"So what do you think Kakashi sensei has in store for us?" Minato asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
"All the senseis have to give us an exam to accept us as students. If we fail, we go back to the academy!" Kougi replied.
"WHAT?" Minato said, shocked. "I don't want to go back to the academy! I just graduated!"
"Minato, you brought up the test. You didn't know that we'd go back?" Kougi asked.
"Well, um...Kujikeru didn't know either!" I kept walking smugly as he pointed an incriminating finger at me.
"Did you ask your father, Minato? I bet he would know what Kakashi would do for a test. He studied under him, after all."
"He wouldn't tell me! He said Kakashi told him not to tell! It must be a secret. What about your parents, Kujikeru?" Minato asked.
"I didn't see my mother last night, and my father just sits around thinking, usually in the dark.. I don't talk to him at all, when I can avoid it." I responded.
"Hmmph! Well I guess we will wait and see!"
We arrived at the designated spot, a clearing near a memorial to ninja's who had given their lives for the village. That was one monument nobody ever wanted to be on. As the note said, we were waiting in front of the monument, reading it.
"For a long time, everyone who was precious to me was on that list." Kakashi said as he appeared behind us.
"That's so sad, Kakashi sensei! What happened to them?" Kougi asked.
"Nothing to worry yourself about. Right now, your mission is to get stronger, and pass my little test. Now, did you all skip breakfast as i asked on the note?" Kakashi said with an invisible smile.
"Yes." We all answered. Minato seemed the most miserable about this.
"Good. Now, here is your test." Kakashi held up two silver bells, attached to a key ring. He hooked it to his belt and smiled. "Your test is to get these bells from me."
"Kakashi sensei?" Kougi asked.
"Yes?"
"There are only two bells, but three of us. One of us will go hungry no matter what!"
"She's right!" Minato said, his stomach already growling.
"That's correct." Kakashi replied.
"I don't understand, why would you not want us all to be able to win?" Kougi asked.
"That is something you will have to find out for yourself."
Kakashi walked into the center of the clearing and pulled a book out. It clearly said "Makeout Paradise" on the cover. He opened it to the middle and began reading. We stood there watching him.
"You only have until noon, or no one gets lunch. You'd better get started." He said, not removing his eyes from the book. I dashed into the woods, and Kougi went to the other side. Minato stood there.
"I'm going to get lunch, no matter what!" Minato shouted, running at Kakashi.
"Idiot..." I said under my breath.
"Minato..." Kougi said, shaking her head slowly.
Minato started with a wide right sucker punch, which Kakashi simply sidestepped. He continued, using his left hand, going for Kakashi's stomach. Kakashi bent over backwards, almost horizontal to the ground, then stood back up. Minato spun and kicked with his right heel, to which Kakashi's reaction was to disappear. He reappeared behind Minato, still smiling and reading. Minato flipped over Kakashi's back quickly, then lashed out with several quick attacks at his back, all of which Kakashi weaved around, without even looking at Minato.
"Your a bit stronger than your father was at this age." Kakashi commented. Minato beamed proudly. "But no smarter. You're making the same mistakes he did." Minato's smile quickly became a scowl. He rushed in again, this time trying to slide tackle Kakashi's feet from under him. Kakashi leapt into the air, then landed on one hand, still reading.
"Now's my chance..." I said, drawing a number of kunai and shuriken. I leapt out from the trees, hurling them in a circular pattern at Kakashi. He disappeared, and I spun, forming the signs and using my jutsu. "Pheonix Fire Flower Jutsu!" I cried, but he hadn't been behind me.
"That was a good assumption, that I would use the same trick I did against Minato, but you should have figured I'd be smarter than that. I've been doing this for a long time." He ruffled the hair on my head, so I spun. He wasn't behind me. "Up here." I looked up, and there he was, hanging from a tree limb, upside down. I quickly pulled a smoke bomb from my pocket, threw it to the ground and took off as it covered my escape.
"Let's get him!" Minato shouted, referring to a clone next to him.
"Ah, your father's favorite technique, the Shadow Clone. I'm not surprised that he taught you that at all." Minato smiled, and ran at him. The two Minato's ran in single file, one hiding the other's action. The first went low, and Kakashi tossed a kunai, popping the clone. Minato had leapt up, rearing his fist back. His face was full of victory as he got closer to Kakashi. His eyes went wide, and he pulled his punch. His fist was grabbed and he was thrown aside but none other than Naruto Uzemaki.
"Dad? What are you doing here?"
"It's me." Kakashi said as his genjutsu faded.
"What? That's no fair!"
"Why not? I knew you wouldn't hurt your own father. Your not a monster." Kakashi smiled.
"But...that's not fair!" Kakashi shook his head.
"You kids only have another hour!" Kakashi shouted out in no specific direction, as he sat on Minato in the center of the clearing.
"Get off me!" Minato struggled.
"Kuji." Kougi said. I was startled slightly, but i recognized her voice, so I didn't spin to attack.
"Yeah?"
"Minato isn't having any luck, is he? Maybe we should try something?"
"I'll go get us the bells, Kougi. I'll be right back." I smiled, and ran towards the clearing.
"Ah, there you are, Kujikeru." Kakashi smiled as one of my clones walked out of the forest. It wasn't a shadow clone, but it would do for now.
"Hey, sensei."
"You here to get a bell?" Kakashi said, still smirking while reading.
"Yep."
"Good luck. Your father would be proud if you did!"
"Why do you say that? I'm at the top of my class, I know a few jutsu which i taught to myself, and he's not proud of me. What makes you think this?"
"He didn't get a bell."
"What?"
"Your father didn't get a bell. He was just like you-"
"Don't say that. I don't like being compared to him."
"Fine, but he was at the top of his class, he was considered very strong for a genin, and he still failed to get a bell. If you got one, he'd be proud." That was all the motivation I needed. The clone threw several kunai at Kakashi, and he didn't move. They passed through him, no surprise, but the surprise was that he knew the clone was a clone. "Nice try, but no luck. You'll have to do better!" I had gotten around to behind him, and I put on a burst of speed, closing the gap. I jumped the last fifteen feet, swung out with my right leg, which he blocked. I rolled forward, reaching out for a bell, but he twisted his hips ever so slightly and it was out of my reach. I brought my other heel downward, towards his head, which he blocked. He grabbed both of my feet as i reached for a bell, and threw me aside.
"Haha!" Minato shouted as he dashed out from under Kakashi just as he stood up to throw me. I landed on my feet, and we both rushed him. I came up high, and Minato low. He blocked my kick with a forearm, and Minato's punch with a foot. He forcefully kicked out, sending Minato sprawling, then spun around, put a hand on my chest, and threw me backwards. He was still holding that damn book. If I couldn't get a bell, I'd at least make him put that away. Minato and I ran into the forest, and before he ran in, I had signaled him with my eyes. We met where I had left Kougi. She was still there.
"Doing this each for ourselves won't work. We're genin, he's a jonin." I said.
"That's what I meant earlier, but you ran off without me, Kuji."
"Oh...Sorry. We need to work together, though!"
"But one of us won't get lunch!"
"We can share one, Minato."
"OK! I'm in! And I think I have a plan!"
Minato and I came bursting out of the forest at top speed simultaneously from opposite directions. We ran in wide arcs, moving towards him in a pincer motion. We did the same attack again, Minato going low, and I went high. He blocked, predictably, in the same fashion, sending Minato sprawling and me flying to the side.
"Kakashi sensei!" Minato shouted as he righted himself.
"Yes, Minato?"
"I got a bell." He laughed and his smile went wider. He was holding a bell. Kakashi looked to his waist, and noticed two bells.
"I still have two bells. Yours is a fake." Kakashi threw a shuriken with expert aim and hit the "bell". It was a kunai disguised with a minor genjutsu.
"Sensei!" Kougi shouted, giggling.
"Yes?"
"I have a real bell!" She said, still laughing. He looked to his belt, and there were no bells.
"I got one too." I said proudly, holding it up. Kakashi looked at us in succession. When he had thrown the shuriken at Minato, Kougi and I had snuck up next to him and snatched the bells. We were surprised it worked too, but it had.
"Well done, kids. Kujikeru and Kougi, you both pass. Go sit down and eat. Your lunches are by the memorial. I have something to attend to before we continue, so I'll be right back. Minato, I'll give you another chance. But, Minato isn't allowed to eat, that is his punishment for not getting the bell! If either of you give him food, all three of you fail." Kakashi poofed away, and we walked to the memorial.
"This sucks!" Minato said.
"What?" I asked.
"I can't eat, or you guys will fail, and I'll lose my second chance! This isn't fair, it was MY plan that got us the bells! I should pass too!"
"Just shut up and eat." I said, holding the tray out to him.
"I can't! Weren't you paying attention?"
"Yes, but you don't have any chance of passing if your hungry. Your stomach is growling louder than you're talking." It was true, his stomach was rumbling pretty bad.
"It's fine, he's not here. I said we could share one, and we will share one. Now eat, quickly, before he gets back." Minato looked at me with a look of pure admiration, probably because he was starving, and Kougi smiled and nodded in approval of my decision.
"Thanks, Kujikeru. I appreciate it, really." Minato began to eat some of the food quickly.
"WHAT DID I SAY?" Kakashi said as he appeared in front of us. Minato dropped his fork, and his mouth was agape.
"You said we weren't supposed to let Minato eat anything." I answered.
"And what were you doing?"
"Letting Minato have some of my lunch." I hung my head in despair.
"And why would you do that?"
"So he could pass his test the second try." I began to look up, resolved to stick by my decision.
"Why would you risk yourself for his sake?"
"He's my teammate, and my friend."
"I see. And Kougi, what do you have to say for yourself? You're just as guilty as they are, you didn't stop them."
"I'd have given Minato my food if Kujikeru hadn't."
"I see."
"Do we have to go back to the academy?" Minato asked sadly.
"No."
"We don't?!" Minato asked, surprised.
"What are you saying, you said we would fail if Minato eat!" Kougi asked.
"You all pass."
"WHAT?" We asked in unison.
"This test wasn't about the bells, or lunch. It was about TEAMWORK, the most important quality in becoming a ninja. I don't care whether you got the bells or not, so long as you worked as a team, and continued to do so through the second test."
"We passed?" Minato asked.
"Yes, you passed. You are all fully fledged genin."
"WE PASSED!!" Minato said, picking me and Kougi up off the ground, spinning in a circle as we all locked hands. He was singing and laughing, Kougi was smiling. I managed to crack a smile myself.
"Come to this spot tomorrow, same time. I'll have your first mission for you." and with that, Kakashi disappeared. Kougi grabbed Minato and hugged him tightly.
"Minato, we're genin!" she said loudly to her cousin. I put my hands in my pockets, and smirked, looking at the ground.
"Yeah!" Minato smiled. "Hey, Kujikeru, come on over here. Get in on this too!" He laughed as he grabbed me, and they made me the center of their hug sandwich. I did my best to seem annoyed. Too bad I was a ninja and not an actor.
