Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Naruto is Masashi Kishimoto's and that's final!

"Naruto"- normal speech

'Naruto'- thought

Naruto- jutsu name

Charter 3

Team test

Sasuke and Sakura were on their way to the training ground their sensei told them to. On their way there, Sakura kept trying to get him on a date, but the response was always the same: failure. He was getting annoyed with her. The Uchiha actually believed her to get in his way in everything.

Finally the two arrived at Training Ground 7. And not only were they just a minute earlier, they were first to arrive. Or so they thought.

The two suddenly heard some snoring. Someone was sleeping nearby? Who? Who would be willing to sleep here? They were looking around, but couldn't find the source of the snoring.

A minute has passed. Still nothing.

Finally they found the noise maker. It was Naruto. He was sleeping in a tree. How could he be sleeping at the time like that?

"NARUTO YOU IDIOT! WAKE UP!" Sakura yelled at him. The blond, in the shock of surprise, lost his balance and footing, and fell off the tree to the ground, head first.

He wasn't moving. Sakura got scared. Did she kill him? What if she and Sasuke will be removed from the shinobi program because of the incident? She shook him a bit. Nothing. This was bad. She leaned down to check his pulse.

His eyes opened. Sakura jumped back away freaked out. "Eek! A zombie!" she cried.

Naruto whined in pain, caught his head and, painfully, sit. He opened one of his eyes and looked at the pink haired banshee.

"What in damnation? I'm alive!" He yelled out and then added quietly "yet." After a few seconds he got on his feet and yelled at Sakura. "What the freakin' hell is wrong with ya, Pinky? Ya tryin' to kill me? A simple way to wake someone up is that hard?"

"Hey!" Sakura yelled back at him, "Don't you dare talk to me like that, idiot! And how can you be sleeping while Kakashi-sensei might be here any time soon?"

"So it's that time already?" the blond asked simply.

Two hours have passed. The two were still waiting. Was their sensei thinking so little of them? Were they really not worth his attention? Or maybe the test has already begun and they failed to notice? No, that can't be.

"Where is that guy?" Sakura yelled out loud.

Finally, they noticed someone approach them. It was their sensei.

"You're late!" Both Naruto and the pink haired kunoichi yelled at him, though Naruto didn't jump out at him, which didn't go unnoticed by the one-eyed jonin. He however wasn't affected by the accusation at all, as if he was ignoring them. Still the same, lazy, unconcerned expression on that masked expression.

"Sorry I'm late. But when I woke up this morning, I found my apartment has been stolen, so I had to go find and retrieve It." he excused himself in a calmly tone. However…

"Liar!" Sakura screeched, while Naruto was glaring at him and Sasuke was ignoring everything. Kakashi just sighed and show them to follow him.

A few minutes later they reached small field next to a small river. In a center of it, there were three wooden poles standing and some strange crystal-like monument just a few feet away. Kakashi told turned to face them.

"Okay then," he started, "it's time we began our test. And just to get you more motivated, this test has about 66 % failure possibility." The three were shocked to hear that, while their sensei just eye-smiled. What kind of motivation was that? Then the jonin took out two bells on a string and an alarm clock. "Your test is to take these bells from me. Those of you who get the bells will graduate."

"But, Kakashi-sensei. There are only two bells and the three of us." Sakura pointed out.

"Good observation. That way I can tie one person, namely the failure, to one of the posts and…" Kakashi reached out his free hand and in the puff of smoke there were two bento boxes "make that person watch as I eat my lunch."

Just then, the kunoichi's stomach growled. A second later there was another growl. This time it was Sasuke. Only the blonde's didn't growl, but everyone overlooked it, stating he wasn't that hungry just yet. 'So that's why he told us not to it breakfast. What a sly fox.' the Uchiha thought.

"You have time until noon, which makes it 3 hours." The jonin told them, as he placed the alarm clock on a flat stone nearby. "And I suggest you to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to have any chance of succeeding."

"But sensei. We don't want to hurt you." Sakura said in a worried tone.

"Oh don't worry about lil' ol' me. I'll be fine." He took his stance "Begin!"

Everyone disappeared. Kakashi looked around. He could see where they were hiding. Sasuke was hiding in the nearby trees to the south. Sakura hid in the bushes to the east. 'Good. Their taking this quite…' His train of thought was stop when he noticed the last of the three genins. His eye popped out.

Naruto was sitting on the ground just a few feet away from Kakashi. His legs crossed. Arms too. Eyes closed. Like he was thinking and not worrying about the fact that his sensei was before him. Was he even concerned about this test? Or maybe he already quit? No. there had to be something.

"Um, Naruto? You do realize the test has already begun, don't you?" Kakashi asked the blond with calm and warm voice. He heard from Iruka and Third that Naruto was usually hyperactive, loud, obnoxious, ramen-obsessed, trouble making knucklehead. But the kid in front of him was different. Calm. Quiet. Unconcerned. Almost isolated. Naruto just looked at the jonin.

"Yeah, I know." He said quietly.

"Well then, what's wrong? Are you quitting already?"

"It's not that" he looked down and continued. "But I don't know why to even bother." Kakashi opened his eye as wide as possible. Was Naruto lost? Or maybe he figured something out about this test?

"C'mon Naruto! You can at least try. Don't worry." Naruto faced his sensei again.

"Then mind explaining somethin' about this test?" Kakashi's eye widen again. "I have a feeling something's not right about this test. From what I heard, all teams are four men formations. And here you say you'll fail one of us and have a three men team. Something's not right about that."

Kakashi looked stupefied. The kid couldn't tell it and yet he knew the jonin was up to something. What perception. Sensei eye-smiled at the blond. He was beginning to like him.

"Tell you what, Naruto." Kakashi started, getting the blonde's attention, "I'll tell you everything and even teach you a new jutsu if you can get at least one of the bells from me. Deal?" The jonin saw some live returning to the kid's eyes. Soon he stood up to his feet and took his stance.

"Yeah, okay." He said. It wasn't much of an enthusiasm, but there was some tone of happiness in his voice.

Naruto lunched at Kakashi with full force. He was delivering punches and kicks trying to hit him. The jonin was dodging them however, but he had to admit he was impressed. Naruto's speeds, his agility, were beyond what anyone should be able to do even after years of extreme training regime. It was inhuman. He couldn't take this one so lightly. Even if he was not much of a danger though, Kakashi had to take him with a bit of seriousness.

Sakura and Sasuke, who were still hidden in their spots, were amazed watching the blonde's fight. They could barely follow his movement at all even when they focused hard on his limbs. Sasuke just hnn-ed under his nose, stating that Naruto had just speed, but no accuracy or strength. Sakura on the other was surprised. She even, for a second, thought that he was quite cool.

After a minute of fighting, Kakashi disappeared, from what any one would say. But Naruto saw most of the part. From his point of view, Kakashi move in the blur to the left. He was so fast, that the blond could follow that blur only for a second. It was too fast. Even so he could tell that his sensei could still go faster if he wanted. Naruto turn around and in the corner of his eye he found him.

Kakashi crouched behind the blond. His hands together with only his middle and index fingers straight for a 'tiger' seal. "Get out of there, Naruto! He's going to destroy you!' shouted mentally Sasuke. He thought that the jonin is going to use a fire jutsu.

"Well that was a good spar." Kakashi said and continued, aiming his fingers for Naruto, "But I have to get to the others. So here's the last thing before we depart. Konoha Ultimate Taijutsu: Hidden Art: 1000 years of Pain!" Kakashi then inserted his fingers into Naruto's anus. The blond grimaced for a second and then was send into the air crying like a mad man. That was a low blow. He was about to land head first a few feet away from his sensei. But before he made contact with the ground… puff. That was a shadow clone. Kakashi was actually surprised.

The real Naruto was hiding in the river. He was watching the entire fight from the beginning. Now, since he knew the difference between him and his sensei, he knew he had to come up with a plan. Kakashi jumped into the trees. Naruto was about to go into the woods as well.

Then he saw the jonin lost both bells. He got out of the water and walked over to them. He stopped. Naruto looked at the bells before reached for them to know how Kakashi lost them. He saw the string was apparently weak and broke. He looked around for any sign of his sensei. He found no one. The blond finally decided to take the bells… and then the trap was triggered.

Naruto was hanging upside down about two feet above ground. What the hell? When did this…? That's when Kakashi appeared in front of him. Eye smiling like crazy.

"Since you're a prankster, I thought you may like one of my own." He said picking up the bells. "Remember Naruto. A ninja must always look underneath the underneath. Deception is our greatest weapon. If you see your price lying around so freely, don't take it. Because it's obviously a trap." When he finished his lecture, he heard a sound of incoming shurikens. Kakashi quickly jumped away, pulling his kunai out and deflecting what he couldn't dodge.

Then he heard metal shredding flesh. He turned around and saw Naruto got hit with a shuriken. In the head. Kakashi freaked out. 'No! Naruto don't die! Dammit! This was not supposed to happen!' Just as he was about to see to the hanging student and call off the test, Naruto dispersed into a cloud of smoke. 'A shadow clone. Phew. Lucky coincidence. Now I got to scold someone about being reckless about their teammates.' Kakashi thought and looked towards where Sasuke was hiding.

'Damn. I gave out my position.' The Uchiha cursed. He was sure Naruto would provide a perfect distraction. Now he was running. Trying to get retreat and come up with a new plan of attack. Then Kakashi appeared before him via Shunshin. Then he chopped him in the neck. Or at least he thought so until he noticed he hit the log. Sasuke used Substitution in the last moment.

Sakura was running through the woods looking for Sasuke. But she couldn't find him anywhere. Could Kakashi-sensei have gotten him? No way. There's no way he would do something like that to HER Sasuke. But still, she would find her idol and assist him any way possible.

The pink haired kunoichi saw a clearing. Staying still hidden came closer and saw the scarecrow-like jonin. He was just standing. Maybe he was planning something. Whatever, she had to find Sasuke now so he could pass.

"His just standing there? Strange, isn't it?" a voice behind her whispered.

"Yeah. For a sensei, this guy is a freak." She answered. Also whispering. But then she registered that someone was actually behind her. She turned around and noticed it was Kakashi, who was looking over her shoulder at the figure in the small field. The pink haired turned around and only now did she notice that was an actual scarecrow over there. That's when she screeched out in panic. The birds were flying away in a rush. Finally, Kakashi knocked her down. She was lying unconscious.

The jonin jumped into the trees and started to search for the other two genins. There were still two hours left.

Sasuke was sitting in the trees thinking how to get the bells for Kakashi. The first try didn't go as planned. He underestimated the jonin. He was better then the last Uchiha thought. A frontal attack like Naruto's was out of question. He had to take him by surprise. But just as Sasuke was about to move, Naruto landed on the branch on the other side of the tree.

"Hey, Sasuke." Naruto started. Sasuke just looked at him. "Listen. Our sensei. There's no way we can take him on. He's too above us." The Uchiha began to glare at him. "Plus, there's something fishy about this test. It…" He was cut off by Sasuke.

"Idiot." Sasuke said in a harsh tone, "That test is just to separate the weakest link of the group. That's the whole point of this test. And believe me… I'm not the one going back to the academy!"

Naruto was thinking for a second. What Sasuke said could be true. But then again, there were still too many things that didn't fit in. "So how about we do this together?" he suggested.

"You'll just get in my way, Dead-last. I'm above what you can offer." Sasuke said arrogantly. And before the blond could say anything, he was hit. Once the knucklehead put him self together, he saw the Uchiha jump away. The blond looked down. He was sad. Again rejected any help or company. Then he stood up and jumped off into another direction.

Naruto arrived just in time to see Sakura waking up. He carefully and slowly approached her. He wasn't certain towards her reaction. She could accept her offer to cooperate in retrieving the bells, but then again, she was so hostile towards him. She was after all the most aggressive of all the girls in the class. He came closer to her. He pulled out his hand. He wanted to help her get on her feet.

To his surprise she accepted it.

She was now standing. Soon she turned away from the blond to walk away.

"Hey, Sakura! Wait!" Naruto called to her. "I was thinking maybe should together to get the bells." Sakura stopped.

"Good idea!" she said happily, "I'll go find Sasuke so the two of us can work together! Boy, I'm a genius!" Naruto sweat dropped.

"But… Sakura. I all ready tried with Sasuke and he refused."

"That's because you would only get in the way, moron!" the kunoichi said angrily to Naruto. She soon dashed off to find the Uchiha boy, leaving the prankster behind.

Naruto couldn't believe this. He was left behind like some dirt. Now he was depressed. He wanted to quit now. This was pointless. No one accepted him.

Eighty three minutes left. Kakashi was watching Naruto walking by the river. He didn't like the expression the genin had. Not one bit. He also had enough of it. He intended to find out what was wrong with the kid. So he jumped out and landed before Naruto taking a pose that would mock any one to attack him. Kakashi gave the boy an opening. A simple plan really. Let Naruto attack. Try to get in to conversation with him. Learn what's bothering the blond and help him.

But his plan failed.

Naruto just walked pass him.

What the f**k? The one-eyed ninja gave a perfect chance for the blonde and he just ignored him? Something stinks here.

Then he was caught.

Kakashi looked around and found himself restrained in a nelson by the second Naruto. A shadow clone. So the blond was prepared. He turned to the free prankster, most likely the original, and he didn't like the look of what he saw.

Naruto was smiling as he created five more shadow clones. They all charged at the scarecrow-man. They were about to punch him. This was perfect. Kakashi never suspected him to have a clone set for this situation. Now he just needed to make sure he could claim the bells. The blond stroked.

To his surprise he hit Naruto. What the? What happened? Wasn't he the one with the advantage? Little did he know that Kakashi actually substituted himself with one of his clones actually. That's because all the Narutos were about to fight one another. They began. After a few seconds however they stopped. The original having just a few scratches, which were healing fast.

Kakashi jumped out of his hiding and stood calmly on the other side of the river.

"I have to admit I'm quite disappointed in your last performance, Naruto." he said reaching for his pouch. Naruto took his stance ready for whatever attack might come. He was sweating. What is his sensei planning? Was he going to use some shuriken jutsu? Maybe he's planning on using some exploding tags. What his sensei was about to pull out had to mean his taking him serious.

And so Kakashi pulled out some orange book. Naruto was confused. 'What is this?' the blond asked himself mentally. He took a closer look and was shocked. He recognized the book. "What the hell?" he screamed. "Don't tell me you're reading this kind of stuff!"

Kakashi, who was already reading the book, looked at Naruto with a bit of surprise. "You mean to tell me you know this book?"

"It's not like I know what the book is about. But I sure know WHAT KIND of a book it is."

"How?" the jonin asked curious.

"You'd be surprised to learn things while trying to avoid some potential mobs. Besides, a cousin of my friend is a fan of that book." Naruto was now furious. His sensei was the same as Anko's cousin. So he couldn't be taking him seriously at all. Kakashi was making fun of him right from the beginning? How dare he? The blond, in his rage, grabbed a big log that was lying next to him. Kakashi was truly shocked to see the genin wasn't struggling that much. But then he saw Naruto throw the log at him with ease, as if he threw a spear. The one-eye actually dropped his book because of the shock.

Kakashi barely managed to dodge the projectile. He watched as some of his hair fell off his head. That was ridiculous. How could a twelve-soon-to-be-thirteen year old be so strong. Was it the Fox. Once he straightened himself, he looked towards the blond knucklehead. Now he was confused. Naruto was trembling as he watched his shaking hands. Then he looked at the jonin. Fear was clearly visible in the boy's eyes. He took a step back. He looked like he was about to break into a trauma.

"I… I… I am… I'M SORRY!" Naruto cried as he turned and jumped away. He was now so afraid. Kakashi however was concerned. He, unluckily as it seems, got his answers. 'So that's it' he thought. 'The boy is still in trauma after hearing about the Nine-tails. The poor guy is confused now and thinks he is the Fox.' The jonin kneeled to pick up his book. Then he returned to his thoughts. 'By the first time I get, I'd better have a talk with him about it. He's suffering enough already by having that thing SEALED inside him.' Kakashi turned around to the trees and formed a 'ram' seal.

Sakura was still looking for Sasuke. Where is he? Why couldn't she be with him for at least a moment? No. Concentrate. There were still 30 minutes left of the test. She had to get the bells so she and Sasuke could pass. She could do this. She knew she could. She just had to find Sasuke, convince him to team up and come up with a good plan. Or maybe she should have find Naruto. Yeah. He could be good for a distraction.

Then she felt the wind blow around her. But she was in the forest. Trees everywhere. Why was the wind this strong. Then the leaves flew around her in a circle. What's happening? Why was she feeling so lightheaded? When the leaves and the wind disappeared, she heard some sound. She turned to the left and there she saw a small clearing. But she saw there terrified her. The pink haired kunoichi saw Sasuke stabbed with multiple spears, shurikens and kunai knives. He was pale. The idol turned to her weakly.

"S… Sa… Sakura… Help…m…meee…" Sasuke said. Sakura however screamed in horror and fainted.

Kakashi walked over to the girl at looked at her with a disappointed look. 'Honestly.' He thought. 'Considering your marks in genjutsu, I thought you'd do better than fall for such a weak jutsu.' He stood up, pulled out his orange book and walked away. When the jonin was a few feet further away from the kunoichi…

A rain of shurikens fell upon Kakashi. He dodged it jumping to the left. He looked down and saw some explosives. BANG. There was an explosion. The scarecrow landed far from it, untouched. He looked to his blind spot. Sasuke was dashing towards him. Kakashi blocked his incoming fist. The brunette tried to kick. Blocked again. Then how about a high heel. The jonin blocked again. Wait! Sasuke was reaching for the bells with his free hand. He could touch them. But the one-eyed jonin was faster. He threw the Uchiha away. The kid landed on his all fours. Then reached for a kunai and threw it. Kakashi was confused for a moment about why Sasuke didn't throw it at him. But once he saw the projectile cut the robe under the tree he understood. A log covered in kunai and shuriken blades swung down. On him. The jonin jumped away from its reach. He looked at the brunette.

"I gotta admit." he started, "you're different from the others. But this is as far as it goes. Just give up."

"I'm way better the other two." Sasuke said to him both arrogantly and confident. Then he began doing a series of hand seals stopping on 'tiger'. Kakashi was surprised.

'What the…? Genins can't do fire jutsus. They consume too much chakra.' Scarecrow-man thought. Sasuke on the other hand took a deep breath.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke blew at the jonin a big fireball. The fire was incoming and the older ninja didn't move.

Contact.

Sasuke stopped the jutsu and looked at his doing proudly. He hit the target. The fire started to die out.

There was a burnt log.

'Dammit! Where did he go?' Sasuke cursed mentally taking his stance. He looked around. Left. Right. Behind. Above. He couldn't find him anywhere. Where did the jonin go?

Then he felt something. Sasuke looked down and notice a pair of hands holding his ankles. The Uchiha was pulled down and borrowed to the neck in the ground. Kakashi came out from the underground before him.

"Earth Style: Inner Decapitation Jutsu." He said. Sasuke was glaring at him and tried to get out of the trap. However it was fruitless. Kakashi continued. "You actually did surprise me with that last jutsu. Unfortunately you're overlooking the gap in abilities and experience between us." The silver haired man gave the boy an eye-smile, returned to his favorite book and shunshined.

Sakura just woke up. She was feeling a little dizzy still. Was that a genjutsu? She felt terrible. She went into clearing to get some more space. Boy she felt bad. And ashamed to fall for a basic genjutsu.

Then something caught her attention. It was Sasuke's head on the ground. The head turn to see Sakura, who was stunned. "Sakura?" Sasuke asked confused. But Sakura could only scream.

Few minutes later, Sasuke was finally free from his imprisonment. He started to walk away, thinking of a new strategy. Sakura however began to doubt they could do it.

"Hey. Sasuke." She started, getting the boy's full attention, "How about we quit? We can try again next year. I'm sure we'll do better by then?"

"I can't" came the answer. Sakura was confused. "I am the avenger. I need to get stronger. If I quit now… I will never get to kill him. So I must get stronger by whatever means necessary." He walked. He wanted to find the jonin and get the bells. The girl followed him. She would help him if necessary.

One of the posts on the field where the test started served as a chair for the one-eyed jonin. Kakashi was enjoying his book. The test would end soon. He was actually disappointed no one tried to take him on now. None of them was even close to getting the bell and now they should be really giving him a hard time.

Then he jumped up. His instincts kicked in just in time before the shurikens hit him. He looked around and found Naruto dashing at him. He looked horrible. As if forcing himself to overcome his trauma and pass the test. He made a 'cross' hand seal and created three shadow clones. Kakashi was expecting another hand-to-hand combat. One of the blonds delivered a kick to the jonin. The scarecrow ninja managed to block the attack, but still was pushed away. His arms hurt. Damn. The kid had some serious strength. Kakashi took a turned his attention back to him just in time to notice the fox-container's clones perform another set of hand seals. What was he planning? A 'ram' seal followed by a 'snake'. Then what Kakashi saw stupefied him. The blonds were holding what looked like a kunai made of pure lightening. Narutos swung it towards the one-eyed ninja and their "weapons" acted like a whip while extending.

"Stunning Light Whip!" the blonds shouted. When the jutsu was about to catch the silver haired guy, he just jumped up. He could feel his left foot numb a bit when the whip passed under it. Kakashi quickly understood the purpose of this jutsu. Paralyze. The kid wanted to restrain him and take the bells. Now he really had to hide his book back in the pouch.

"You should just do people a favor and burn that excuse of a book, you pervert!" Naruto said loudly.

Kakashi was about to act. He had to respond to the attack. That kid was to dangerous to be taken like any other genin.

Just then he was caught with Naruto's jutsu. He could feel the charge running through his body. It was painful and he couldn't move. The whips finally let go. Kakashi could only watch. There were five Narutos who caught him from behind. Each standing in a different spot to catch the jonin from whatever ankle. An attack that just couldn't miss.

Naruto, the one from the beginning, landed before Kakashi and took the bells quickly, checked them and threw them to on of the five. He caught them and jumped into the woods. The clones dispersed five seconds later.

Kakashi fell the effects of the jutsu dropping and slowly stood up. He looked in a direction the blond took off and slightly smiled. 'Nice one. Now let's see how he handles it.' He thought.

Sasuke and Sakura were getting close to the starting spot. Then they stopped. They saw Naruto land a few feet away from them holding the bells. He was smiling like a madman. Sasuke just widened his eyes while the girl was shocked.

"Naruto? You actually managed to get the bells?" she asked then she saw he was panting.

"Yeah." He answered. "I did use up my chakra a bit to make sure the jutsu worked, but I succeeded." He raised the bells higher so everyone could see them. "So… now how do we settle who gets the…" he was cut off with the strike in the neck. Sasuke, who sneaked up on the blond, knew he was more enduring to damage. He felt it while hitting the loudmouth before. So this time he used the kunai', ring side.

Once Naruto felt unconscious, the Uchiha kid took the bells from his hand. Sakura however was shocked.

"Sa… Sasuke? What are you doing?" She asked.

"I am not going to fail this test. I'll be the one to pass." He stated. He took one bell for himself and offered the other to Sakura. "You're joining? Of the two of you, I'm not staying with the idiot."

Sakura's eyes widened. Sasuke preferred her company from Naruto's. Come to thing of it, Naruto did graduate as the dead-last. So it was only natural he would choose the better one of the two.

She accepted the bell.

Few minutes later, Kakashi, who was sitting on the post, saw his genins, dragging unconscious blond-head. Kakashi then saw the other two raise the bells. Both were smiling.

Few minutes passed. Darkness was all he could see. Then some light appeared. His eyes were opening. Consciousness returning. Pain ran through Naruto's head. What happened? He tried to reach his head, but found that he couldn't move. He looked down and saw he was tied to a pole. With a chain.

"What the hell?" Naruto freaked out. "Why am I tied to the pole? I did get the bell!"

Sasuke just looked at him showing the bell in his hand. "Like you would do any good in the team, idiot. You're not ready for this." Naruto looked down. Saddened. The silver haired jonin noticed it.

"Well that's true" Kakashi started. "Naruto will return to the academy. But the two of you should quit being ninja right away!" his voice was harsh. Sasuke and Sakura of course stiffened at this. "You two are a disgrace to all shinobi in the world."

"But, sensei, we got the bells." The girl showed "her" bell. She was about to cry.

"Indeed. But you didn't earn them."

"What do you mean, Kakashi-sensei?" Now all three genins were confused.

"You have all failed to learn the purpose of this test. It was teamwork." Everyone widened their eyes to hear that. "You're all fresh from the academy. So there's no way you would be able to defeat a jonin. That's why you're set in a team of four including a sensei. You three were supposed to work together. Overcome your differences to complete your objective." Kakashi then turned to Naruto.

"Naruto was actually the closest to uncovering that." the two genins then looked at Naruto surprised. The blond was, in full honesty, surprised himself. "Wait. I misspoke myself. Even though he didn't realize it, he KNEW the answer."

"Don't mess with me!" Sasuke yelled angrily. "There no way he could come up with something like that!" the Uchiha charge at the jonin. He couldn't take the news of the dead-last being better then him in something. He pulled out his kunai. He was going to stab him. But then, in a blink of the eye, the brunette was lying on the ground face to dirt. Kakashi was sitting on him, kunai to his throat.

"Hey!" Sakura screeched, "You can't do that to Sasuke!"

"SHUT UP!" Kakashi commanded in a threatening tone. "None of you disserves any respect for what you are. You're all nothing but brats, who haven't grown up yet to be ninja."

"Bu…but sensei! You said Naruto found out the hidden meaning to your test. Yet he got the bells himself." Sakura pointed out hesitantly. Kakashi gave her his famous, bored look.

"Good point. However you're forgetting something. You each have your strengths, but you also have your weaknesses which can be filled by your team mates." He turned his gaze to Sasuke.

"Sasuke," he started, "you see yourself above others so badly, that you believe them to get in your way." He then turned his gaze to the girl. "Sakura. You were all Sasuke, while Naruto was closer to you." Then turned to Naruto who looked badly depressed. So Kakashi slightly softened his tone. "Naruto." He got the blonde's attention, "You believed others to be so hostile you preferred to do things alone. Yet… you were, even if one time only, ready to get team up with the others."

"Wait a minute here, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cut in. "How is team work supposed to help here? There are two bells and the three of us. One of us would still fail."

"Like I said before, this test was supposed to show if you could put aside your differences. The bells were nothing but a distraction." All three genins' jaws dropped. They were fooled. "In the shinobi world, teamwork is more important then the objective itself. If you're willing to abandon your comrades, you're not worthy of being ninja. "

Then everyone heard Naruto's stomach growl. Kakashi eye-smiled and got off Sasuke. I'll give you all time to eat. We'll try again later. But don't feed Naruto." He gave the two, free genins two bento and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

A minute past. Sasuke and Sakura were eating. They heard Naruto's stomach growl again. The sound was so loud.

Sasuke reached his bento to, now surprised, Naruto. "Here. Have some." The blond just scoffed.

"Save me your pity." he said.

"It's not pity. We're goin' to need every bit of strength we have and I'm not having you slow down." The Uchiha answered. The pink haired kunoichi looked at her bento and decided to follow.

"My hands are tied you know."

"Then I'll feed you." Sakura decided, surprising the knuckleheaded genin. Then she added harshly "But don't you dare tell anyone what I did!"

She was about to feed Naruto, when the sky became dark. Thunders were roaring in the sky. Kakashi appeared before them surrounded by fire. He was mad at them.

"YOU!" he started. "How dare you disobey my direct order? Now you will all pay!"

The genins were frightened. They felt like running. But then…

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Naruto began. "You said we're a supposed to be team!"

"That's right!" Sakura continued. "That means we can't leave each other out! One succeeds, we all succeed! One suffers, we all suffer!"

"So if you want to punish one of us, you'll have to punish every one of us!" Sasuke added taking his stance.

"Is that your answer?" Kakashi asked. The genins were nervous. What was their sensei going to do? He could see their fear. But also noticed they were ready to take his wrath. They would not LEAVE each other.

The atmosphere suddenly got lighter. Kakashi was giving them a big eye-smile. "You pass!" he said. The genins were stupefied. "You're the first genin team to actually pass my test. The others were just blindly following my orders. In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are nothing but trash. But those who abandon their friends and comrades are even worse than trash." He said while looking into the sky. Then looked back to his genins. "Congratulations. You are now officially Team 7." They were happy. They actually passed. That was great.

Two minutes later, after learning where and when to meet up with their sensei, Sasuke and Sakura went off. On their way, the girl asked the Uchiha out, but was rejected.

Kakashi walked up to Naruto and released him. He gestured the boy to sit for a moment. He needed to help the blond with one more thing.

"Listen, Naruto. I know everything about the Mizuki encounter." Naruto actually got scared. If Kakashi knew about Mizuki encounter, he could be one of those people. Was sensei going to kill him? Now? What was he planning to do with him? "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you." the silver haired man said calmly. The boy felt a little calmer. "Listen, Naruto. I can see you're confused about something. You do know about the Nine-tails as I recall." The blond nodded.

"It's in me" he said quietly.

"That's true." Kakashi answered. "But you are NOT the Nine-tails." Naruto looked at him surprised. "Naruto. There is a difference between a cage and the caged. You are definitely the cage." Naruto felt a bit confused. After all, he had inhuman body. He healed fast. So how could he… "It's true you're different from others in more ways then normally, but that doesn't change you're human. Only a human would have the sense to protect someone else. You did protect Iruka. Therefore, you are human."

Naruto felt tears fall down his cheeks. All of the sudden, he jumped at the jonin and hugged him. The kid was crying. He was actually happy. Someone not only acknowledged him, but also explained his actually not the demon. Sure, he remembered what Iruka said, but apparently he needed someone else's opinion.

And Kakashi happened to be the best. The one-eyed man returned the hug. After a few minutes, Naruto thanked Kakashi for the therapy and brushed of his usual, hyperactive way. But before he was gone too far…

"Hey Naruto! Wait!" Kakashi stopped him. "Something still troubles me. Before we begun the test, only you didn't seem hungry, so I stated you ate breakfast. You knew that skipping breakfast was my strategy, didn't you?"

Naruto just gave him a sheepish smile while scratching the back of his head. "Actually, I forgot you told us not to eat any."

The jonin fell, watching his student go off. How could he let himself get tricked by a knucklehead like him?

Chapter end

Omake

It was two days after Team 7 passed the test. The jonins were having a meeting in a bar about their teams. Kakashi was sitting with a guy with dark, bit spiky hair, a beard and a cigarette in his mouth and a woman dressed in robes. She had strange blood red eyes, and long, dark grey, messy hair.

The three were talking about their teams. How they work, trained, what were their weaknesses etc. Then a man wearing green spandex uniform, a jonin vest, orange striped leg warmers and a forehead protector on his waist came over to them. The man had black, bowl haircut, wide nose and thick eyebrows.

"Ah, Kakashi! My eternal rival!" he called to the said man, "I have heard about you having a team!" the man took a 'nice guy' pose and there were sparkles all around him. "Finally, Kakashi! Now we can truly begin the competition to see which of our teams is more youthful! Kakashi, if I can not train my team better then yours, I will run around the Fire Country 1000 laps while carrying my team on my back!" He stated while tears were floating from his eyes. Then…

"Hmm? Did you say something?" was all Kakashi said.

The spandex wearing man was stupefied. His 'rival' ignored him. "Kakashi! Damn you! Do you always have to be so cool? It's working on my nerves so badly it is becoming unyouthful!" Then he felt someone's hand land on his shoulder. The man turned around and got frightened. It was Nekokage Kuromaru, Team 12 and the man whom even the Hokage himself feared.

"Guy? Were you talking something about 'youth' again?" the big man asked, giving a sick grin. The man known as Guy, Might Guy more precisely, paled a bit.

"Umm, no… No, I didn't say anything important today. Bye" he dashed out of the bar. Every one inside eye-followed him. Then they turned their gazes to Kuromaru, who was confused.

"What?"

Omake end

A/N. Well, that's it for now. Another chapter coming in due time.

Kuromaru: Please review. Or I will torture you!

Me: Now now, Kuromaru-san. Please behave. No threatening the readers.

Kuromaru: You're no fun.