Note: The following chapter was written November 2017 and was not updated when intended due to lack of internet connection, as well as a lack of free time to go to the public library to update.

Jesús: "Hey everyone, the Hiatus is over, though to some it may not look that way. You see I'm a fulltime working adult, so I'm busy and barely have enough time for myself, which I more often than not use playing videogames or hanging out with friends. But this pass year tragedy hit close and I lost my motivation to write for a good while. A Close Friend passed away at a really young age (20/21) and that took my desire to write. It's almost, if not already, been a full year without this friend so I figured it was time to start moving on. I miss this friend, but I'm sure she wouldn't want me to just stop doing whatever it is I want to do. So, without further ado let's just get to it…" [Disclaimer] "...This is a fan based story, I don't own Naruto. All credit goes to Masashi Kishimoto."

Chapter 4 (Meeting the team)

Normal POV

The day after the academy graduation. Every student was to gather at their Classrooms to hear the round robin of the teams.

"Alright everyone! Look closely at this room 'cause until you all become teachers at this academy, this is the last time you're all seeing this room. I want to start off by congratulating everyone here for succeeding in the graduation..." Iruka spoke

"Then what is Naruto doing here?" Kiba called making everyone talk amongst themselves.

"Naruto, as well as Sasuke both stopped a dangerous criminal, or at least he could have become dangerous if he would have succeeded. And he was granted the position of Genin for this reason." Iruka explained

Everyone in the class started talking. Naruto, the dead-last of the class, stopped a dangerous criminal and was allowed to graduate. 'He just got lucky' 'His father probably pulled some strings' and other negative comments could be heard around the room.

"Everyone settle down. I assure you that Lord Fourth didn't have a hand on this aside from assigning this mission upon Naruto and Sasuke..." Iruka said and everyone stopped talking "...Now, without further ado I'll start calling names in sets of three and the people called will be forming a team along with a Jonin Instructor..." Iruka continued and called name after name.

"I wonder who're gonna be my teammates." Naruto said to himself

"Knowing team setups, and the Hokage, you and I'll probably be in a team together." Sasuke replied

"Is that a bet? I bet 50 Ryo that we won't be in the same team." Naruto said

"I'll take you up on that." Sasuke replied and both placed a total of 100 Ryo on the table.

"Squad seven will be formed by; Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha..." Upon hearing this Sasuke reached for the money and pocket it as Naruto whined in defeat "...and Sakura Haruno." After the last member was announced many complaining 'aww' were heard and a single 'Alright' was heard too.

"You hear that. Sakura is gonna be part of our team. I might be able to make my move now." Naruto said

"Yeah, good luck with that." Sasuke replied and continued to stare out the window.

"Squad eight will be formed by; Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga." Iruka said

"Gotta feel kinda sorry for the Hyuga girl." Sasuke said

"Why is that?" Naruto replied in confusion.

"A few reasons, though the only ones I'll list are the fact that she is really insecure for some reason, and that the Inuzuka kid is in her team. I mean those two are total opposites and it might take a while for the two to work together. And don't get me started on the Aburame fellow."

"Squad ten will be formed by; Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi."

"Alright! Ino-Shika-Cho still lives!" Choji called

"What ever happened to Squad Nine?" Ino asked

"Squad nine is already active, is amongst the few Squads that managed to continue their Genin career and not sent back to the academy for one reason or another..." Iruka explained

Iruka continued to call names and once done...

"That is everyone. Now, please wait here for your designated Sensei and you will be "Put to a Test" to see if you can in fact be a Genin." Iruka said and left the room.

The students started talking and complaining about "Another Test?" and this test was even worse yet, since even though they had graduated the whole team would be dragged back to the academy together.

"I wonder who Dad placed as our Sensei." Naruto said thinking out-loud.

"No idea, though if I had to make a guess it would have to be someone he trusts more than anyone." Sasuke replied

The door to the room opened and closed over and over as students left the room with their assigned Sensei. The door opened once and in walked a rather beautiful woman with scarlet red eyes that surely would be mistaken for the Sharingan if people weren't paying attention.

'Could that be our Sensei?' Naruto asked

"That's Kurenai Yuhi. One of the Kunoichi most girls wish to be like..." Naruto heard Sakura who was sitting on the desk behind himself and Sasuke.

"Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuga. Come with me." The woman said and took the three Genin with her.

Two more teams remained in the room. Squad Seven and Squad Ten.

The door opened again and in walked a man with a goatee and a sash with the Land of Fire's insignia on it at his waist.

"Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi. Follow." He said and the three Genin followed behind him.

"So, our teacher is last huh? I really wonder who it is..." Naruto said

"Just wait patiently." Sasuke replied

"Um...Excuse me...?" Sakura started but didn't get to continue because the door opened.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. I'll be the Jonin assigned to Squad Seven. My name is..."

"Yo, What's up Kakashi! So, you're our Sensei?" Naruto started

"Indeed, now come with me" he said and led the small group to the top of the Hokage tower. "No better place to relax wouldn't you all say?" Kakashi inhaled and then exhaled taking in a breath of air. "Now then, let's start this simple shall we, why don't you all tell me who you are, what your likes and dislikes are, and what your future goals are. I'll start, I'm Kakashi Hatake. I was a student of the Fourth Hokage back when he was a Jonin. I don't exactly have a goal, but I do hope you three become exceptional Shinobi." Kakashi finished and just watched the three Genin in front of him.

"I'll go first..." Naruto started "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I'm the son of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and I wish to follow in his steps and become the Next Hokage. I really like Ramen especially when it has Naruto in it and Hate Menma. I also hate how long I have to wait for Instant Ramen to cook."

"Typical Naruto." Kakashi said "alright, how about we move on to our Kunoichi?" Kakashi said

"My name is Sakura Haruno. What I really like is..." she glanced in Naruto's and Sasuke's direction "...My goal in life is..." she glanced again.

"And what do you dislike?" Kakashi asked

"Loud mouthed people that can't keep their mouth shut. In short people like Naruto." Sakura said so matter-of-factly

"WHAT?" Naruto screamed disappointed in her response.

"Lastly..."

"I'm Sasuke Uchiha. I live with Naruto and his father, Lord fourth, since my parents were killed. There isn't much I like or dislike, but my goal is to hunt down their assassin and avenge them." Sasuke said

The group stayed silent for a while and then Kakashi spoke up.

"Well, that is about all, so here is what we'll do. You three are to meet up with me on training ground 4 tomorrow at sunrise. The rest of the information will be given to you there. Also, don't eat breakfast before meeting." Kakashi said and then vanished

The following morning the three teenage Genin gathered at their appointed location and few minutes later the Silver haired Jonin appeared.

"Good morning everyone. Nice to see all of you made it here at just the scheduled time." Kakashi said. The three-young ninja looked in silence at Kakashi ready for orders. "we are now about to have your true final test…"

The three Genin looked at each other confused. What did Kakashi mean?

"Hatake-Sensei…" Sakura started

"Kakashi is fine."

"Kakashi-Sensei, wasn't the Clone and transformation Jutsu the final test?" Sakura finished

"For the academy yes, but every teacher has the right no test their students and judge whether or not they'll be cut out to be shinobi." Kakashi explained and waited to see if there were any questions.

"From what I remember hearing, Kakashi-Sensei has never passed any examinees before. We'll be the fourth team under his test." Sasuke explained.

"Well informed, are we? Yes, it is true that I've been assigned as squad leader before and nobody has passed my test. But they all lacked something important."

"What was that?" Naruto asked, trying not to commit the same mistakes.

"We'll have to wait and see." Kakashi replied and reached into his Shuriken Pouch to pull out a couple of bells. "Your goal is to take these bells."

"Bells?" Sakura wondered out-loud.

"That would mean that one of us wouldn't get a bell." Sasuke said

"Correct, as for whoever doesn't get a bell they'll be given a punishment. Now, come at me with the intent to kill or else you can forget about getting these bells." Kakashi said "…oh yeah, Lord Hokage did tell me to pass on this message. 'you may be able to use all of your abilities to whatever extent you want, but only one of you can use the Hiraijin.' Now that I've passed on the message, I will give you a few minutes to figure out who is using it." Kakashi said and just watched as the tree teens talked to themselves.

Sakura looked confused, she was sure that she'd heard that technique's name before, but she wasn't sure where or what it did. Naruto and Sasuke stood blocking Kakashi's vision as they started talking to Sakura.

"What do we do? Only one of us can use the Hiraijin." Naruto said

"Our main tactic may be by using the Hiraijin as a team, but we can also use it individually just fine. Is not like we'll always be in the same battle to use the team up mode." Sasuke replied

"Then who should take it?"

"I think you should take it. I can move quicker than you so I can manage on my own." Sasuke replied confident on his speed.

"How about you take it…" Naruto replied "…Besides, I have a second trump card after all."

"You're gonna use that?"

"Dad said we could go as serious as we wanted. I don't see why not."

Sakura listened to the conversation and just stared confused. Both young men reached their hands out and tapped her shoulder tagging her with the Hiraijin seal.

'I see, both put their tag on her to not make it obvious who is using the Hiraijin.' Kakashi said to himself waiting for the three to finish their prep.

The three youngsters talked for a few more minutes and then all three turned to Kakashi signaling they were ready.

"Alright then…" Kakashi started as he tied the bells to his waist. "…Let's get started, shall we?"

As soon as Kakashi finished talking the three scattered. Well two of them did, Sasuke and Sakura went into Hiding while Naruto remained in front of Kakashi.

"You're not gonna hide?"

"What's the point? We have to take those bells, so what's the point of getting away from the target." Naruto said 'Man Sasuke, I sure hope your plan works.'

"I see…well, choose your weapon and let's get started." Kakashi replied reaching into his Kunai pouch and pulling out a book that read [Icha Icha Paradaisu]

"augh…I thought I'd never see than thing again." Naruto said and pulled a kunai from his own pouch.

"We'll start whenever you want." Kakashi said and started reading through the pages.

Naruto got annoyed that the Jonin was reading instead of paying attention to the fight. He knew Kakashi and he knew that Kakashi was an amazing Shinobi, but he just felt insulted with Kakashi taking this fight on with just this amount of seriousness.

"ARGGGHH!" Naruto yelled as he rushed in.

Naruto tried to slash at Kakashi while holding the knife on a backhand hold with his right hand and swinging as if trying to punch him. Kakashi dodged and then Naruto continued by trying to stab Kakashi by pulling his arm back. Kakashi easily predicted this next step and pushed Naruto away with his free hand also avoiding this attack. Naruto figured he'd have to be a little quicker if he wanted to at least hit Kakashi, so he decided to use Hand-to-Hand combat, he figured two hands and feet ready for anything were better than just one hand with a knife. The fighting didn't go in Naruto's favor since Kakashi just kept dodging his attacks. One after the other Naruto kept missing and obviously getting tired. Naruto tried and double aerial kick in a round-house style and missed when Kakashi simply ducked under the attacks.

"Your Taijutsu is good, or at least improving from what I remember. But you still have too many openings." Kakashi said

At this time, the world seemed to slow down for Naruto. Kakashi said all of that as his right leg passed him and Kakashi just crouched down holding the book shut and his index and middle finger on both hands raised

'Damn, Tiger hand-sign.' Naruto said to himself. Training with Sasuke long enough he was able to recognize a Fire Jutsu almost instantly.

'I need to get Naruto out of there.' Sasuke said also noticing the Tiger hand-sign

"Hidden leaf secret Taijutsu…" Kakashi said as he started to pivot forward towards Naruto and his hands started traveling in Naruto's direction. "…A Thousand Years of Pain!"

Right as Kakashi was about to make contact by Shoving is fingers up Naruto's behind, Naruto Vanished.

"escaped huh?" Kakashi said 'and I can't really say whether he or Sasuke used it.'

"that was too close for comfort. Thanks for the assist." Naruto said in a whisper

"Sure, he's good. If we want those bells, we're gonna have to outsmart him somehow." Sasuke replied

"hey Sasuke, where's Sakura?" Naruto asked as if on cue, Sakura's scream was heard off in the distance.

"Crap. Let's look for her." With these words Naruto and Sasuke scatter to look for the missing Kunoichi.

Sasuke ran/hopped from tree to tree looking from a high view point, but he couldn't see anything. In time Sasuke came to a stop on another open field, in which Kakashi stood as if waiting for him.

"Well, are you the second wave?" Kakashi asked

"Where is Sakura?" Sasuke asked mostly to make sure he hadn't gotten to her first.

"Who knows, this is a big field. And we are technically out in the open, so wild animals are certainly a possibility" Kakashi replied.

Sasuke knew that there was no point in talking anymore, and rushed right in to start attacking.

Kakashi was aware of both Naruto's and Sasuke's abilities, and while they were both great Shinobi candidates, Sasuke was definitely the stronger of the two in every aspect; speed, reaction time, technique. In other words, Kakashi knew better than to read against Sasuke. If he dropped his guard for even a second, then he was liable to lose at least one of the bells.

Sasuke reached Kakashi and jumped to attack with an aerial round-house kick with his left leg to the head that Kakashi blocked. Sasuke followed up with a right hook to the face, which Kakashi caught with his free hand. These two actions dropped Kakashi's guard enough, in Sasuke's opinion, and he reached with his left arm, while upside down, for the bells. Kakashi realized what Sasuke was up to and instantly pushed Sasuke away and Jumped back too. Sasuke was able to spin enough and land on his feet and Kakashi landed a few yards away.

"I guess I underestimated you…" Kakashi said reaching for the bells making sure he at least still had one, he still had both.

Sasuke didn't looked too happy about having failed and then calmed down.

'Attack with the intent to kill huh?' Sasuke said to himself and started a sequence of six hand-signs. "Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke called out and a large Fire ball, about the size of a small house, started flying in Kakashi's direction

Kakashi didn't move, and was engulfed by Sasuke's attack. Sasuke release the jutsu and on the path the Fireball traveled there were scorch marks on the floor as well as a larger circular scorch point where the Fire ball stopped traveling. Sasuke got a little worried, did he accidently kill him? He meant to use the Jutsu as a distraction not a direct attack. Suddenly Sasuke was snapped out of his daze by something wrapping around his foot.

"What?" he said as he turned and saw Kakashi's hand grabbing him.

"Earth Style! Head-Hunter Jutsu!" He heard Kakashi's voice from the hand's location and instantly he was pulled into the ground only leaving his head out. Kakashi came into view in front of him.

"That was a good combination. Though I have to say, you dropped your guard too much after thinking I was dead. Until you can ascertain an enemy's defeat you shouldn't drop your guard, especially if the enemy is of a higher rank than you." Kakashi said and left the location.

Kakashi just traversed the forest as Sasuke did earlier. He had two more Genin to look for and wasn't sure where they'd be. Just as he was thinking that, he came across Sakura who was just getting out of a small pitfall he set not really expecting any of them to fall for it.

'That must have been her scream earlier.' Kakashi said and landed in front of her.

Sakura looked up and when she Saw Kakashi's masked face instantly dropped back to the ground as if going to sleep.

"Well, that'll keep her occupied for the rest of the exercise." Kakashi said and left to look for the last one.

-Sakura's "Dream"-

Sakura POV

"What just happened? Didn't I just see Kakashi-Sensei? I could have sword he was right here…" I said to myself, if he's close then I might alert him if I speak too loudly.

I started walking around the forest again looking for him and eventually I started hearing some rustling behind me. I turned ready for anything…except this…

"S-Saku…ra…" Sasuke appeared in front of me. He had Knives and Shuriken stuck to his back and chest. Blood was running down his face and left arm as he held himself up on a tree using his right arm. "he got…me. He's after Naruto…and then you…Go…forget the…exercise and leave now…" right after he said this he keeled over and landed on the floor motionless.

"N-no…" I said to myself not believing this had just happened.

Kakashi-Sensei would be rough on us for this exercise, but he wouldn't kill us, would he? My brain was running a mile a second as I was trying to thinking around the Dead Sasuke in front of me.

Normal POV

'Think Sakura, think. Surely, he wouldn't kill us. Death is a possibility on the line of duty, but this is just an initiation training. The only way for me to see a dying/dead Sasuke right now would be him faking it using transformation jutsu…' she said and went up to the young man's corpse to examine it. Which looked and felt very real. '…or Genjutsu…' as she said the second option she used the Genjutsu release technique which, to her ears, made a glass shattering noise and she awoke on the same place she had once seen Kakashi in.

"Good. That means Sasuke is Ok…" Sakura said and started running on a random direction.

After a few minutes of running and avoiding trees, she came to a clearing in the woods.

"Sakura?" she heard a voice and excitedly turned her head.

"Sasuke…" she turned in the direction of the voice and didn't see anyone until she looked at the ground. Sasuke's head was the only thing coming out of the ground. "…You're only a head!" Sakura screamed and passed out. Sasuke let out a big sigh and looked to the left, the direction in which Kakashi took off to.

"Is all on you for the moment…" Sasuke said as he kept shuffling trying to use the Escape Jutsu to get out of the ground, having forgotten he placed a tag on Sakura and he could escape using the Hiraijin.

Off on another part of the training field Naruto was sitting on the ground behind one of Konoha's Memorial monuments. He found a bento and his stomach was starting to bother him too much to function properly in a battle, so he tried to sneak in a quick bite.

"Man, I've been looking forward to this all day." Naruto said and instantly regretted himself

"Is that so?" he heard over him as if coming from the Memorial Monument.

Kakashi was crouching down looking at him, ready for any minor movement from the young ninja.

"Now, I believe I said no food." Kakashi said

"I…can't function properly without a good meal?" Naruto replied

Before Naruto knew it both he and Kakashi were on set of three training logs and he was tied to the center one.

"Now, stay here while I go get your teammates." Kakashi said as if he could move from that spot.

Sasuke managed to get himself out of the floor and was trying to get Sakura to wake up. She was starting to regain consciousness when suddenly Kakashi appeared and the too took battle positions.

"At ease, I'm not here to battle. I'm here to collect you." Kakashi said and the two calmed down and then followed Kakashi across the forest until they met with Naruto.

Sasuke and Sakura stared at the blonde that was tied to the trunk as he frantically swung his legs as if trying to kick his way out.

"What did you do?" Sasuke said

"Our little friend here doomed the two of you. He went against directions and was about to eat a nice healthy meal. As you two may be aware that was against my directions and as such you three are failed and bound to go back to the academy…" Kakashi said and both Sasuke and Sakura looked dejected. "…but I've decided to give you all another chance…" Kakashi said and place two bentos similar tot eh one that Naruto tried to eat on the ground in front of them. "Eat up, but if Naruto has a single bite, the three of you go back to the Academy." With those words the Jonin disappeared from their vision in a poof of smoke.

The three Genin stared at the lunches and then one another.

"So…should we eat?" Sakura asked

"That what he wants us to do." Sasuke replied

"Go ahead. Is my fault that this happened, I can endure a while longer." Naruto replied accepting his mistake

"and leave you starved for who knows how long?" Sasuke replied. Growing with Naruto he knew of Naruto's almost obvious codependence with food. "If anyone needs to eat is you. I'll be fine."

"If you want you can have mine. I'm on a diet so I'm not really eating any of the things in here. As tasty as they may be." Sakura replied offering her bento.

"I'll be fine. I don't need the food." Naruto replied refusing to eat.

"They I won't eat either." Sasuke said and place the Bento down as he closed the lid and then wrapped it up again.

"I-I'll pass too." Sakura said and did the same thing.

The three Genin just sat there in silence for a while. After a few minutes they started talking again, about strategies and things that happened during the training exercise.

Kakashi kept watch from a nearby tree. He was inspecting and making sure they didn't feed Naruto, but what he saw amazed him more. None of them ate. The whole time they were there none of them touch the food, and instead they kept talking as if nothing was wrong. After a few hours. Kakashi appeared again in front of them. None had taken a bite of the food but they all looked fine, even Naruto and he was tied to a tree. Conversing and looking better than if they all had eaten a nice full bento each.

"You didn't touch the food." Kakashi said. The three young Ninja just looked at him.

"What's the point? One of us would be starved." Sasuke started

"We don't think sacrifice, unless extremely necessary, is worth it." Sakura added

"So, we decided not to eat." Sasuke said

Kakashi started at them for a few seconds in silence. Under his mask, a smile formed on his lips and he let out a small chuckle.

"I never thought the first group I passed would be one to go against just about everything I expected to happen. You three pass, Welcome to Squad Seven, also know from this point on as Team Kakashi." Kakashi said and made the Ram hand-sign releasing Naruto's ropes. "Remember these words. In this world there are two kinds of Shinobi; those that will follow rules and those that will disobey them. Those who disobey the rules are scum, but those who will do anything for the mission, even sacrifice their team, are even worse than scum." Kakashi added showing what they could only detect as a smile.

The three Genin stared at each other in slight disbelief and after a few seconds of dead silence the three smiled and in their own ways celebrated their passing of the test.

Jesús: "As I mentioned earlier. Sorry for the long wait, but I am back. Updates will be slow, slower than I thought I'd have them be but certainly better than non-existent. And if people who read this and don't like this, which admittedly still haven't seen anyone and I'm grateful for that, please don't hate on the pre-word of this chapter. I really would appreciate the chapter being updated this time around at least, to not have any bad comments in Honor of my friend. I still welcome criticism, but please don't say anything rude about my motivations, or the people I care for. Anyway, that was that for this time, and I hope to see you guys next time. Take it easy everyone!"