dopliss: Here´s chapter 4! Now it´s time for Team 6 and 7´s tests, and it´s different from the main series.
Mizuki: Really? Different how?
dopliss: Just read and find out.
Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto… forgot to say that last chapter.
A/n: Naruto fans may be disappointed.
Lunch was over, and all teams were busy meeting their jonin teachers. Teams 6 and 7 were also waiting patiently… and were yet still.
"He´s late…" grumbled an annoyed Naruto, while looking out of the door. He kept scouting, but nothing.
The other boys were calm, Sairento´s face was (obviously) unreadable, and Sakura was annoyed at the above-mentioned. "Naruto," she started, "just sit down!"
"I don´t want to," he replied, "How come our teacher´s the only one that´s late? I wanna start the action, believe it! The other teams have already met their teachers, and are possibly going on an adventure now."
"We know, okay?" she then noticed Naruto pulling a stool over to the door. "Hey, what´re you doing?"
Naruto was putting a chalkboard eraser on top of the door, giggling to himself. "Naruto!" Sakura scolded.
"That´s what he get for coming late," Naruto proudly replied.
Torabu shook his head in disappointment. "You´re gonna do that,Naruto?" he asked bluntly.
"See, Torabu´s agreeing with me," stated Sakura.
"A chalkboard eraser?" the cat-boy continued, "Couldn´t you do any better?"
While the pink-haired girl was shocked over hearing that statement, Naruto replied, "Sorry, I couldn´t."
"You know you´ll get trouble, you shouldn´t do that," she replied, but her inner thoughts begged to differ, and said, "Sha! I love stuff like this!"
Sasuke and Sairento decided to ignore this, while Konran was reading a scroll. "Our teacher´s a jonin, an elite ninja," the mute girl stated, "Do you think he´ll fall for that?"
"Yeah, Sairento´s right, you´re so clueless, Naruto!" Sakura agreed.
Just then, as someone approached the door, everyone looked at the grey-haired jonin enter… and getting hit by the eraser. While Naruto bragged about his amateur plan working, looked the other young ninjas at this, surprised. "I´m sorry, Sensei!" Sakura started apologizing, "He just wouldn´t listen! I´d never do something like that!" her inner self, however, "PERFECT SHOT!"
"Next time, Naruto, do something bigger," Torabu advised.
The other three ninjas just shrugged. He actually fell for that trick? Sasuke thought, Is this guy really a jonin?
The jonin picked up the eraser, a lazy expression in his visible eye, and said, "Hmmm, how can I put this?" he fingered his chin thoughtfully, "My first impression of this group: you´re a bunch of idiots!" Said idiots then all frowned at that statement.
The jonin lead them to the building´s rooftop. "Alright," he began, "why don´t you introduce yourselves, one at the time?"
"Introduce ourselves?" Konran wondered, "What´re we supposed to say?"
The jonin shrugged. "Things you like; things you hate; your dreams and goals; hobbies. Things like that."
"Why don´t you start, so we can see how it works?" Naruto suggested.
"Me? I´m Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and hate: I don´t feel like telling you that." That statement surprised the young boys and girls, as he continued, "Dreams for the future: never really thought about that. As for hobbies; I have lots of hobbies."
"He didn´t answer anything," stated the cat-boy, "he only told us his name."
"Okay, your turn. You on the right, you first."
Naruto looked up, while fiddling with his headband, "Believe it, I´m Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant-ramen in a cup, and REALLY like the ramen Iruka-sensei bought me at the ramen shop. I hate the three-minute wait when pouring ramen in a cup. My hobbies are eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them, and my biggest dream: to become the next Hokage! Then people will start treating me like I´m somebody, somebody important."
Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow at that last statement, yet still looked bored. He´s grown up in a very interesting way, he thought. "Alright, next."
Torabu stood up. "I´m Torabu Maka. I like making pranks, and using them on people. My hobbies include mentioned pranks, and training. And I hate," here his expression darkened a lot, "Dogs!"
"Dogs… why?" practically everyone asked.
"´Cause they´re little monsters, THAT´S why!" the cat-boy then calmed down, "And I dream of becoming a great ninja! So great, that people will write stories about me!"
Interesting little boy, indeed, Kakashi thought. "Who´s next?"
"I´m Sakura Haruno," the pink-haired girl started, "One I like… I mean the person I like is…" she blushed and looked at (no figure) Sasuke, "My hobbies is… err…" she giggled and looked away from him, "My dream for the future is…" she had to stop herself from squealing out loud.
"And…" asked their sensei, slightly peeved, "What do you hate?"
Not thinking properly, she answered, "Naruto!" causing said boy to almost cry in shocked surprise.
Girls her age are more interested in boys than in ninja training, Kakashi noted, "Next."
"My name is Sairento Josei. I like training, and don´t think of it as a hobby, but a necessity. My actual hobbies are focusing and planning ahead of time. I can´t tell you my dreams, because I don´t have any, neither sleep ones or future ones. And the one thing I can´t stand: weakness!" she said the last word with a venomous voice.
Kakashi raised his eyebrow again. Likes to train a lot, huh? She might be one of the best in my group. "Who´s next?"
"Konran Reijingu," he presented himself, "I like a lot, and hates little. My hobby is honing my skills, and my dream," he chuckled, "don´t have one, yet."
A rather bold boy, Kakashi then looked at Sasuke, "Last one."
Sasuke didn´t move an inch. "My name… is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don´t particularly like much," that statement got the others´ attention, "What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I´m going to restore my clan, and kill a certain someone!" he finished with a cold, emotionless tone.
They all stared at him, Naruto with nervousness. Gee, I hope he doesn´t mean me!
Sakura thought with admiration. Sasuke´s so HOT!
The three other genin thought the same thing: Killing someone as a goal… I pity him.
And their sensei thought: Just as I thought. "Good… you´re all unique, and with your own personal ideals. We´ll start your first mission tomorrow."
"Okay," Naruto replied, "What kinda mission do we have?"
"It´s a task… that the seven of us will do together."
"Anything else?" asked the troublemaking ninja.
"A survival exercise."
The genin were surprised. "I thought we were going to do missions, not train," replied Sairento, "We did that to get here."
"It´s different from your previous training."
Konran asked, "So, what kind of training is it, then?"
Kakashi just chuckled. "Hey hold on," started Sakura, "that´s a normal question, what´s so funny?"
"Well," he began, "if I tell you the answer, you´re not going to like it." He then said, "Out of 18 students, only 9 of them will pass and become genin, and the rest will be weeded out and sent back to the school. And the chance that you´ll fail, is at least 66%."
That bit of news hit them like solid bricks, and they were all on their toes. "See, didn´t I tell you, you wouldn´t like it?" their sensei asked with a tint of humor in his voice.
The cat-boy was angry. "But we worked so hard to come so far!" he fumed, "What was the big deal ´bout the graduation exam, anyway?"
"That was to select candidates who might become genin… or not. That´s how it is. I decide if you pass or fail. Meet me at the designated spot at 6:00 Am., and bring your ninja gear."
The young ninjas tensed up, and were determined to pass the test, no matter what! "You´re dismissed," stated Kakashi, "And one more thing: skip your breakfast tomorrow or you´ll puke!"
Early next morning out in the forest, the six ninjas were assembling, and greeting each other with yawns. They then stood in that spot and waited… so long, the sun rose higher in the sky, and the day became brighter.
They were getting impatient, and it was nearing noon, when finally, Kakashi arrived. "Good morning," he greeted, "Ready for your first mission?"
Four out of six of the young ninjas (the remaining two: Sasuke and Sairento) yelled angrily at their sensei, YOU´RE LATE!"
"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way," he casually explained, much to the four´s annoyance. "Well," he cleared his throat, "let´s get started."
He walked over to a tree stump, and set a clock on it, the clock indicating 10:07 Am. "The clock is set for noon," he explained, and took three small bells out from his pocket, "Your teams get different assignments. Team 7, you each need to get one bell each," he went over to Team 6, and gave each of them a bell, "while Team 6 must hold onto the bells. If the members of Team 7 can´t get them by noon, or if Team 6 members lose their bell, you´ll go without lunch," he then pointed at some big poles, "You´ll be tied around those poles, and forced to watch me and the remaining members eat lunch."
The ninjas now knew why they´ve been told not to eat breakfast: so missing lunch would be harder on them. In any case, someone will get tied up and forced to starve. "Those who fail," Kakashi started, "will get sent back to the school. Then again, an entire team might flunk on this test and sent back, so think wisely. You may use any weapons, including shuriken. If you´re not prepared to kill, you will lose."
"But those weapons are too dangerous, sensei!" Sakura interjected.
Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Class clowns are usually the weakest link. No big threat. Lowest scores: Losers." Naruto tensed up at that. "When I say go, you start."
The two teams glared at each other. Naruto looked at a slightly saddened Torabu; Sakura glared daggers at Sairento´s mask, and Konran looked at Sasuke with mock-cockiness.
"Get ready," Kakashi started, "and… BEGIN!"
Meanwhile, the Hokage and Iruka was talking privately in the Hokage´s chamber. "Iruka, what did you wish to see me about?" the village leader asked, "I don´t think you merely wanted to have tea with me, did you?"
"Naruto´s been assigned to squad 7," Iruka began, "The jonin of that group, how strong is he?"
"Kakashi, you mean? You are concerned about him?"
"I am. I heard a rumor about his training methods."
The Hokage reached into his robes, and took out a book. "What´s this?" Iruka asked.
"All the trainees who was assigned to him," he answered, "Those who passed and those who failed."
"May I?" Iruka then opened the book, and looked in it. What he saw shocked him to no end. "This… This is…!"
Meanwhile, the fight was on.
Torabu was dodging Naruto´s attacks with difficulty. He then leaped away, and charged towards his friend, who jumped and performed an airborne roundhouse kick, that Torabu ducked under and made an upwards-moving crescent-kick, that hit its target´s head square on. Naruto retaliated by landing on his feet, then dashing forward, and delivering a punch to the cat-boy´s stomach, followed up with a head-butt. When the prankster ninja regained his bearings, and locked arms with his friend and opponent. "To think, it´ll end like this, me and my best friend fighting against each other, just to become ninjas!" Torabu grunted through gritted teeth.
"Yeah! Too bad, but I need that bell to be closer to becoming Hokage! I won´t let you stop me!" Naruto replied.
He then jumped back, and sent a strong punch into the cat-boy´s face, only for a puff of smoke to appear and reveal Torabu´s been replaced by a log! Wide-eyed, Naruto looked around to find his adversary, who was right behind him. Unseen, Torabu prepared a sneak-attack. You know your Taijutsu, Naruto, he praised Naruto´s hand-to-hand combat skills, but how do you take this? he then folded his hands together, lining his index and middle fingers, and rushed forward towards his friend.
"Take this!" he roared when he was close enough, "Hidden Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu:" he placed his lined fingers at Naruto´s rectum, using his energy to give the attack more "oomph" and, "One Thousand Years of Death!" he fired a screaming (and violated) Naruto into the air and landing in a lake!
Kakashi witnessed this, while reading his favorite pornography "Make-Out Paradise", and chuckled. "He seems to know my ultimate humiliation technique. I´m impressed."
Naruto was far from beaten, and decided to attack from the water, throwing two shuriken, that flied out of the water and almost hit the surprised cat-boy.
"It… can´t be…!" Iruka marveled, "This is even worse than the rumors!"
"Kakashi´s tests may be more difficult than the others," the Hokage assured.
"A bit more difficult? Not a single student has ever passed his test!"
"That´s true. They didn´t live up to Kakashi´s standards, so they were all… eliminated."
Sasuke had his own difficulties with Konran. Each time he threw something at the keeper of the bell, Konran would just deflect it with one kunai. After wasting 10 shuriken, Sasuke went in for a close offensive. Konran jumped into a tree, and mocked him. "So, that is all that the 'best' student can do? I´m highly disappointed."
"You haven´t seen all I can do, yet," Sasuke replied, and made hand-seals.
Sakura had it a lot harder than her teammates. Sairento was no pushover, and she had proven it, by making some cuts on her opponent's fair skin.
Sakura tried to get close enough, and steal the bell while distracting her adversary, but it was futile. Sairento was too fast for her, and was getting bored of this foolish girl. "I´ll end it here," she stated, made a hand-seal, and made the two clones of her hold Sakura, while the original choked her until she passed out. "Take her along," she ordered her clones, and went back to the pillars. Easy.
Naruto had climbed out off the water, and fought some more against Torabu. Both were now beaten and exhausted. "Give up," the cat-boy panted, "I won´t back down to ya!"
"Right back at you!" Naruto replied exhausted, "I´ll never stop… not until I´m the next Hokage!"
"I wanna pass, too. So give up, and go back to school."
"No way!" Naruto breathlessly snapped, "I´ve wasted years trying to get this far, and I won´t give up! So until I got that bell from you, I´ll keep fighting you!"
Torabu was surprised at those words. His best friend wanted to pass so badly, that he was willing to fight him to the end. The cat-boy lowered his head, and made his decision. "Here," he took out his bell, and held it in front of his friend, "take it."
Naruto was surprised. "What? You´re just gonna give it to me? Why?"
"Our friendship´s not worth fighting over. I´ll gladly give it to you."
"But, you´ll be giving up your chance at becoming a ninja!"
"Better be your friend as a student, rather than your enemy as a ninja," he finished with a smile.
"I… I can´t accept it."
Kakashi then jumped in between them. "I know a way to settle this," he replied.
"Really? How?" the young boys asked.
Their sensei took the bell and said, "You both fail this test," and then the boys simultaneously screamed, "WHAT?"
Sasuke had finished the hand-seals and was ready to fire his attack. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled and blew a huge ball of flame, heading right towards an unprepared Konran! He wanted to run, but it was too late… he got hit and incinerated!
"That was an example for a Ninjutsu, chakra turned into deadly skills and abilities," he breathed, and looked at the crater his fireball had made.
"Then look at this example," a voice sounded behind him. He turned around, and – astonished – saw Konran, not a single sign of being burned on him! "Genjutsu, illusion skills," he continued, gave Sasuke an uppercut, and then roundhouse kicked him into a tree, knocking him unconscious. He then carried him back to the pillars.
When the two unconscious ninjas later awoke, the first thing they saw was their opponents, Sairento and Konran, both standing with their backs turned against them.
"You!" Sasuke prepared himself, "This time, I´ll get that bell!"
Konran laughed. "3, 2, 1, and… TIME!"
"Wait, what?" asked Sakura groggily.
"You ran out of time," answered Sairento, and showed them the ringing clock, both of its hands pointing at 12.
"DAMN!" Sasuke swore, "Did our team completely lose?"
"Not really," Naruto´s and Torabu´s voices replied. The two newly awakened ninjas looked, and saw the former two tied to two of the pillars.
"Torabu gave up his bell and Naruto refused to accept it, so they both failed the test," explained Kakashi.
A growling sound was then heard from several persons. "Oh… stomachs growling, huh?" teased the jonin, "About the test, I´ve decided not to return you to school, after all."
Smiles appeared on Torabu´s and Team 7´s faces. "D-Does that mean we…?" the former asked ecstatic.
"Yes," their sensei continued, "You´re being dropped from the program, permanently!"
The six young ninjas´ faces turned from joy to shock at that.
"Unbelievable…!" Iruka muttered, "Kakashi has never passed a single student! He failed them all!"
"Iruka," the Hokage began, "they are still young. It might be too dangerous for them to go up against such dangers. However, Kakashi was correct about the ones he failed."
"Drop us from the program?" Naruto yelled, "Then we´ll never become ninjas! You said if we failed we had to go back to the school, you can´t just change your mind like that!"
"I can, because you don´t act like ninjas," Kakashi started, "you act like brats."
That statement angered Sasuke, and he charged towards his sensei. The attack was futile, as the jonin, in a matter of seconds, had the attacking boy on the ground, and sat on him. "You only think about yourself," he then said, ignoring Sakura´s yelling about letting Sasuke go, "You don´t know how to be a ninja, you thinks it´s easy, don´t you? Why do you think we put you on squads? did you think about THAT for a moment?" his voice was becoming bitter.
"What do ya mean?" asked Torabu.
"What I mean, is what this exercise is all about. You didn´t get it."
"What it´s about?"
"Yes, that´s what determines whether you pass this test, or not."
"But…" Sakura started, "I wanted to ask you that from the very beginning."
"Think about it for a moment. Why would we put you in teams of three?"
"How would WE know?" asked Naruto confused, "You made the rules, not us!"
"It´s so basic: TEAMWORK!" That shocked Team 7. They never realized this. "That´s what I mean," Kakashi continued, "but it´s too late now. If you all came after one of Team 6 at the time, you might have been able to take the bells. Well, anyway, it´s over."
"But you sent two teams up against each other," Sakura added, "one of them wouldn´t have passed."
"Exactly. I purposely put you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome that, and find benefits for your teams, not yourselves. Any genin should have a natural feel for teamwork, but apparently, only Team 6 had that."
Torabu looked confused. "What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Your team, involuntarily but any less, led the opponents apart from each other, so they couldn´t possibly gang up on a single one of you. But it never crossed Team 7´s mind. Sakura, you were obsessed with Sasuke, who was gone, while you didn´t help Naruto, who was right in front of you. Naruto, you do everything on your own. EVERYTHING! And you, Sasuke, thought the others were so far beneath you, you saw them as worthless. Arrogance…" Kakashi sighed, "The cause for us putting you into teams is NOT to train and learn individually, but to work together and trust each other. Every ninja understands this; when individuals put themselves above the team, this can lead to failure, and death."
Kakashi then took a kunai and held it at Sasuke´s throat. "For example: Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" he threatened.
Both former mentioned students (especially the latter) looked shocked and panicked. "That´s what happens," the jonin then removed the kunai, making Team 7 sigh out in relief.
"Oh boy, that was really scary…" Sakura sighed relieved.
"The enemy takes a hostage, forces you to take a tough choice, and someone ends up dead!" Kakashi´s tone dripped with poison, "On every mission, your life is on the line."
Kakashi then walked over to a big blue stone. "Have you noticed this stone? What´s engraved on it?" he asked, "They´re all ninjas, that served to protect and honor the village."
"That´s it!" Naruto exclaimed, "I decided I should have MY name engraved on that stone! I´m not gonna live for nothing and die like a dog, I´m gonna be a hero! A hero!"
"They´re a special kind of heroes…" said Kakashi, a hint of sadness in his voice.
"What kind of special?" asked a now free Torabu. He got himself free by wrapping his tail around a kunai, and cutting off the ropes.
Kakashi looked at the cat-boy in surprise, before answering him. "They´re all KIA (Killed in Action). They all died."
Everyone went silent after that statement. Kakashi then broke the silence. "Many names among those were my closest allies and friends."
The younger ninjas were all sad. Kakashi then turned around. "Alright, I´ll give you another chance, but I´ll make it much harder for you. Eat up your lunch so you´ll have strength, but DON´T give Naruto any. And if anyone tries to feed him, that person immediately fails," he then started to walk off.
"Kakashi-sensei…" Sairento started, "Did we in Team 6 pass our test?"
"We´ll see…" was the only response she got.
"I´m leaving…" Iruka bade goodbye.
"Iruka, listen to me," the Hokage started, "whether they pass or fail, do not blame Kakashi."
"…Right…" Iruka sighed.
All of the students, except Naruto, were eating Kakashi´s boxed lunches, containing rice, sardine, and beef. Naruto´s growling stomach broke the silence often, but the headstrong ninja kept stating he could take it. Sasuke looked at him, and pitied him. "Here…" he said, and gave Naruto his remains of the boxed lunch.
"What?" Sakura exclaimed, "Sasuke, you can´t do that, you heard what the sensei said!"
"Kakashi isn´t here and can´t see us. If we need to work as a team, Naruto must be in good condition."
Sakura wondered over this, and decided also to give Naruto her lunch remains. Team 6 joined in on this too. Naruto was happy that Sakura and his friends gave him their food, at the risk of being failed.
Meanwhile, Kakashi leaned on a tree a little distance away, aware of all that was happening.
"Thanks a lot guys…!" Naruto was at the brink of crying. This was one of the nicest things his friends have actually done for him. And to think, he was actually being fed the food, because he was still bound.
Then suddenly, a big puff of smoke and a strong wind appeared before them, and within all of that, was a very angry Kakashi. "YOU!" he roared. The ninjas braced themselves from the powerful gust of wind, while their sensei went on. "You broke the rules, now it´s time for your punishment!" he made some hand-seals, and thunder started to rumble. "Any last words?"
While Team 7 was stunned in fear, Torabu stepped forward and yelled, "We just did what you said: work together as a team, and helping each other!"
"We´re all in these teams, and we´ll stand up to anything!" Sasuke joined in.
"Yeah, that´s right!" said Sakura, joining in on it, as well, "We all gave our lunch to him, because we´re a team!"
Naruto was surprised at his friends, defending him like that. "Yeah, believe it! It´s true!" he added.
"You´re all a team… That´s your excuse?" he said, his voice dripping with menace.
The six of them were prepared for anything their sensei might do…
…well except for him suddenly smiling and saying, "You passed."
They were very surprised at that. "How did we pass?" asked Konran.
"You´re the first teams that passed the test. Every other team did everything I said to them, and fell into all of my traps. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break rules are scum, true that, but… those that abandon their friends… are worse than scum."
The young ninjas were all happy over having passed the test, but Naruto, who was on the verge of tears, said this, "You know… he´s really a cool guy."
Kakashi´s voice was then cheerful. "The test is over… everyone pass! Teams 6 and 7 start their first official mission tomorrow! Let´s go home," and with that, he gave a "thumps up" to celebrate.
Everyone was then walking towards Konoha, heading home…
…without noticing they forgot something… or rather someone still bound to a pole. "YOU GUYS FORGOT TO UNTIE MEEEEE!" Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs.
dopliss: That was a long and complicated chapter for me to write… But now Team 6 and 7 are official! See you next time!
Mizuki: To think, Kakashi´s first appearance and he didn´t get to show off.
dopliss: Don´t worry folks, he´ll get his time in the spotlight in a few chapters.
A/n: Okay, I know Sasuke didn´t summon a fireball in the anime, but how else would you create that crater? Certainly not by blowing flames at the ground!