Chapter Three

Kakashi appeared at training ground 7 in a puff of smoke with an eye smile and excuse to why he was late ready. But once he didn't hear the shout of 'you're late' he opened his eye to see what was going on.

Naruto was sitting against the three stumps with his eyes closed, sitting in a meditative position. Not too far away from Naruto, was Sakura, sitting on a branch reading a book, what she was reading was a mystery to him. Looking around once more, Kakashi spotted Sasuke who was doing a set of pushups. Sakura noticed the perplexed Kakashi and closed her book shut before hopping down from the tree. "Ohayo, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura greeted with a smile. Kakashi blinked before looking at his female student with a confused look.

"Um, Ohayo. What's going on?" Kakashi asked. Naruto kept his calm expression and his eyes shut as he answered Kakashi in a somewhat dry tone.

"You have quite the reputation of being late," Naruto muttered with Kakashi blinking. "Instead of wasting our time waiting longer than what we would have liked, we did our own thing," Naruto said. After a moment he opened his eyes and stood, "It's a good thing Sakura warned us about your tardiness beforehand," Naruto smirked lightly. "I don't like wasting time, Kakashi."

Seeing the irritable look in Naruto's eye he simply nodded slowly as the other two stood beside their teammate. "Noted." Kakashi then fished into his pocket and pulled out two bells. "Your mission today is to retrieve these two bells before noon. If you don't have them, before then, you get no lunch," Kakashi eye smiled, expecting to hear grumbling stomachs but all he received were varying expressions of blank. Neither of them seemed fazed in the least which he found a bit...disturbing. "Come at me with the intent to kill or you won't get a bell, understand?"

The three nodded, ready to start the test. Kakashi glanced at each of them to see they were ready. Once he made sure they were, he let them begin. Now the Jounin expected all of them to go into hiding, but imagine his surprise when Naruto and Sasuke charge at him while Sakura stands behind, watching him. The Jounin sighed as he blocked Sasuke's punch, and ducked under Naruto's kick.

With his other hand he grabbed onto Sasuke's arm and threw him around to hit Naruto, but the blonde was already in front of Kakashi, delivering a blow to Kakashi's abdomen. The man grunted as Naruto gave an uppercut to his chin, making him fly up a bit. Naruto moved out of the way as Sakura came in to deliver a flying kick at Kakashi's chest, but as soon as she made contact with him, Kakashi turned into a log, which turned into splinters a moment later.

Sakura landed with a small thud, a frown on her face. Sasuke and Naruto stood next to her, looking around for the masked ninja. It wasn't until Sakura spoke that the two boys paid attention.

"I think we should split up. One of us is bound to find him soon, and the other two will be able to swoop in and help." Sakura suggested, and the two nodded in agreement. With that the two went their own way to find Kakashi. Said Jounin was sitting on a hidden branch not too far away watching them. Once he saw them split up he cast two shadow clones and sent them to go find one of his students.

With a sigh, he left as well.


Naruto suddenly came to a halt, finding himself in the forest. His eyes stayed focused on one spot, but his senses had spread out far. He could sense Kakashi nearby with the Force, close in fact. Naruto debated whether if he should use his skills with the Force against Kakashi, but decided not too. Doing so would end this test quickly. This would be a good time to test his skills as a shinobi though. Naruto turned his head to see Kakashi coming from behind a tree and noted that the Force swirled around him, and he could tell that it was the real Kakashi.

"I'm waiting on you ya know," Kakashi said as he flipped a page in his book. Naruto gazed at him with studying eyes.

"I would, but you're doing something at the moment. It wouldn't be fair for me to attack you while you are distracted." Naruto answered. Kakashi gave a small snort.

"You must not know much of the Shinobi life then kid. There is no such thing as fair when it comes to Shinobi. Honor, fairness, just words with no meaning to us. Samurai? That's a different story, but not Shinobi." Kakashi explained.

Naruto raised a brow at that. "Fairness and honor mean nothing hunh? Interesting." Naruto whispered to himself. Kakashi raised a brow as he watched Naruto's hair cover his eyes. The Jounin's eye widened as he felt a dark menacing power starting to rise. It was only out of instinct and experience that he was able to dodge Naruto's kick that snapped the tree in half. As Kakashi was in the air, leaping back, he caught a glance of Naruto's blood red eyes.

In a blur, Naruto vanished appearing right in front of Kakashi who couldn't move. The blonde unsheathed a Katana that seemingly came out of nowhere before the blade met with Kakashi's torso. Pushing the blade against Kakashi, the Jounin made a silent gasp as he was cut in half. Blood splurted everywhere as both parts of his body fell to the ground.

Naruto landed on the ground and sheathed his blade, watching as white flames started to consume Kakashi. The jounin gasped, nearly falling to his knees as he was released from the Illusion. Panting over and over again, Kakashi felt the edge of a blade reach his neck, hovering right above it. "Concede." Naruto ordered in a dark tone. Kakashi glanced up to gaze into Naruto's stone cold sapphire eyes. Those eyes held no emotion, and it frightened him a bit. It was as if Naruto was really meaning to kill him.

"Sorry Naruto but…" Kakashi eye smiled at the genin, who's eyes narrowed. Before Kakashi tried substituting, Naruto brought down his blade, only to slice off a chunk of a log. Grunting in annoyance he sheathed his blade. "It seems you have some kind of talent with Genjutsu, but that was only one. Let's see how you fare against, ninjutsu!" Kakashi yelled as he jumped from the trees blowing out a large streaming ball of fire.

Naruto, whose back was towards the ball didn't move. He let the flames consume him which caused Kakashi to narrow his eye in confusion. "Byakurai." A voice muttered. Kakashi was force to flip out of the way of a white bolt of lightning. The Jounin came to a skidding halt and looked up. Sitting calmly on a branch, in a relaxed form was Naruto who gazed back at him with a slightly bored gaze.

'Is this genin toying with me? And what was that jutsu?' Kakashi thought to himself. Naruto gave a small nod to the left, causing Kakashi to dodge a fist, though barely. He also was forced to duck under a swift kick, aimed for his head. The jounin was able to then pull out two Kunai and stab his attackers, only to hear two poofs. He blinked but didn't have time to question anything as a flurry of Kunai was thrown at him.

Once again, Kakashi replaced himself with a log, appearing right next to Naruto's position. The blonde merely glanced at him, and kept the jounin's gaze. Naruto hopped down to the ground, Kakashi following. The two gazed at each other before lunging at one another, starting a taijutsu battle. Kakashi was surprised that Naruto was adept in Taijutsu as well, though Kakashi was still better.

Naruto blocked Kakashi's punch, before leaping back, before lunging forward again. As Naruto neared Kakashi, he hopped into the air and spun, readying a kick. Kakashi blocked the kick but grunted as he felt his bones vibrate. Naruto flipped himself around, and nearly touched the bells but Kakashi pushed him away. Though Naruto didn't go pretty far and delivered a sweep kick at the Jounin. Kakashi jumped and front flipped over Naruto.

Naruto growled and positioned himself on the ground as if he was about to start running. Taking a quick breath, Naruto back flipped high into the air, soaring above Kakashi. As Naruto was beginning to land, he unsheathed his Katana and tried striking at Kakashi. As he fell, Kakashi who pulled out a kunai. The Katana easily sliced through the katana like butter, but Kakashi was able to leap back, only receiving a cut on his sleeve.

Naruto landed with a skid as he glared at Kakashi who was impressed even more with his Kenjutsu. The Jounin decided enough was enough and charged at Naruto. Whipping out two handfuls of Kunai, he crossed his arms and threw them at Naruto who narrowed his eyes. Kakashi narrowed his eye as well. He was waiting for Naruto to pull off two options. Option one was for him to deflect most of the Kunai with his blade and leave himself open. While option two was for him to slightly surprise Kakashi and pull off a fire jutsu to melt the kunai, leaving himself open.

But what Kakashi didn't expect was Naruto to vanish in a gust of wind and appear right in front of him, sword raised. For Naruto, he simply used what little control of his wind element he had to surprise Kakashi, now all he had to do was use a technique he saw in one of his Manga. Raising his sword, Naruto swung down before swinging up and repeating the process, delivering slash after slash across Kakashi's body. After the tenth slash or so, Naruto moved back a bit, pivoted his foot to turn his body and channeled lightning chakra into his hand.

Pressing his hand against Kakashi's chest, he released the lightning chakra, allowing it to pour into him. Kakashi screamed in pain as an unknown amount of lighting volts shocked and coursed through his body. After a couple of moments of pure shock, Naruto removed his hand and allowed Kakashi to fall. Naruto smirked as he sheathed his sword. He was about to reach for the bells when Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

The blonde's eyes widened in surprise to what he just witnessed and his right eye twitched. The puff of smoke he just saw meant that Kakashi was just a clone and he wasted his time and chakra fighting a clone, when he could have simply killed it. He overestimated the clone, thinking it was the real elite jounin. Now he just revealed some of his techniques to Kakashi who he didn't trust at all!

"Damn," Naruto muttered quietly, before he called upon the force, stretching his senses to find Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke was in the east, Sakura in the south, but he couldn't spot Kakashi which he found strange. Nonetheless he created a clone and the two split up.

Sasuke stood in the middle of a clearing, which was not that far from the stumps he and his team were going to be tied to if they didn't get those bells.


"You know, you were all foolish for splitting up. The other two could have really needed you." Kakashi stated as he walked up from behind a tree. Sasuke merely turned his head and spoke.

"Those two don't need my help, and I don't need theirs," Sasuke muttered before he gained a smirk and Kakashi raised a brow. He witnessed Sasuke's coal black eyes gain a red hue before they shifted into a level two Sharingan. "But you can entertain me!" Sasuke yelled as he blurred out of sight. Kakashi frowned in response. He definitely wasn't expecting Sasuke to possess the Sharingan, not at this time. What was with these kids?

Sasuke appeared right above Kakashi from the right, his body already turning to deliver a kick. Sasuke's foot smashed against Kakashi's forearms which he used to block, dropping his book in the process. Sasuke smirked as he held firm against Kakashi's block. The Uchiha then soon bent backwards, grabbing a handful of Kunai. Sasuke pushed off of Kakashi's forearms to land on the ground and throw the projectiles quickly. Kakashi was surprised by this and quickly went through hand seals to cast a fireball jutsu. The jounin was even more surprised when a fireball met his own, the flames pushing against each other.

Sasuke was pushing his chakra into the fireball while thinking of another plan. The bells didn't matter to him at this point, what did matter was he needed to beat Kakashi to see how strong he was. Had to kill Itachi after all, and Kakashi was a good stepping stone. Kakashi gave a mental grunt as he poured more chakra into the fire, trying to overwhelm the Uchiha. But to his surprise the flames just disappeared. Raising a brow he gave a loud grunt of pain when a leg connected with his ribs, sending him flying away.

Sasuke didn't end it there as he chased after the jounin. Kakashi almost crashed to the ground but was able to maneuver himself around so he didn't; instead he skidded to the ground. The jounin was currently looking down, panting a bit. How was it that a genin was able to make him pant? Was he that out of shape that a genin was making him a bit tired? That just wasn't possible was it?

Looking up his eyes widened before the bottom of a sandal smashed against his face, sending him flying back with a flip. Sasuke grinned as he blurred through hand signs and cupped his hand to his mouth. Jumping into the air, Sasuke fired four fireballs at Kakashi. Said jounin groaned as he rubbed his face. He blinked as he felt it was getting a little warm. Looking up, he was surprised to see four fireballs flying towards him. Kakashi tried to cast some hand signs but his confusion halted him from doing so.

The fire faded away, revealing Shuriken from within, which by the way sliced up his arms and made him skid back against a tree. Sasuke unsealed two windmill shuriken from each of his wrists and threw them as Kakashi. The jounin tried to move but realized he was trapped against a bit of ninja wire. Kakashi flexed and was about to break out when the Windmills zipped around him, giving him gashes on each leg. What he didn't realize was the ninja wire attached to each windmill that lead back to Sasuke's mouth.

Sasuke smirked in victory as he went through hand signs and clapped his hands. "Fire style: Dragon flame jutsu!" The genin mumbled, blowing out a stream of fire that quickly morphed into a dragon and making contact with a wide eyed Kakashi. A fiery explosion was what rewarded Sasuke as he smirked. The smirk turned into a frown as he was forced to dodge the kick that nearly connected with his face. His sharingan eyes were surprised to see an injured Kakashi on the attack. Sasuke was too slow to escape the grapple against his shirt from Kakashi. The jounin pulled Sasuke back, threw him on the ground and was about to knock the boy's lights out when a devastating spin kick connected with his jaw, sending him flying as well.

Sasuke grunted as he was helped back up by Naruto. He glanced at his teammate then back at Kakashi's direction. "What are you doing here?" Sasuke demanded calmly, Naruto just shrugged in response.

"Came here to see if you needed help, and from what it looks, you do." Naruto smirked.

"I had under control!" Sasuke stated with small growl. Naruto rolled his eyes, though they remained focused on Kakashi's direction.

"Whatever. I just finished with my own Kakashi." Naruto told him and Sasuke raised a brow.

"Your own?" The genin asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah, it was a clone. So I came to see if either this was the real one, or a clone." Naruto stated and Sasuke gave a small scoff.

"It's the real one alright. Before you showed up, I was completely kicking his ass. If it was a clone, it would have dispelled by the first hit." Sasuke informed and Naruto shook his head.

"No, these are not just normal clones. I put my clone through one of my genjutsu and…" Naruto was interrupted when his ankles were grasped from underneath the ground. "Damn!" Naruto growled out as he was being pulled under. Sasuke leaped back as Naruto clapped his hands and slammed them against the ground as he was being pulled.

Sasuke could feel the ground vibrate before a geyser of water burst from the earth. As the moments passed, multiple geysers were formed, water busting out as well. Soon a geyser formed under Naruto as he was shot in the air from the water, while Kakashi was shot out from the water, landing on the ground with a tumble. Naruto finished his hand signs, clapping his hands together once more. Sasuke and Kakashi witnessed as the water shooting from the ground suddenly morphed into water dragons. As the dragons charged at him, Kakashi could only mutter out,

"Oh shit."

After 2 minutes Naruto and Sasuke were standing right above a soaked and broken Kakashi. Sasuke smirked in victory, and just as he was about to snatch the bells, Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke, causing Sasuke to freeze, his face in complete shock. "What the fuck?" Sasuke curse earning a hum from Naruto. "You mean to tell me I wasted all that god damn chakra on a fucking clone?! Damn!" Sasuke raged which was not so usual for the Uchiha to do considering he was usually so stoic.

"Not to mention, he was a shadow clone, which means that he knows about your skill level, same with me." Naruto sighed as he ran his hand through his hair. Sasuke growled before taking a deep breath. When he opened his eyes he glared into his rival's sapphire blue.

"What now?" Sasuke asked. Naruto sighed as he looked towards Sakura's direction and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Well, I'm just a clone that was sent by boss to help you out and see if Kakashi was really here, but apparently not. Towards that direction is Sakura-chan's and Boss's location, I would hurry, you might miss out." The Naruto clone smirked before dispelling. When he dispelled, he missed the look of jealousy and anger on Sasuke's face. The Uchiha's hand tightened into a fist as he glared towards the ground.

"Damn it dobe!"


The pink headed girl landed on the ground with a soundless thud, her eyes scanning around, looking for her sensei.

"You know, your different from the others." Kakashi stated walking out from the shadows. Sakura stood up and looked to her left to see Kakashi who was studying her with his lone eye.

"Different how?" Sakura asked with narrowed eyes. Kakashi hummed before he answered.

"I don't know really, but you seem more mature, experienced, old…" Kakashi was interrupted when a fist collided with his face, sending him flying back into the trees.

Sakura glared at her sensei's downed form and huffed. "It's rude to comment on a lady's age, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura scolded. Kakashi groaned and stood up, rubbing his masked face.

'That was one hell of a punch, if I didn't know any better, I would say she trained with Tsunade-sama.' Kakashi thought to himself taking in his students form.

He wasn't lying when he said she seemed mature and experienced. The way she held herself was that of an experienced ninja who seen her fair share of death. Sakura's eyes were cold and hard, that like of a shinobi who has seen war and participated in it firsthand. Kakashi didn't really like this look of this so called fresh genin. Granted that she and her teammates were far from just an average genin this was not what he was expecting, especially from Sakura.

While Naruto and Sasuke were strong, they did not have the same aspects Kakashi noticed in Sakura. They did seem to have some experience and decent skills under their belts, but still. "Are you just going to stand there and ogle your student or test my skills? Because if you don't come to me…" Sakura grinned evilly as she lunged at Kakashi at a fast pace.

The jounin was actually surprised by this. Sakura jumped, doing a front flip. As she spun about to come down on Kakashi, her leg shot out and smashed against the ground, causing a crater to appear. Kakashi was actually smart enough to know, Sakura's blows were not as soft as the two boys before her. Kakashi landed on the ground from his leap and blew out a fireball. Sakura grimaced but ran towards the flames, forming hand signs as she did so. Imagine Kakashi's surprise when two large slabs of rock shot up from the ground and slammed themselves together, crushing the flames between them.

Sakura wasn't finished there as she drop kicked the large thick slab of rock, which shot towards Kakashi at a pace he didn't like. He barely had any time to dodge out the way, but he was able to. Rolling around he sat up a bit and looked to the sky with a lazy eye. But that lazy eye soon widened once he saw Sakura coming down towards him with a cocked back fist, ready to smash against his face. Kakashi channeled chakra into his legs quickly to jump out the way, just in time too, considering Sakura created another large crater. Kakashi grimaced in pain as the chakra he pumped into his legs was a bit too much which tightened up his muscles.

'Why is it that I am on the defensive? This needs to stop.' Kakashi thought before a knee met with his gut, making him cough in pain. His eyes then locked on to pink locks of hair that was right under his chin. 'She's fast!' Kakashi thought. He heard a jingle and quickly substituted himself with a log. Once he was away from Sakura, and able to catch his breath, he checked his side to see the bells were still attached. However he kept his eye out considering Sakura's speed exceeded his expectations.

Sakura frowned as she landed on the ground. She was so close to those bells, so close! Her frown soon turned into a smirk, knowing she had her teacher on the defensive. The girl took a deep breath before scanning around for her teacher. As Kakashi found a great spot to conceal himself, he kept his eye on Sakura and watched as she glanced around. Raising in his hand to his masked lips he formed a single sign.

"Alright girl, let's see how you handle genjutsu." Kakashi whispered to himself. He discreetly sent out a pulse of chakra to overload her senses and trap her, though he noticed she stiffened and guessed he trapped her. Though in reality it was actually Sakura who trapped Kakashi. She already sensed the genjutsu trying to trap her and automatically cancelled it, but she also cast a double layered genjutsu on Kakashi.

Once she was sure he was trapped, Sakura rushed over to his position. She found him sitting on a branch covered by some other branches. Sakura smirked and jumped at towards him ready to knock his lights out. But just as her cocked back fist swung and made contact, Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura blinked as she fell towards the ground, though she landed safely. The girl looked around for her opponent and was about to smash the ground when two hands shot up from the ground and snatched at her ankles. Before she could even tried hitting the ground, the hands drug her down trying to trap her, but Sakura replaced herself with a leaf, which surprised Kakashi.

He jumped up from the ground, only for a fist to smash against his sternum, making him go wide eyed. Sakura smirked as Kakashi flew, and as he flew, she started forming hand signs. "Earth style: Devouring earth." Sakura chanted as the earth started to rumble before the ground split open and formed to jaws that were ready to crush Kakashi. Though she gave a small huff in annoyance once Kakashi replaced himself again.

"It seems you are talented in all three subjects." Kakashi muttered as he stood behind Sakura. The girl stood straight and turned around and gave a shrug.

"I guess. I only know few high ranked jutsu, I don't think that qualifies as being talented in all three subjects." Sakura answered and Kakashi simply narrowed his eyes before glancing at his side. But even though it was just a simple quick glance, that still gave Sakura enough time to disappear to only reappear in front of Kakashi delivering a crushing kick to his torso, sending him flying back with a grunt.

"Keep your eye on your opponent, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura smirked as he struggled to stand back up.

'She's so fast! I didn't even think…' Kakashi's thoughts were stopped to a halt when he felt something sharp and cold press against the back of his neck. He glanced up to see a shiny polished silver blade that led back to the hilt which was grasped in Naruto Uzumaki's hand.

"Ohayo, Kakashi." Naruto greeted with an emotionless tone. Kakashi simply gave an eye smile in return before he heard Sakura approach.

"Ano, Naruto-kun, I was handling it." Sakura pouted while Naruto gave a small nod.

"I can see that. Though I didn't want to take any chances, Sakura." Naruto replied, eyes never leaving Kakashi who was looking back and forth between the two.

"You know, I should kill you for what you made me reveal. But that will only bring me problems." Sasuke stated as he finally revealed himself, standing on a branch with his arms crossed.

"Oh what ever do you mean, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked with an eye smile only to feel Naruto's blade rest against his neck a little harder.

"Don't fuck with us Kakashi. You are in no position too." Naruto growled out. Kakashi just gave a small chuckle.

"Hand over the bells Kakashi, and I'll call Naruto-kun off from slicing your head off." Sakura ordered. Kakashi raised a brow and glanced between the two boys and Sakura, and noticed how they both were ready to strike if she gave the order.

'So she's in charge. That's very interesting. If anything…' Kakashi looked towards Naruto to see he was still glaring at him."Sorry Sakura, but the test is not over yet." Kakashi told her with an eye smile before disappearing the same moment Naruto decided to cut his head off, but only cut off a piece of log.

The blonde growled before sheathing his sword and walking towards Sakura with Sasuke following him. The two looked at her, both not really in the best of moods. Sakura sighed and gave them nods before they all jumped out of the way of a fireball. Naruto landed on a branch while Sasuke landed on the trunk of a tree. Sakura on the other hand, back flipped before quickly landing on a tree before pushing off the three towards the ground and punching it with her fist, creating a large crater. Kakashi revealed himself from under the ground, and jumped away from Sakura only to receive a knee to his back from Naruto. He grunted in pain before he saw Sasuke falling towards him. Though Sasuke dropped down to his ankles which he grabbed and slammed Kakashi to the ground after Naruto kicked his way off of the jounin.

Sasuke was pissed off even more because the thing he slammed to the ground was another log. He growled before he was punched in the face by Kakashi though the jounin was surprised when a blade cut through the skin on his arm, causing a splash of blood to fall. Sakura grabbed Kakashi by the collar of his vest and threw him over her while Sasuke recovered from the fist to his face and blew out a fireball towards Kakashi who substituted with another log.

It was at that moment, Naruto's patience had finally snapped. "I've had enough of these fucking logs! It's time to end this!" Naruto shouted as he raised his hand. His two teammates looked at him in surprise as they felt the air around them tighten. Just as Naruto felt his technique become ready, Sakura snatched at his wrist while Sasuke shushined them away from the area, taking them to the nearby field.

Once Sakura realized that Kakashi's presence was nowhere near them she punched Naruto in the stomach, not too hard, but hard enough to knock the air out of him. And she did, considering he was on the floor desperately gasping for air while holding his stomach. "Fucking idiot! What the hell is wrong with you? Are you trying to kill us all?" Sakura scolded while Sasuke kept on the lookout. Naruto continued gasping for air before speaking.

"I wasn't going to use all my power, just some…"

"Enough to potentially cripple us! You have to think things through Naruto! Or you can kill your team by accident!" Sakura scolded. Naruto had a small scowl on his face, mostly irritated with himself than at Sakura. After a moment he took a deep breath then gave a nod, that's when the alarm bell rang making all three genin growl in annoyance before meeting up to the three logs.

Once they arrived they saw Kakashi who was reading his book. He glanced up at them before closing it and giving them an eye smile. It really pissed both Naruto and Sasuke off. "Well you three certainly surprised me with your skills. But it seems you couldn't receive a bell by noon, which means…" Kakashi looked at the three of them before his gaze settled on Naruto. "Naruto, you will be tied to the post in the middle and will receive no lunch. While you two will eat yours in front of him. I will give you three another chance after lunch, but if you don't get a bell by the next designated time, you will fail." Kakashi told them and they just gave nods.

Once Kakashi was sure Naruto was tight and secure against the log he left with the warning of not feeding Naruto who just rolled his eyes. Sakura and Sasuke ate in silence while Naruto meditated. Sakura opened her eyes as well to glance at her tied teammate. She looked around before handing Naruto her box, causing him to open an eye and raise a brow. "What are you doing?" He asked in confusion.

"Just shut up and eat. Unlike you I know how to make sure my teammates stay alive. Now hurry up and eat." Sakura ordered him. Naruto sighed and shook his head which caused Sakura to get a bit angry. But as she ranted on Naruto just gave her a deadpanned stare before interrupting her.

"Sakura, it's not that I refuse to take your food…I can't move my arms to take it from you." Naruto told her, glancing to his tied arms. Sakura blinked in surprise and blushed in embarrassment before she started to spoon feed him. Sasuke just rolled his eyes at their behavior before he noticed the clouds getting darker. He narrowed his eyes right as Kakashi appeared using Iruka's infamous big demon head no jutsu.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST SAY?!" Kakashi screamed at them causing the other two to look at him in surprise, though the jounin noticed Sakura had an expecting look, before quickly covering it up. He ignored it…for now. "You pass!" He eye smiled at them as the clouds disappeared. The three genin just looked at Kakashi like he grew a second head.

"Eh?" The three chorused.

"You pass. You three vastly surprised me with your skills, individually and as a team. I would have passed you already by the time the bell rang but I just needed to confirm my thoughts with this little stunt, and I wasn't disappointed." Kakashi explained.

"So this was just an act? We were never supposed to get the bells then?" Sasuke asked with a raised brow, which earned him a nod.

"Hai, there was only one thing I was looking for from the three of you." Kakashi stated as Sakura gained a look in her eyes that showed she understood.

"Teamwork." She told him and he nodded.

"Exactly. I wasn't sure how you three would perform together. I was able to see how each of you operate by yourselves and with each other. You see that stone over there?" The jounin asked, pointing to the far right. The three genin nodded. "That stone is where heroes are recognized. Almost all the people I cared about ended up on that stone. They are heroes that are K.I.A." Kakashi informed them. The three seemed surprised by that but kept silent.

"One of my friends once told me this. Those who abandon their mission are trash, but those who abandon their friends are lower than that." Kakashi stated before giving a moment of silence. Once he was done he turned to his new genin team and gave them the nice guy pose. "Congratulations you three! Starting tomorrow we are now Team 7!" Kakashi told them and each had different reactions. Sakura smiled happily, Sasuke had a smirk on his face and Naruto…

Untied himself with the use of the force. The three questioned him with a look but he ignored it as he rubbed his wrists. Seeing that Naruto was not going to answer their shared question, Kakashi moved on. "Alright team, meet me at the bridge at 7a.m tomorrow. See ya later!" Kakashi eye smiled before leaving in a puff of smoke. The three genin smirked before Sasuke realized something.

"Wait…he said meet him at the bridge, but he never said which one." The Uchiha informed, causing Sakura and Naruto to blink in surprise and realization.

"Bastard."


Hiruzen sighed as he finished another stack of paperwork, though he lifted his gaze to the jounin that appeared before him in a puff of smoke.

"Kakashi, mind explaining to me why you are three hours late?" He asked. Kakashi blinked and looked at the time before scratching the back of his head sheepishly. The Hokage groaned before shaking his head. "Never mind. What do you think?" He asked. Kakashi gave a shrug.

"I think they should be passed. I'm really impressed with their skills and teamwork." The jounin answered and Sarutobi agreed.

"I already made my decision right before the bell rang. It seems to me, young Naruto is holding back his strength. Apparently, young Sakura had to stop him from using a jutsu that could have killed you and them. I want you to keep an eye on him Kakashi. Something about Naruto is starting to unnerve me." Sarutobi admitted.

"And the other two sir?" Kakashi asked. The Hokage was silent before speaking.

"Them as well, Sakura a bit more though. It seem to me she may be the strongest out of the three. Not in skill, but experience. She seemed to know how to find and deal with you way to easily, as if she has fought you before." Hiruzen reminded. Kakashi nodded remembering the looks she gave yet quickly covered up, and that constant smirk.

"Will do, Hokage-sama." Kakashi nodded.

"Good, and Kakashi, train them. While I may be wary of the three, it will be beneficial to Konoha if they were to get stronger and still able to keep them under our thumb." Hiruzen told him and Kakashi gave another nod before disappearing.

The old Hokage sighed and looked towards the Yondaime Hokage's picture for a few moments before returning to his paperwork.


Standing in front of the stone tablet in the hidden room under the Uchiha clan head's house, was Sasuke. His Sharingan was activated as he read the stone tablet, but he could only read some of it before he couldn't read anymore.

It frustrated him to no end, whatever Itachi wanted him to read would have to wait, as his eyes couldn't read it. That just meant he would have to get stronger. Sasuke read the tablet once more before he left to continue his training.

Light is only Darkness that has been enlightened…


Sakura had a blank expression as she stood on her balcony gazing at the setting sun.

It was such a beautiful shade of orange, so beautiful it brought back a memory. A memory that made her give a faint smile. She had taken down her braid, allowing her hair to sit at her mid back. As Sakura gazed at the sun, she grabbed at the crystal that hung around her neck. She looked down it, studying it.

It was a beautiful golden color and was a decent size, fitting perfectly in the palm of her hand. "It won't be long now that the ball has started to roll," Sakura whispered to herself, gazing at the crystal. "Soon it will all come together and we'll make things right, I promise." Sakura then squeezed the crystal and brought it to her lips just as she felt the soft touch of breeze.

"Just wait a little while longer, Naruto-kun."


"You came back…"

Naruto didn't respond immediately as he stepped into the temple, Mito's spirit standing across from him with a calm expression, yet worry was present in her eyes. The blond ran a hand through his hair, a irritable expression on his face. Mito frowned as she took a step towards him, "Naruto?" she called as the blond had his eyes closed. When he opened them, Mito bit her lip a bit. The usual sapphire blue eyes of calm curiosity were not the orbs holding her gaze. No she was staring into familiar angry hateful betrayed…

Sulfuric yellow.