Naruto: Daughters of Sun and Moon

Pass or Fail: Sakura's Determination!

Sakura Haruno was no stranger to early mornings. Every morning, Sakura was easily capable of rising before the break of dawn, well rested and ready for the day ahead. She often arrived early to class, having asked for extra lessons or for use of training equipment. In fact, some might even call Sakura a morning person. Those people would be wrong. It was not that Sakura particularly liked getting up early, she just wanted to keep ahead, stay ahead; point of fact, the only times Sakura ever arrived early, were days following tests where she had scored particularly low. The truth of the matter was that Sakura despised early mornings.

So it was that, as Sakura walked from her home to training ground seven, she cursed their sensei with every step and breath. 'Blasted, confounded Jonin! Who does he think he is!? '

Her return to reality was twofold, for as her stomach growled, reminding her of her terrible life choices the night before, a voice called out from behind her, "Hey, Sakura!"

Turning grouchily to face the newcomer, Sakura found her mood surprisingly brightened. "Hey Naruto! I didn't expect you to actually be on time today."

Falling into step, Naruto stuck out his tongue at her. "Well, Sasuke also had an early meeting with his team today, so he forced me out on time..."

She thought she heard him mutter something about talking to someone alone, but she couldn't be sure. She giggled at the thought of Sasuke kicking Naruto out of bed, "Well, I guess that means Sasuke's the responsible one!"

"Hey! I'm plenty responsible, believe it!" Naruto called back to her, pouting.

'Quiet down! It's too early in the morning to deal with your special brand of loudness, sha!' Sakura's mind mused. She answered "Oh, please, I bet you barely know the meaning of the word responsible."

"Bah, well who cares what you think anyway!" Naruto said as he moved to rest his hands on the back of his head, leaning into them. "What do you think Kakashi-sensei has planned for us?"

"Maybe we'll have to spend a week in the wild? He said it was some kind of survival exercise right?"

"Bah..." Naruto trailed off, as though thinking about it deeply. "I really want ramen right now!"

Sakura nearly hit him. She honestly would have had they not arrived at their destination as she considered it. Even that still would not have stopped her on any other day; Instead, what stopped Sakura Haruno from decking Naruto Uzumaki in his infuriating little whiskered face was a cold gaze from a girl – a gaze which Sakura Haruno refused to back down from.

In the centre of the clearing that their sensei had promised to meet them, stood Hinata Hyuuga, leaning against a strange stone. Her arms were folded to her chest and she had changed out of her regular clothing. Her dark blue and dark lavender hoodie was still present, but it was pulled even tighter against her form than usual. A black sash with a symbol Sakura assumed to be the Hyuuga clan insignia hung from her waist, pulled high on her right so as to leave access to the ninja tool holster on her thigh. A white scarf tied above that sash kept her blue and purple hoodie tight against her frame, one end trailing to her knees to contrast against her loose fitting lavender pants. Her Hidden Leaf headband was loosely affixed around her neck.

She looked utterly ridiculous, in Sakura's expert opinion, being what she considered a veritable queen of fashion. Those colours didn't mix at all! Not to mention that the whole getup made her look-

"Wow, Hinata! Your new outfit looks great!"

For a moment, Sakura could only stare on incredulously, betrayal surging through her and colouring her face. She needed to regroup, it wouldn't do to simply question her teammate's choice of clothing now, she would need to take another approach. Sakura put on a fake smile, adopting a tone similar to those used to communicate to children, "Hyuuga, so good to see you so early in the morning! And your new outfit is simply... inspired! You must have taken cues from sensei... or maybe Kiba?"

Sakura had hoped the sarcasm would at least sting the white-eyed girl; instead, Hinata's gaze met her own and the girl simply clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Sakura's shoulders fell in defeat. 'Sha! She's like a castle of ice!'

"Uhm... so, Hinata, do you know where Kakashi-sensei is?" Naruto asked from his place beside her, his voice sounded strained and awkward, seemingly struggling to break what she only now realized was a several minute silence. "We're due to start any minute now, right?"

"I have not seen him approach." Hinata spoke with slow deliberation. Sakura remembered her speaking with a similar tone as she introduced herself the previous day.

"Right..." Sakura gave Hinata a sidelong glance, unsure of why the girl would have been able to see Kakashi's approach in the first place with all the trees in the way. "Well, I guess we should just wait here then..."

Hinata simply ignored her, instead glancing over to their blonde teammate. "Good morning, Naruto."

Sakura let out a sigh, she was already tired of today and it wasn't even seven in the morning. Kakashi had better get here soon.

Sakura was, for perhaps the first time in her life, in agreement with Hinata. It was not a a verbal agreement, as neither girl could stand to speak to the other – or anyone, at the moment, for that matter – but for the time being at least, there was an unspoken sense of accord. Kakashi-sensei was the worst teacher ever.

They had been waiting for hours, what felt like days and Sakura was tired of it. She had been able to stave off the first 10 minutes of boredom talking with Naruto about what the test might encompass, and the next 45 minutes glaring into the back of Hinata's head when Naruto went to talk with her. Another 30 minutes were spent regretting her decision not to join them when Naruto asked. After that, she had ended up simply sprawled on the grass, looking up at the sky until she lost track of time.

Sakura allowed her head to fall against the grass and her gaze to fall with it upon the trio of logs propped up at the clearing's edge. The clock resting upon middle log informed her that it was 9:10. Sakura squinted at the clock. That was odd, she hadn't remembered there being a clock there. Nor did she remember the gloved hand resting upon it...

"You!" Sakura immediately sat up to thrust an accusing finger at the newcomer.

All as one, the three Genin of Team Seven shouted, "You're late!"

"Sorry," the masked Jonin responded, continuing thoughtfully "But a black cat crossed my path, so I had to retrace my steps."

Sakura – and the other Genin for that matter – fell silent in bewilderment. 'Sha...' Sakura's mind spoke, unusually subdued from surprise, 'Is this guy serious?'

Kakashi lazily flicked a switch on the small clock, speaking in the same bored tone as usual, "Well, now that all four of us have arrived, I'll explain the details of this test."

Kakashi reached into his back pocket and all three Genin focused their attention on him. Kakashi withdrew two small bells from his pouch and held them out for them to see clearly, "Your mission is to take these bells from me before lunch."

"What? So all we have to do is grab some lame bells from you? There are three of us! This is gonna be easy, ya know!"

There was a glint in Kakashi's eye that almost froze Sakura in fear. She very nearly didn't voice her question, but it was bothering her far too much for her to let it go unspoken, "Kakashi-sensei... There are three of us, so why are there only two bells?"

The glint in Kakashi's eye, impossibly, seemed to grow, even as he closed it in what she assumed to be a smile, "Well that's because only two of you can pass this test. The one who fails to get a bell will be sent back to the academy."

Sakura was instantly on edge, glancing anxiously around at her teammates – no, her rivals.

"Oh, and if you have any intention of taking these bells," Kakashi paused to look each Genin straight in the eyes. "You had best come at me with the intent to kill me. That means shuriken, kunai, jutsu, use everything at your disposal to take me down."

"What if we hurt you, sensei!" Sakura asked Kakashi in concern. Kakashi's silence was answer enough.

"Well then, I take it we all understand where things stand?" Each Genin nodded in affirmation, "Then we'll begin."

"Scatter!"

Sakura jumped away to find a hiding place, not liking the idea of fighting Kakashi immediately. She assumed – correctly – that her rivals would do the same.

It was ten minutes later that Sakura found Naruto standing at the edge of a clearing in the trees, across from Kakashi. For whatever reason, Naruto seemed to have decided that he would take Kakashi head on. Maybe it was a trick from Kakashi?

"Alright, Kakashi-sensei, prepare to surrender that bell!" Naruto shouted from one edge of the clearing. No, that was definitely her teammate. "I'm gonna show you the power of a future Hokage!"

"You know, compared to the other two," Sakura could just barely hear what Kakashi was saying from her distance. "You're rather dim."

Kakashi's comment seemed to spur Naruto into action, and the blonde ninja charged their sensei. Kakashi didn't even need to try as he backhanded Naruto to the side. To Sakura's surprise, Naruto disappeared into smoke as he hit the ground. She immediately caught Naruto, the real one, aiming a punch at the back of Kakashi's head. Instead though, Kakashi whirled and knocked his punch to the side. Switching directions, Kakashi landed a spinning kick to Naruto's side and sent him tumbling to the ground.

She saw Kakashi reach into his weapons pouch. 'No, Naruto. Kakashi never said anything about him using weapons.'

Kakashi, however, withdrew no weapons. Instead, Kakashi withdrew a small orange book from the pouch and flipped it open. Kakashi actually seemed to be reading instead of paying attention to Naruto. 'Is this the power of a Jonin...?'

Naruto charged Kakashi but even the flurry of blows unleashed by her blonde teammate failed to land a single hit on Kakashi, who at this point was reading his book while he lazily deflected Naruto's onslaught.

Abandoning his attempts at single combat, Naruto formed one hand seal before calling out, "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Instantly, the clearing was filled to the brim with more Naruto clones than she could count. She couldn't even fathom that many. Briefly, she wondered how many Shadow Clones Kakashi could make. Something must have set him off, because a moment later five Naruto clones standing in front of Kakashi charged forward. Still reading his book, Kakashi flipped over one, kicking two others into oblivion in mid air. He landed in a crouch before flowing into a three hundred sixty degree legs sweep that knocked each of the surrounding clones away.

"Naruto never stood a chance..." Sakura thought as she watched one of the Naruto clones disappear towards the back of the melee. The clone beside it threw the first kunai of the fight, which Kakashi barely even seemed to notice as he deftly dodged it. Still the fight waged on, and Sakura didn't see how Naruto could ever make it through-Kakashi was suddenly in a full-nelson, held fast in place by Naruto. 'Sha? When did Naruto manage that? How did Naruto manage that?'

"Checkmate, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura heard Naruto brag, and realized exactly what he had done. Neither her nor Naruto even had time to react as Kakashi disappeared, and left in his place yet another Naruto.

Naruto released his grip on himself and she could see him smirking, "So you think transforming into me will help you Kakashi-sensei!? I'll show you just what I'm capable of!"

'What!? He thinks that Kakashi just transformed into him?!' Sakura almost laughed at the absurdity of it; or, at least she would have, had Naruto not thrown his arms out to the sides, shouted something and the clearing not exploded in a burst of wind a half-second later, 'Sha!? Was that really Naruto?'

It was all for naught.

"You know, you really shouldn't let your enemy get behind you all the time." Kakashi said from his place behind Naruto, having appeared behind him following Naruto's jutsu, hands clasped in a seal over top of his book. 'Oh no! That's the Tiger Seal! That's usually used in Fire Style jutsu, Kakashi's going to destroy him!'

"Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!"

Kakashi shoved his index and middle fingers into Naruto's bottom, thrusting forward and propelling Naruto high into the air. 'That wasn't a jutsu, he just poked him."

Sakura briefly considered attempting to find and assist Naruto. Instead, Sakura decided to follow after Kakashi, to continue her reconnaissance of their strange sensei.

She followed Kakashi for perhaps ten minutes before he stoppedin yet another clearing. This time, Sakura's blood boiled and her eyes narrowed as she watched Hinata Hyuuga stand calmly at the centre of the clearing.

"You know, a portion of this test is stealth and tactics, it's not very smart to fight someone stronger than you head on." Kakashi said offhandedly.

Sakura didn't hear Hinata's response, if she gave one, before she fell into a taijutsu stance and charged at Kakashi. Closing the gap in an instant, Hinata brought her right leg up in a powerful kick aimed at Kakashi's head, but he Jonin deftly caught the girl's ankle before she could make contact. Quickly, Hinata twisted in his grip, allowing herself bring her left leg down in a hard strike against his head. Once more, Kakashi blocked her would-be kick from connecting. Hinata twisted her body in the opposite direction, slipping out of his grasp and scoring a glancing blow on Kakashi's shoulder. Hinata landed on her feet before back flipping away from the one-eyed jonin.

Kakashi stood still, watching her for several seconds before he turned to look at his arm in shock. Sakura didn't know what had surprised him, but whatever it was it seemed to put him on edge. Across from him, Hinata stood in her strange, loose combat stance, hands held at her sides in tight fists while her legs seemed at the ready to lash out and strike any opponent who neared her.

Sakura heard Kakashi speaking to her and strained to listen. Unfortunately, she only caught the last portion of what he'd said. "You're quite inventive, to have developed such a Gentle Fist Technique yourself."

Gentle Fist? What on earth was the Gentle Fist? Sakura had never heard of such a thing, but figured it must have been the technique Hinata was using. She watched as Hinata's stance tightened and she mumbled something Sakura couldn't hear. Hinata raised her voice and Sakura clearly heard her exclamation before she charged at Kakashi, "You're wrong, Kakashi-sensei. I don't use the Gentle Fist. This is my technique, my Gentle Step!"

Hinata charged forward, twirling into a spinning high jump kick that Kakashi avoided. Hinata was fast however and, transferring her momentum from the spin, Hinata swung low in a long sweeping kick that Kakashi was barely able to leap over in time.

Hinata transferred from a horizontal sweep to a vertical roll, bringing one of her legs up to thrust at Kakashi's head, lifting herself off the ground in a near handstand. Even when Kakashi was able to avoid her attack, she twisted and spread her legs wide, using her hands to spin similarly to a top and strike Kakashi twice in the side. With a simple back flip, Hinata was back on her feet sending a straight kick at Kakashi that he deftly deflected, sending her off balance.

Kakashi pressed the advantage, backhanding her to the side before kicking her in the other direction. 'I think I've seen all I need to.'

"I think you need to learn to get ahead of the situation, maybe Sakura will be a better contestant."

While Hinata flew into a rage and charged their sensei, Sakura felt a chill go through her spine. Hinata may not have realized it, but Kakashi somehow knew that she was here. Sakura didn't even stay to watch the fight finish, she instead ran off to locate an advantageous position.

It was all for naught however, after only twenty minutes, Kakashi had appeared behind her and elicited a screech of astonishment. Now they stood only a metre away from each other, face to face, and she was definitely not ready for this.

'Sha! We can get him!' Finding her strength, Sakura leaped at Kakashi, sending a punch straight for him. Unfortunately, Kakashi spun to the side and tried to backhand her as he had Naruto. She was prepared though and ducked under the lazy strike, embedding a fist directly into Kakashi's side before he could react. She followed up with a powerful uppercut straight into him. This time, it seemed he was ready and he was was about to catch her strike head on. Time seemed to slow down as Sakura mentally catalogued the jutsu in her arsenal, her mind showing her at least three different ways she could have avoided this. Instead though, Kakashi grabbed her wrist, pulled her above him and himself slammed a fist into her gut before throwing her off to the side, as though she weren't even worth his time.

Sakura slid across the course ground and came to a rough stop. She slowly pulled herself up and smiled victoriously. 'I think I've got this.'

Sakura kept low to the ground, acting as though caught in the throes of despair. Instead she ran through the hand seals for two of her favourite jutsu, keeping the movements hidden from her sensei. She turned and charged at him, activating the first of her jutsu.

Sakura could see the effect of her clone as it followed her movements. Sakura had never tried to use a clone like this, clones were normally incorporeal and disappeared the moment something touched them. Instead, Sakura continuously fed a fine amount of chakra into the clone so that it blurred her into one shifting person.

She reached Kakashi and ducked down, reaching out with a straight punch to his gut. It connected! She pushed forward with all her might and slammed Kakashi into the ground. Her clones had struck from both high and low on opposite sides. Kakashi had needed both arms to cover his defence and she herself had followed her clones at a slight delay to allow them to mask her strike. She suspected her plan had only succeeded because Kakashi had underestimated her, but it had still worked!

Suddenly, Sakura's world faded away and darkness replaced it.

'Shit.'

Sakura awoke in a malformed expanse of dull colours. Shapes twisted, then straightened, danced and stood still at the same time. Voices spoke to her loudly, but only in a whisper.

"Are certain you're ready for the life of a ninja?" Came her mother's voice from the abyss, her image forming in her head, mirrored in front of her eyes. It was an old memory and Sakura could always hear the real meaning behind those words. "Do you really think you're capable of being a Shinobi?"

Sakura turned away from her mother and came face to face with Naruto.

"So, what's your dream for the future?" He asked with good cheer. His face shifted to one of anger, accusation... pity. "What do you mean you don't have any? What do you even want to do then?"

Sakura tried to turn and run, but instead ran head first into the Hokage himself. "Sakura, I'm afraid that I must relieve you from duty." His face contorted into a malicious grin that looked all the more horrifying on the normally stoic Hokage, "You just don't... fit in."

Sakura turned again and again, but each time a new face tormented her.
"Do you believe you can just waltz through this like a child?"

"What more do you want from life, Sakura?"

"How can you pretend to want something so much for no reason!?"

"Why do you want to be a ninja?"

"You don't belong here!"

Every voice was accusatory and filled with a venom that sent shivers slithering up and down her back. She fell to her knees in agony, her ears screaming in pain as the voices tore at her eardrums relentlessly. Tears streamed like rivers down her face and she forced her eyes shut as the voices chipped through her resolve piece by piece. A single voice dealt the final blow. "Loser."

Sakura's eyes widened as they met with a pair of cold, calculating, pupil-less white eyes. "You're worthless. You aren't cut out to be a ninja. You're weak and spineless. Stop lying to yourself."

Sakura stopped dead. Frozen in place by the shear coldness in her rival's words. Hinata was right, she was lying to herself. She kept telling herself that if she could just try hard enough, work smart enough, that she could make up the ground between her and the rest of her friends. Sakura didn't even need to guess who the other teams who passed would be.

Sakura felt waves of despair spill out upon her, cutting through her like a hot knife through butter. On and on the voices continued, screaming and whispering to her until they stopped making sense. It didn't matter though, they were right. She was weak.

"What kind of a joke is this?" This time, the voice that cut through to her was her own.

"Lounging about, feeling sorry for yourself? Sha! Is that really the best you've got!" The angry voice echoed throughout her head and she clenched her fists tightly.

'That's right.' Sakura thought as she rose to her feet.

"Giving up, feeling sorry for myself, that's never gotten me anywhere before!"

"You think that a few halfhearted, laughable taunts are gonna be enough to make me give up?!"

"I don't think my introduction earlier did me justice! I'm Sakura Haruno!" Sakura embedded her fist into figment after figment, destroying wave after wave of disparaging voices. "And I. Don't. Give. In."

With one last strike the world around Sakura cracked and began to fall apart. Until Sakura was left alone in a clearing, fist outstretched and a massive grin on her face. "Don't mess with me!"

Sakura wasn't sure how long she'd been in the genjutsu for, or how long she had now been wandering through the forest. Kakashi had made no further attempts on her. At this point, Sakura was so exhausted from breaking the genjutsu that she wasn't even quite sure what she was looking for, she was just wandering through the trees, hoping an answer presented itself.

She was, however, prescient enough to notice something at the centre of a nearby clearing. The sight nearly thrust her to her knees and she barely kept herself standing, and the bile from rising to the back of her throat. Her body almost began shaking and a fear unlike any that had ever held her before took hold. It was Hinata Hyuuga's dismembered head.

Sakura had never liked Hinata. No, Sakura had hated her, but she'd never wished... this upon her. If this was what Kakashi would do to them if they failed, she didn't know if she could continue on.

Hinata's eyes blinked at her.

'What? I'm sorry?' Sakura tried. She truly tried to put words to her feeling of confusion, but instead all she managed to get out was a sputtered, "Huh?"

Hinata's head kept staring back at her when her mouth opened. "Well, are you going to help me, or just stand there gawking?"

It took Sakura a full thirty seconds to comprehend what was going on. Once she did, Sakura did the only thing one could do in such a situation. She began to laugh. She laughed so hard she had to grab her chest in pain, and tears began to stream from her eyes. "Hey! It's not funny!"

This, if it were even possible, made Sakura laugh even harder. She barely managed to get words out as she actually fell to the ground in near-hysterics. "It is totally funny!"

Hinata Hyuuga had been buried, from neck to toe, in the coarse dirt. She didn't know how it had happened, or why Kakashi had decided to do something so amazing, but she honestly didn't care. This may just be the best day of her life.

"Tch," Hinata turned her head to avoid looking at Sakura, or as much as her position would allow her. "Would you just help me out already!"

This sobered Sakura up somewhat – Hinata rarely, if ever, asked for help. It drove a feeling of anxiety into her heart. She physically winced as she realized just how hopeless their situation seemed. They weren't even Genin yet, and they were up against a Jonin. How in the heavens were they to defeat such a powerful enemy.

"On one condition." Sakura's response surprised herself if she were being honest. She couldn't believe what she was about to propose. "You help me take down Kakashi-sensei."

Hinata seemed genuinely surprised by this, and when it seemed as though she needed more convincing, Sakura refused to let up. "I can't beat him! And I saw you fight him, you know you can't either... But... maybe if we work together, maybe if we change the odds, maybe then we can beat him!"

Hinata stared at her for several long moments. Finally, she spoke in a clear and focused voice, "I'll join you on one condition."

Sakura swallowed and nodded her affirmation. Hinata continued, "Whatever happens, I want a bell. If we break one, if we only manage to take one: I get it."

Under her breath, Sakura could just barely make out Hinata saying, "I don't have time to go back to the Academy."

Sakura nodded her head once again in affirmation. "Then that's the deal."

Unfortunately for Sakura, it turned out that helping Hinata was harder than she had anticipated. The earth around her was sturdy, and after what felt like an hour's work – though was probably more like twenty minutes – Sakura was hardly any closer to unearthing her rival-turned-ally than she had been at the beginning. Panting, Sakura finally fell back and gave in, "I... don't think this is gonna work, Hyuuga."

Hinata let out a sigh that was more a growl, and gave her a glance that was more a glare, "Do you have another plan, Haruno?"

"I" Sakura honestly didn't. Physically, she was probably the weakest of her three teammates, and none of her jutsu could help. It would be so much easier if there were more of her. Hold on, more of her? "I think I know what to do, I'll be right back!"

"H-hey! Where are you going!?" Hinata called after her.

Sakura didn't even look back as she called back, "I'm going to get help."

As it turned out, Naruto was easier to find than one would expect. Or exactly as easy as one would expect, given his outrageously bright jumpsuit and over-the-top personality. It took her maybe ten minutes to locate the precocious blonde, walking around, shouting out for Kakashi to come fight him head on.

Sakura would have giggled at Naruto's antics, but she had more important things on her mind. She leaped down from the trees she had been moving along to land near Naruto, "Hey, Naruto."

Naruto turned to face her and smiled, "Hey Sakura! Have you seen sensei! I sent him running earlier and I haven't found him since."

Sakura did giggle at that, "I seem to remember him sending you flying."

Naruto flushed at the recrimination, scratching the back of his head as he said, "Oh, so you saw that. Well, I'm sure he only did that cause he was afraid I'd-"

"Listen, Naruto, I need your help," Sakura interrupted, and Naruto shifted to give her his full attention. "I need you to help free Hyuuga, she's uhm... stuck right now and I can't free her anytime soon; but, if you used your clones, we could do it in a tenth the time, if not less."

"And then we go fight Kakashi-sensei together," Naruto nodded sagely, his face scrunched in concentration. He opened his eyes and gave her a shallow grin, "But if I'm gonna help you I want you to promise me something."

"Oh," Sakura said, taken aback. She hadn't anticipated getting him to go along with the second phase of her plan so easily. "Y-yeah, sure, anything."

"I want a guaranteed bell."

Except that. Sakura felt the blood drain from her face and sweat spread across her palms. Sakura wasn't sure how to respond. On the one hand, Naruto's help might just make the difference, and she wouldn't even be able to get Hinata without it. On the other, she had already promised one of the bells to her rival, and she had honestly meant it. If she agreed to Naruto, either she'd need to betray one of them or else she'd... Sakura shook her head and stared Naruto down, "Agreed."

They'd just have to deal with the details later.

After a moment's brainstorming between Naruto and Sakura, they agreed that Naruto would use his Shadow Clone Jutsu to dig Hinata out, and with a pop Naruto summoned a few dozen copies to assist him. Even with over thirty of them, it still took Naruto and his Shadow Clones almost an hour to completely excavate the Hyuuga.

Once she was free, Hinata stood, spitting dirt and brushing herself off, scoffing in annoyance and saying under her breath, "Damn him," before speaking up and addressing the others in a clipped and deliberate tone. "Okay, what is our plan?"

Sakura rest her head upon the palm of her hand as a rogue finger began curling a lock of hair. She had seen all of their fights and committed them to memory. Now she needed to find a way to use that. Kakashi had to be holding back against them, which was probably the only reason they had caught him off guard. Still, their best option was to approach Kakashi with tricks and backhanded tactics, feints and false flags. Sakura mentally ran though all the skills she knew they possessed: Naruto could use the Shadow Clone jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu and the Transformation Jutsu, as well as that wind jutsu he'd used earlier; Sakura herself could use the Transformation Jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu in ways most ninja never thought of; and Hinata...

"Hyuuga, what does the Gentle Step actually do? And what else can you do?"

Hinata scowled back at her suspiciously, "I can disable my opponents Chakra Network, so long as I can strike them; I know the Clone, Transformation, and Substitution Jutsu; and, I also have... scouting capabilities."

"I see." Sakura's finger curled faster and then rapidly disentangled itself from her hair, "I've got an idea."

Sakura, Hinata, and Naruto each knelt at the edge of a clearing, cautiously observing their sensei as he wandered through it, nose deep in his book. Sakura's plan was by no means simple, but she was certain it would work. She gave the signal for Naruto to begin.

Naruto fastened her kunai to his belt for ease of access before walking out to challenge Kakashi. Once he had Kakashi's attention Naruto charged and, as expected, the Jonin practically ignored him as he avoided Naruto's flurry of attacks. Sakura frowned. Naruto was too tense, his fighting was nowhere near the level it had been earlier. Fortunately for them, Kakashi either didn't notice, or thought nothing of it as he chuckled to himself.

Naruto noticed Kakashi's momentary distraction and brought his hands together into a seal, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Seven Shadow Clones appeared around Naruto. This was phase one, and Sakura hoped the rest of them went as smoothly. Naruto, the real one she thought, attacked Kakashi along side one of the clones. It was useless and Kakashi kicked out once, twice, knocking both of them back and dispelling the clone. Naruto, however, desperately flung a kunai at Kakashi as he fell, which Kakashi easily deflect away. Sakura struggled to maintain her control as the kunai spun away.

'Phase two..."

Two of the Naruto clones charged together, purposefully sticking as close together as possible. They didn't engage with the Jonin so much as were used as bowling practice, a single kick sending both flying away. When they collided with the ground, they exploded in a massive plume of smoke. When the smoke faded, a single clone was left dazed and confused.

'Phase three...'

Another of Naruto's clones rushed forward to make an attempt at the bell and Sakura would have slammed a palm into her face if she were able. Of course he'd try to do something stupid, and it lost them a clone to what amounted to a bonk on the head from Kakashi. It also seemed to spur Kakashi to action. The Jonin slipped his book away and darted to the nearest clone, he whirled and landed a solid kick against a clone's temple before leaping back and bringing a crashing elbow down on another clone's head. Two clones had been dispelled in as many seconds and there were now only three Naruto's left.

That... that served them fine though. The last true Naruto clone charged straight for Kakashi and was met with an incredibly forceful hay-maker to his head, destroying him immediately. Kakashi then immediately moved to uppercut another charging Naruto, but his fist met only with air as that Naruto bent back at the waist to avoid the attack and flung his legs up to bring them crashing into Kakashi's right thigh and the entirety of his left arm. Kakashi responded by driving the "clone" into the ground. He was almost going to finish it off when the real Naruto charged him and traded a brutal kick from Kakashi for time for a disguised Hyuuga to escape. Kakashi leaped back and hissed as his leg touched solid ground. Naruto, and now a revealed Hinata, barely stood side by side panting and wounded, but ready to continue on.

'There's phase four... we're almost there!'

Naruto and Hinata began to charge Kakashi as a team, slowly pushing him back. Then left. Then left again. Right, back, right, left, left, back, slowly manoeuvring him into position. They were close, incredibly close. The two Genin suddenly changed tactics. Hinata leaped at him from the side with a high, sweeping kick and Naruto mirrored her on Kakashi's right, but from a lower vantage and whirling in the opposite direction. Kakashi did not respond as planned. Instead of blocking both attacks as they'd planned, Kakashi spun counter to their rotations and drove his fists into both of their abdomens. The strikes stopped them dead and she thought she saw blood on Hinata's lips. Regardless, this was exactly what she needed.

Sakura dispelled the Transformation Jutsu that she had activated before they started, and the kunai now in Kakashi's blind spot exploded into a fist that slammed into the back of his already weakened head, knocking the jonin unconscious. "Sha!"

And that was it. They'd done it! They had fought against all odds, practically faced death, fought a Jonin head on and they had won! Excitedly, Sakura knelt down and felt around the Jonin's belt until her small, agile fingers clasped around two small cold spheres of metal. The two bells came off the belt a moment later and a shiver ran down her spine. She shrugged it away and turned to her two teammates, holding up the bells and smiling. "We did it guys!"

The image of her two, barely standing teammates sent a cold realization through her, and her smile slowly dripped away. Her two teammates were waiting expectantly. Her two teammates, waiting for two bells. Thoughts bombarded her and she tried to think of ways out of this. Hinata and Naruto were weakened, she could easily overpower one of them and choose which she gave the bell to. Or, she could fight them both, they weren't, after all, in any shape to take on anyone right now. This would be easy, she was so close to fulfilling her dream.

'And, yet...' Her arms refused to move as memories flashed by.

Ino's face was set with a look of determination and hope, "I'll make our Ino-Shika-Cho the one to remember above all the others!

Naruto's face was like the sun itself as he grinned and introduced himself. "Everyone knows my dream and I'll say it again! I'm gonna be the next Hokage!"

Cold, white eye's stared at something no one else could see,"I plan to save someone very important to me, return honour to the Hyuuga name."

Her own voice, deafening and silent simultaneously, "What is a shinobi?"

Sakura had wanted to be a ninja all her life, she'd sacrificed things to get this far. Sakura knew however, that no matter how much she wished for it, these two were far more deserving of the title of Shinobi than she was. They had dreams, goals that seemed so... important. Naruto falling back into the academy would mean that he would delay his advancement and perhaps jeopardize his chances of ever becoming Hokage. Hinata had too had mentioned goals that put her simple desire for adventure to shame and sent pillars of guilt through her.

They needed this more than she ever would.

With a trembling breath Sakura took a step towards them and held out her hand, the bells hanging from her grasp. "B-before you guys take these I wanna say something, okay?"

The two Genin glanced at each other in confusion as Sakura steadied her breathing. "I... I've wanted to be a ninja for as long as I can remember, and becoming a Genin meant a lot to me."

Sakura's voice broke for a moment before she regained her composure, made the last few steps, and handed the others the bells before stepping away, "But, you two are different. Becoming a ninja is just the first step towards things so much bigger than I'd imagined. I promised each of you one of these bells, and I'm going to keep that promise."

"Sakura, you-"

"Don't you dare!" It was, surprisingly, not Naruto who had cried out and it actually took Sakura a moment to register who had interrupted who. Hinata seemed to have more to say, her eyes drilling holes into the ground and her fists clenched at her sides, "We w-wouldn't even have the bells if you hadn't... We wouldn't be here without you!"

Sakura hadn't realized at first, but Hinata was angry. She wasn't done either and her voice trembled in what Sakura could only describe as.. desperation? "You're supposed to be my rival, right!? So don't you dare think you can run away like this!"

Hinata finally looked up to glare straight into Sakura's eyes, "We'll find a way, there has to be a way for you to stay!"

"Unfortunately, that's not the case." Suddenly, Kakashi's slumped form rose and grabbed hold of Sakura. "As I said, only two of you can pass."

Hinata and Naruto glanced at each other before throwing their bells away. "I may dislike Haruno, But she's the only reason we got this far. It's her dream to be a ninja and if her fate is to be sent back to the academy... Then I'll just have to crush that fate to pieces!"

Naruto shrugged and then gave Kakashi a look of shear determination, "What kind of Hokage would I be if I left my teammate behind."

"Even if that means all three of you will be sent back to the academy?" Kakashi's words seemed to stop all three Genin in their tracks.

Only for a moment though, as Hinata stared Kakashi down, quietly whispering, "I will bring honour the my clan."

Sakura couldn't see Kakashi's face from where she was being held, but she could here in his voice just what he had decided, "Well, if that's your decision... then you all..."

All three Genin flinched, bracing themselves against what they knew was coming.

"Pass."

The now official Team Seven stared at their now official sensei in utter astonishment. They found their voices as one, managing only a stammering, "Huh?"