasuke refrained from slapping his forehead as the blond ran to the obvious trap. She didn't even check her surroundings in suspicion either, like a sane, real shinobi would.

Like he had expected, Naruto triggered the trap and was now hanging upside-down from a tree, her hand waving just a few centimeters away from the bell. Sasuke sighed; that idiot.

But, to his surprise, the girl disappeared with a puff of smoke.

Kage Bunshin?

Another Naruto popped into existence, replacing the former clone. Body flicker technique. She plucked the bell out of the ground, a smirk evident in her whiskered face. She stuffed the metal piece under her jacket and most likely inside her shirt—Sasuke choked, looking away. Well, unless their sensei had no sense of honor or dignity, they can safely assume that the silver bell would be kept safely away.

Once sure that Naruto had finished hiding her prize, he stared at her, incredulity etching his expression. The dead last had managed to see past the trick and think up a plan like that? He then shifted his eyes to the approaching Kakashi's tired look, and concluded that the man knew just where his missing bell was. The Uchiha then heard a loud squeak down by the bushes, and wondered how Sakura had taken so long to realize what the blonde was doing.

After the shock subsided, Sasuke was feeling a wave of silent fury overcome him.

The Dobe had earned the title of genin before he even tried.

Kakashi let his eyes droop wearily as he watched his sensei's daughter and now possibly future student in front of him. She was certainly Kushina's girl, no doubt about that.

There was no way he would be getting his second bell back without Naruto giving it up.

"Sensei? Got a problem?" While on her face was an innocent smile, he knew the smirk that was hidden away—Kakashi heard it well in her voice.

Now that he thought about it, Naruto was reminding him very much of a certain Tokubetsu Jounin-rank, purple-haired woman. Very much.

Kakashi forced his visible eye to crinkle up in a smile, "No, I'm fine, Naruto-kun."

She made a face at the boyish suffix he had said at the end of her name, before shrugging it off. "If you say so. So… what should I do now? You never did say what to do when we passed."

That's because I'd never expected you to. "Stay in the game. If you can keep that bell safe, then you'll pass." He then seemed to contemplate something, and said as an afterthought, "While you're at it, why don't you help those two? They look so helpless that it makes my eye sore."

Despite his uncaring and nonchalant tone, Naruto knew that there was a hint in his words. But, she also knew that the dead last of the academy wasn't supposed to pick up on that. "What! No way, 'kashi-sensei! They should get the bell with their own strength."

The man stared for a moment, before sighing, shaking his head as he did so, and 'poof'ed away. Planning on taking a nice long nap, Naruto jogged to the memorial stone, until she realized one very, very, very stupid mistake on her part.

She had forgotten that she would be the best target for both Sasuke and Sakura.

She had one of the bells, obviously, and was the student with the worst grades through all her academy years. In their eyes, the Uzumaki would be an easy picking.

Sighing, she flopped down onto the giant rock, and formed a shadow clone to keep guard. Naruto gave a look around cautiously, before placing the leaf she had plucked out of a tree on top of her head. Once she was prepared, she began her chakra control exercise.

About a minute into it, she heard a twig snap a few meters in the forest behind her. Naruto slowly opened her eyes, and, to the surprise of the attacker, whipped out a kunai to block Sasuke's own. Smirking, she jumped a few meters back, flicking her eyes to scan around her for something pink. Sasuke was here, so where was Sakura?
On cue, said girl flew out of a shrub, and a flurry of shurikens was sent to the blond's way, as well as Sasuke's.

Naruto growled, shoving herself off the Uchiha in front of her as she evaded the sharp objects. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Four clones popped into existence, and commenced their furious attacks on their opponents.

Her teammates momentarily distracted, the jinchuuriki subtly ran off to a nearby tree and observed Sasuke and Sakura's fight. Grinning, Naruto relayed her plan in her head.

Each of her opponents had two, well synchronized clones to try and attack. However, her copies would just avoid getting hit, and eventually tire the two out. That was her tactic—Sasuke and Sakura didn't know about the extent of her stamina, after all.

Naruto's smile widened at Sakura's exhausted state—her clones had easily played the pinkette well. However, the grin was wiped off her face at seeing Sasuke, who probably had the equal amount of stamina as she did. Letting a crease form between her brows, Naruto tried to devise a new plan. She hadn't realized Sasuke was this skilled in their newly genin days.

Distracted by her thoughts, she didn't have time to avoid the said boy's leg drove into her gut, and wheezed out, "What the—"

"Wearing those kind of clothes could kill you, idiot."

Naruto scowled and looked down at her blinding blue and orange jumpsuit. She'd need to buy new attire that would suit her occupation. "Shut up, Sasuke." Looking down, she saw that Sakura was left handling her own clones. "Dammit" she muttered.

He huffed, "I honestly can't imagine you being a ninja."

Naruto ignored the comment, gritting her teeth to stop the automatic retort she was about to make. It's not like he can read into the future, so it would be bad to let her temper get the best of her. Luckily, a pop sounded, and both looked down to see Sakura panting harshly, kunai in hand.

Naruto landed on the grass silently, hearing Sasuke do the same behind her. "Well, you two, aren't you going to get my bell?" She smirked, patting her chest lightly with her hand.

Sasuke followed her movements, and his face gained more color. Seeing this, Sakura all but screeched, "Naruto! Don't be so—don't do such dirty tactics!"

The blond let a reminiscing smile reach her lips, remembering she had once said something similar to her temporary tutor in her past.

"Anko-sensei!" She whimpered, "That's unfair!"

The purple haired woman laughed heartily, "Since when was life ever fair for ninjas, honey?"

"Yeah, but… That—that's just playing dirty!"

"Oh is it? Last time I've checked, we—"

"—ninjas ain't about honor—that's what samurai's are around for."

Sakura bristled at that comment, but didn't say anything. What Naruto said was true, after all. Sasuke huffed, before he began to stalk off.

"Hold on just a second, Sasuke."

He stopped, and turned his head to eye her with annoyance. Naruto smirked.

"How about we all form a team to get Kakashi's bell?"

Sakura blinked, before scowling at her, "There are three of us, if you haven't noticed. And in total there are two bells. You got one out of Kakashi-sensei's underestimation. See the problem here?"

Irritation developed in the blonde's tone, "What I meant is, how about getting the bell, and then—" she hopped to Sakura and whispered. Green eyes grew incredibly wide, before they stared back at blue orbs in incredulity.

Sakura opened her mouth, closed it, and then gaped again. "That's so ridiculous that it might just work."

Sasuke raised a brow at the two, before Naruto let him in on their plan.

Kakashi cursed—why of all times did Naruto have to keep her voice down now? Did she know he was watching them?

Shaking his head at that, he smiled under his mask. They were finally working together, although he didn't know how that clicked in the Uzumaki's brain. Maybe sympathy? He sighed. Seeing Sasuke's smirk grow wider, Kakashi felt a tiny bit of worry; since when did that stoic boy ever show that much pleasure in something? Naruto's devilish look had only supported the dread running in his veins.

And, as the man tried to look back on his previous observations of the girl, since when did Sakura ever gain such a sadistic expression on her face?

… Maybe it was best to retreat.

Sakura shifted her elbows on the soil to be in a more comfortable position on the soil, watching Kakashi determinedly as he casually flipped a page of his suspicious orange book in the middle of the flat grass. Ignoring the leaves of the bush that tickled her neck and the sides of her face, she firmly held the kunai in her hand close to her chest.

This team might just be the best she'll ever find in her life.

Keeping that thought in mind, she stared straight ahead.

Sasuke watched as Kakashi raised his head from the book he had been reading, and saw the way his single eye widened. Following its direction, Sasuke blinked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

In what was supposed to be an illusion of a beautiful woman's place was a tall man in a white cape, red flames pictured at the bottom of the cloth. Sasuke couldn't read the back of the cape—it kept fluttering in the air, just out of his vision as it went back behind the man.

What shocked Sasuke the most, were the man's features.

Blond hair that seemed to be dyed by the sun, and the bluest of blue set of eyes.

I know you all are probably sick of me apologizing and my excuses, I'm very, very, very sorry. I'll try harder to keep my weekly schedule up―I'm not sure, but I think the toughest week's over. The previous one had been filled with tests and projects, so hopefully all that crap wouldn't be happening again soon.

But, it's almost the exams. (T^T)

I'll be sure to update the next chapter soon (before the next weekend if possible).

Thanks for the support m(_ _)m

And I'm sorry if this A/N sounds kind of... different?... from the other ones I've written―my dog has gained so much weight, that it's frightening. And I only just noticed this a few minutes ago. MY DOG'S GETTING FAT. \(TOT)/