Chapter 3: Black Eyes Turn Red

Naruto froze up, while Sakura didn't fare much better. Sasuke glared at their adversaries, but Kakashi was apparently calm as ever. He said, "Yugito the Blue Flare, a Kumo kunoichi who's known for completing missions no matter what, even killing her own comrades. I couldn't have met someone more distasteful if I tried."

Yugito smirked, though Naruto could tell there was little emotion behind it. She said, "are you sure about that, Friend-killer Kakashi?"

"By the way," Kakashi continued as if Yugito had said nothing, "this woman may contain the Two-tailed Monster Cat, if rumors are to be believed. So, she is what is known as a Jinchuuriki. A fully grown woman and Jounin, too, not someone inexperienced. You guys leave her to me. That's an order," revealing his Sharingan.

Yugito hissed in annoyance at Konoha's knowledge of her status, but the younger blond woman still had a kunai at Chao's throat. The moment Kakashi looked at her with the uncovered doujutsu, she made sure to slit the civilian's throat.

That moment, all hell broke loose; the younger blond woman turned on her Jinchuuriki captain, while Kakashi threw an explosive tag laden kunai between the two women, forcing Yugito to leave her hypnotized subordinate and leading Yugito away from the Genin.

Naruto POV

Naruto couldn't believe how quickly the situation escalated - he had expected negotiations, but neither Kakashi nor the Kumo-nin bothered with such a thing.

"Naruto! Move!" The boy heard, and didn't question his male teammate; he simply reacted and jumped sideways, which was fortunate, because the big breasted, younger blond woman had thrown her kunai at him, having thrown off the genjutsu.

Sakura and Sasuke tried to help him, but were intercepted by the male Genin, a white-haired boy their age, and a redhead who looked like she was slightly older. "Your fight is with us," the redhead declared, and Naruto stopped paying attention to his teammates and turned to the blonde chuunin (?) who was stalking towards him.

He dropped to the ground, which was wise, because a few ice spears had nearly impaled him.

"Nice introduction," Naruto said, "and I'm Naruto, a Genin."

"Charmed, I'm sure," the woman replied in a deadpan, "my name is Samui; there's no need for you to know anything else, because you will die here."

"By the way, was that ice a Kekkei Genkai?" Naruto asked her, realization suddenly dawning on him.

The woman got close to him and engaged him in taijutsu, not replying. Naruto dodged, this time fully focused. It didn't take long at all for Naruto to realize he was outclassed, in spite of her injuries from the previous explosion. At least the woman, despite her cool demeanor, was prone to taunting her enemies; he'd be sure to take advantage of that.

Samui said, "after I'm finished with you, I'll go support captain Yugito; even Hatake won't be able to save himself against two Jounin - or maybe I'll kill your little teammates first. I could tell you're the weakest of the three, which is why I targeted you myself."

Naruto could feel his blood boiling, but he didn't rise to the bait. Unfortunately, Samui wasn't playing around. She went through a few hand-seals, which Naruto tried to stop by throwing shuriken, but he was attacked by a clone of the woman before the weapons left his hands.

Fortunately, being a sensor, he managed to notice and impale the clone instead, but by then, it was too late. The clone turned into ice, but a dome of strange mirrors made of ice had formed around him. Then, he couldn't think at all; he could only dodge the ice spears that came from every direction.

A couple of minutes later, Naruto was full of gashes - it seemed that the woman was, in fact, slowed down by her own injuries, because dodging was becoming easier for him gradually.*

And then, Sasuke attacked the mirrors from the outside, which did absolutely nothing, even though the heat his Goukakyuu no jutsu (Great Fireball technique) produced was great.

'Wait,' Naruto thought, 'shit!'

Ice spears headed for Sasuke, who was panting, open to attack.

Without pausing to think, Naruto threw a lot of shuriken, redirecting the icicles enough to miss Sasuke, except one, which Sasuke managed to slap away with his bare hand.

Sasuke was looking at Naruto with an open mouth, his surprise clear to all. His eyes were red, with two comma marks in the right iris and one in the left one. Naruto couldn't understand why Sasuke broke his cool façade.

The black-haired boy came close to Naruto and looked him in the eyes, saying, "you're going to explain later, got it?!"

Samui said, "two Uchiha? This is my lucky day," smirking and sounding much less strained, her injuries mostly gone.

'Not good,' Naruto thought, 'she's a medic-nin? Like the rest wasn't enough. Why is she fighting in the front lines if she is one, I wonder…?'

He shoved the strange behavior Sasuke exhibited to the side and they stood back-to-back, their teamwork unaffected.

Samui again started throwing ice spears, which the two boys did their best to dodge, successfully, looking for an opening, which they were given when the enemy kunoichi started a one-handed hand-seal sequence, because she exited the mirrors after a few of them.

Both Naruto and Sasuke attacked her, but she shot shuriken at them with her free hand, which they avoided with ease, but not without delay. By the time they resumed, Samui had finished her sequence, and the mirror dome froze over completely, making a huge sphere of ice.

The woman teleported away through another mirror, but not without receiving a parting shot: Sasuke's Housenka (Phoenix Sage Fire) had shuriken of his own inside, one of which scored a hit on her shoulder.

Naruto shivered because of the terrible cold. He said, "Sasuke, I can't feel my toes and fingers."

Sasuke simply unleashed another Katon, which warmed both of them up. He said, "do you have a plan, Naruto? We'll freeze to death if we don't think of something."

Naruto wracked his brain. He said, "what if we make her waste her Chakra faster than us?"

"How do we do that?" Sasuke asked, refraining from calling Naruto a numbskull or something of the like, which was the way Naruto knew the other boy was scared.

Naruto concentrated. 'Sasuke's fireball from before melted the mirrors a bit, then they regenerated all at the same time, as if it's automatic; but I doubt it was without cost for Samui, and the rest of the ice doesn't seem as durable. I've got only a few explosive tags, access to Shadow Clones and Sakura's Yang Release-based strength, albeit it destroys my hand. Oh, I can't wait,' he thought, his blood boiling again, but this time, in a good way.

Out loud, he said, "bring me your explosive tags, Sasuke," telling the other boy the basics of the plan.

The other boy nodded and gave him a pouch which contained a lot more tags than Naruto had access to; higher yield as well.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu," Naruto said, creating a few Shadow Clones. All of them went up to one of the weak points of the ice prison and started punching it, which soon dispelled them, one by one.

Naruto was unfazed, and simply sent more of them, which lasted longer and made a huge hole on the prison. Before they even dispelled, he sent more of them, this time armed with explosive tags, which they rammed into the point of breach. At the same time, Sasuke used his Great Fireball on the other side of the sphere.

Able to see the size of the hole even before the smoke fully cleared, Naruto used Shunshin no jutsu (Body Flicker technique) to leave, then sent a few Shadow Clones to attack the kunoichi, while at the same time, did a few hand-seals as his hands were hidden by the smoke those clones' creation produced.

Samui's attacks on the clones kept missing, but she soon dispelled the genjutsu. Fortunately for Sasuke (who wasn't as good at the Body Flicker), the prison shattered along with Samui's concentration. The kunoichi simply laughed and drew a sword.

"You two are a major pain in the neck, do you know that," the blond woman said, but her cool was shattered; instead, she looked like she was having fun.

Naruto laughed too, long and hard. He said, "this is great! Thank you for this dance, Samui!" Knowing he had lost himself in battle-lust, but not caring. His breathing was coming in pants; he didn't feel tired, but refreshed instead.

He sent a few more Shadow Clones, but this time, they had explosive tags stuck on them. They engaged Samui with other clones transformed into giant staves, tricking her into coming in close; then, they exploded.

Despite that, Samui just kept on coming; this time, dispelling the clones with thrown weapons. As she kept at it, Sasuke intervened by intercepting her weapons, which allowed Naruto's clones to get in close, grabbing the tags their dispelled brethren left from the ground.

By that time, Samui had substituted with a branch from a tree, but Sasuke did some delicate wire-work to ensnare her; Naruto didn't bother thinking over how they had been able to follow her move; he didn't miss his chance, and punched her in the nose with enhanced strength, driving said bone into her brain.

!

A horrible screech could be heard, and Chakra that felt like fire and heat and sheer, unadulterated power was present. Before they could understand it on a conscious level, it disappeared.

"What- what the hell was that!?" Sasuke said, then fell over, covering his eyes.

"Are you all right, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, though he felt some pain in his eyes too.

"I just overused my Sharingan," the darker-haired boy said. Then, he said, "you should shut it off too - I could tell you were nearing this point, too."

"Huh? Shut off what?" Naruto asked, a sinking feeling in his chest telling him he was about to find out about the previous comments' origin. "Besides, I have plenty of Chakra left," he said, not willing to admit to weakness.

Sasuke had a truly unreadable look on his face. He said, "never mind, I'll tell you later. Now, try to calm down; close your eyes and cover them with your forearm, and control your Chakra output. You've awakened a doujutsu."

Naruto didn't need to be told which doujutsu it was - Sasuke's and Samui's reactions and words said it all. He managed to stop seeing the world through superhumanly clear eyesight, so he assumed he managed to turn the doujutsu off.

Sasuke

Sasuke could not believe it: Uzumaki or not, Naruto was descended from the Uchiha clan too! He knew from his father that only a true Uchiha could shut off the Sharingan - someone who stole the Sharingan would have it always on.

And there the evidence was: pure black eyes, like Naruto's eyes had always been - which, in hindsight, was the first clue, since very few people outside the Uchiha clan had completely black eyes.(*2)

"Are you all right, Sasuke?" The blond asked.

Sasuke shook himself off. He said, "I should be asking you that. This is the first time you've witnessed death, much less caused it, right?"

Naruto looked at the blood on his hands. He said, "you're right. But why don't I feel anything? Wasn't I supposed to be broken up about it?"

Sasuke could tell Naruto was about to launch into self-recrimination, so he stopped him. The slightly older boy said, "don't beat yourself up over it. As long as you don't start killing for fun, or to test your capacity, there's no need to be afraid of yourself."

"Okay," Naruto said, "but while I didn't enjoy killing, I did like the adrenaline rush of the fight."

Was that an understatement; Sasuke could tell Naruto's blood had been heated to a boil in excitement during the fight. "You are an Uchiha," Sasuke said at last, and saying it out loud sounded so final. Then, he said, "fighting is in our blood. As long as you don't seek to kill without real reason, you shouldn't worry - I have seen the face of a psychopath, and you are nothing like him."

He could tell Naruto realized just how hard it was for Sasuke to talk about that topic. Neither of them spoke after that, but it was a somewhat comfortable silence.

Fortunately, Sakura and Kakashi were close enough to see and were not impostors according to his Sharingan, so he could rest easy.

Kakashi

For their first taste of ninja battles, it went really well, from what the man caught. The buxom blonde was a Tokubetsu Jounin according to the Bingo Book, and even if she was injured, and was slowed down and expended her Chakra quickly due to that, it was a great feat.

Sakura had been left with the redheaded kunoichi after the only male of the Kumo team had lowered his guard and been knocked out, according to Sakura herself. From there, Sakura didn't use her jutsu, but stalled instead - both kunoichi had a lot of stamina, so a battle of attrition wasn't something the other girl, Karui, had minded.

Kakashi had intervened just in time: when the redhead drew her sword and started scoring hits, but the boys had already finished by the time he had turned to their fight again.

Sakura said, "you seem really tired, Kakashi-sensei," faint worry in her voice.

"Maa, don't you worry about it, Sakura. I simply used a type of jutsu that takes a lot out of me. Now that I'm out of the fight, I'm just fine," Kakashi said, suppressing the yawn he was about to let out and hiding his shivers.

"If you say so, sensei," his female student said, dropping the matter but obviously not convinced.

What did Kakashi do to be saddled with such cheeky students? Well, except for killing a lot of people. And failing Obito. And Rin. And Kushina-san. And Minato-sensei. The man sighed. 'This took a turn for the serious fast,' he thought.

The suppression of the Nibi's Chakra using the Sharingan took a lot out of him - he couldn't help but realize that he was out of practice with the Eye of Hypnotism, and that things could have easily taken a fatal turn for his students.

"Sensei," Sakura said, "is there any risk of war with the Cloud?"

Kakashi shook his head, snapped out of his musings. He said, "no, that's unlikely. We met in neutral lands, and I left Yugito alive, though crippled. I have no doubt she'll recover in a couple of months at most, so keep your guard up on missions above D-rank."

Sakura left it at that, and Kakashi was glad that apparently, she didn't make the connection between Jinchuuriki and Naruto.

Of course, without him using the beast's Chakra, it wouldn't be obvious. 'Strange, isn't it, though? Naruto felt strong enough emotions to awaken the Sharingan, but there was no burst of his Bijuu's Chakra, despite what Jiraiya-sama told me. Could those two facts be connected? Well, at least, Minato-sensei's father's origin is a mystery I have answers to now. Too bad it's too late to tell sensei,' he thought, getting depressed again.

After returning to the village, Team Seven (including the sensei) reported to the Hokage personally. The Hokage's office -located in the Academy building, on a separate wing- was large enough to house officials, but small enough not to allow intruders to seriously outnumber the Hokage, even if he was on his own.

It was rather well-lit, because of the view it provided to the entire village, but the glass windows were all but unbreakable, the only entrance other than the doors being the smallest window, which was even harder to infiltrate because of the seals that would trap anyone there at any time the Hokage or his ANBU guard detail did the corresponding jutsu.

"Mission failed, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, not elaborating further.

"Oh?" The Hokage said, "if it were that simple, you wouldn't have come to report to me without delay."

"Indeed," Kakashi said, "we faced a near S-ranked threat, the now confirmed Jinchuuriki of the Nibi, Nii Yugito, to be exact. Along with her were a B-ranked threat in possession of Hyouton and two young Genin, all from Kumo."

The Hokage took a long drag from his pipe. He said, "a Hyouton user, again? You have all the luck, Kakashi. And a Jinchuuriki too? Were they trying to start a war!?" Looking stressed to Kakashi's practiced eye.

"It's possible they were trying to abduct one of my students, or even all of them," Kakashi commented, his tone nonchalant to anyone but the Hokage, who looked at him grimly.

"I haven't seen you this furious in a long time," the older man commented, "I won't ask whether you eliminated Nii Yugito, but what condition was she when you left her?"

Kakashi said, "nothing much; I simply partially severed her spinal cord, after I shattered her arms and legs, all with the Bijuu Chakra temporarily suppressed," and smiled, making his students recoil. He said, "Kakashi the Crippler, or Bone-Crusher Kakashi. It sounds much better than my current moniker, doesn't it? Oh, I gave her some medical aid -by healing her bones the wrong way- but, at least, I also made sure she wouldn't die; now, that would too painless, right?"

The Hokage shook his head. He said, "you're so overprotective, Kakashi. I didn't expect you to bond with your team so quickly. Anything else to report?"

Kakashi told the Hokage about the tablet supposedly belonging to the Sage and gave it to him. Then, Kakashi made a gesture. The Hokage went through a few hand-seals, protecting from eavesdroppers, and waved the ANBU away.

"All right Kakashi, you have my full attention. What happened?" The Hokage said, serious again.

"Naruto," the man said, and nothing else, knowing the boy would understand.

The Hokage looked into Naruto's eyes, and his pipe fell off his mouth. He caught it in mid-air, but a crack in his composure had already shown itself. "How- how is this possible?" He said, composing himself again.

"We know his maternal family tree quite well, Hokage-sama; we also know who his father and paternal grandmother were; so, by process of elimination, it must be Naruto's grandfather," Kakashi said, secretly smirking at the Hokage's loss of dignity.

The older man nodded, though the stony glare he sent Kakashi's way was a dead give-away that he noticed the mask moving when the younger man smirked. The Hokage said, "that is all well and good, but how shall we hide this piece of information, and for how long will we be able to?"

Kakashi could tell Sasuke wanted to speak, so he made a gesture to the Hokage to remind him of the children there.

"What is it, Sasuke?" The Hokage said, acknowledging one of the three Genin again.

Sasuke took a deep breath and said, "Sandaime, what are you not telling us about Naruto's family tree?"

Kakashi was disappointed that Sasuke once again skipped honorifics, but a gesture from the Hokage kept him from saying anything about the boy's rudeness. The Hokage in question said, "it's not that simple, Sasuke. Some secrets are simply far too dangerous to reveal at this point."

Sasuke mulled that over a bit, keeping his cool (much to Kakashi's relief) and said, "so, Naruto's father had enemies, and combined with the knowledge of his Sharingan, a lot of people would be after him? What if he got stronger - we got stronger?"

The Hokage nodded. He said, "that was what I had in mind, but Naruto especially will need to be far, far more skilled and powerful," leaving his pipe aside.

Sasuke bowed his head. He simply said, "understood."

Kakashi was glad that he had managed to drill some respect for authority into the boy's thick head - or maybe it was the Hokage himself who managed that?

Unfortunately, the other student was even more thick-headed. Naruto said, "hey, Hiruzen-sensei - can't you tell me in secret? I can keep it to myself!"

Kakashi palmed his face. The Hokage, instead of his usual amused attitude when Naruto did something like that, was still solemn. He said, "you're still very young and a Genin, Naruto. You have loose lips by definition. But I have another thing to tell you later; it is your choice whether you will tell your teammates or not."

Naruto grumbled a bit, but he accepted Sarutobi's judgment. He said, "I trust you Hiruzen-sensei, to know what is best."

Suddenly, the Hokage looked to have aged twenty years, but hid it quickly. He said, "speaking of secrets and getting stronger: Kakashi, I give you permission to step up their training; in fact, I strongly recommend that you do so. They need to be strong enough to handle the future challenges."

Kakashi caught the hidden meaning regarding Akatsuki and could tell that Sasuke didn't realize anything, but Sakura was a bit suspicious if he read her right (and he was certain he did - no rookie Genin could get anything past him).

Naruto shuddered. He said, "so there's worse training than what you've been putting us through, Kakashi-sensei?"

Oh, poor Naruto. There's always worse, thought Kakashi.

Naruto stepped back, and even the other two cringed.

"Oh dear, did I say that out loud?" Kakashi said, unrepentant.

While Sarutobi's Shadow Clones were teaching Naruto, Kakashi was working on the other two. To be exact, he was working his students to the bone with physical conditioning and Chakra Control exercises. The underwater exercise became a staple, except they had to do it while sticking to the bottom of a raging river.

Sasuke was also provided by Sakura with the same Nutrient Pills she herself had made use of before, ones that promoted growth in the Chakra reserves of youngsters, allowing him to last longer.

Naruto

Sasuke asked Naruto to follow him when training had ended, which happened early at Sasuke's request.

Kakashi shot them a knowing smile and dismissed them.

"What about me?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke shook him head, and the kunoichi of the team frowned. "It's not that I want to exclude you, Sakura, but this is clan business."

"Huh? What do you mean, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Apparently, I'm related to Sasuke and the Uchiha clan," Naruto answered in Sasuke's stead, "it's a secret though, don't go telling anyone."

Sakura was looking at both of them askance, but she finally nodded.

"Are you sure she's trustworthy?" Sasuke asked Naruto.

Naruto grunted in reply.

Sasuke looked at him with a smirk, making Naruto realize he had done the same as Sasuke often did.

"Oh, shut up," Naruto said, a bit annoyed.

"Hn," replied Sasuke.

The two of them fell silent then, Naruto not rising to his cousin's bait (and what a thought that was! He had living family!) A few minutes later, they reached a small lake.

"We're here," Sasuke said.

Naruto simply remained silent, waiting patiently, as Kakashi and Hiruzen had taught him.

"How is your Fire-element exercise coming along?" Sasuke asked, catching Naruto off guard.

Naruto said, "I have managed to light a leaf on fire, but the fire either sputters out before doing anything more, or I lose control and it spreads. Why?"

"It should be enough," Sasuke said. He went on to tell Naruto of the Uchiha coming of age ceremony. He said, "don't try to copy it with the Sharingan; learn it normally. It's a test, after all. The seals are Snake, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse, Tiger. Did you get all that?"

Naruto said he had.

Sasuke told him to practice the hand-seals until he had them memorized.

Naruto did just that, only complaining a little. A half hour went on that vein, until Sasuke stopped him.

Sasuke said, "watch carefully - again, without the Sharingan."

Naruto grumbled that he had heard him the first time.

Sasuke ignored the complaints and showed Naruto how he did the ninjutsu. He unleashed a very large Grand Fireball, making the area around the lake grow in temperature and become slightly misty. "You build up the Chakra in your chest, then it passes through the throat and you release it through your mouth. Now, you try," he said.

Naruto said, "yosh, here I go." He went through the hand-seals, and released… a bit of smoke, making him cough.

Sasuke simply waited patiently, without moving from his place.

Without prompting, Naruto did the hand-seals again; this time, he tried to turn the Chakra into Fire-natured one the moment it exited his throat… and released a few embers.

It went on and on for hours, until he could consistently release a very small stream of fire.

"That's enough, Naruto," said Sasuke.

"No. I'll get it, you'll see," Naruto said, determined not to disappoint his cousin, ignoring the burns on the inside and outside of his cheeks.

"Let's work on shurikenjutsu next. You are an Uchiha; you're family. I'm supposed to teach you all the clan specialties," Sasuke said then.

Naruto froze in place. "Okay," he said, in a small voice.

Naruto's aim with shuriken (when not using the Sharingan) wasn't quite abysmal, but it was still horrible, according to his cousin (much to Naruto's protests that it was not that bad. Sasuke had high standards). Sasuke helped Naruto with it until the dark fell, which took a while, it being very near the start of summer.

When Sasuke was leaving, he said, "you can practice here whenever you like. Just don't stay up too late… Naruto."

Naruto said, "okay," confused by this new Sasuke. He continued trying the Grand Fireball for a couple hours after dark; then, he went back to his apartment to sleep.

The next afternoon, Kakashi dismissed the boys early and told Sakura he'd teach her one-on-one while the other two did their own training.

Sasuke corrected Naruto's aim as much as he could that day, but it was only slightly less horrible than the previous day. When they finished their target practice, Sasuke said, "you should come live with me."

Naruto stumbled over the hand-seals of the Grand Fireball, aborting his first attempt at the jutsu for the day. "What?!" He said in surprise and mild shock.

"You don't want to?" Sasuke asked, sounding oddly disappointed.

Naruto bit his lip. He said, "Sasuke, we only recently started getting along. Do you think we would survive living together?"

"We should at least try," Sasuke said, his jaw firmly set.

Naruto said, "we are supposed to keep the fact I'm an Uchiha descendant secret, remember?"

Sasuke grimaced. He said, "I forgot about that. Still, I don't get it - does your father matter so much that he would overshadow even the Sharingan?"

Naruto said, "it's not just that," taking a deep breath.

"What? More secrets?" Sasuke said.

Naruto nodded. He said, "well, I'm the container of a Bijuu. The Kyuubi, to be exact," before he had the chance to change his mind and forcing himself to remain impassive.

Sasuke blinked. He said, "huh. So you're like Yugito. It does explain why people in Konoha hate you."

"That's all you have to say?" Naruto said.

"Why?" Sasuke said, "did you expect me to ask if it's sealed safely?"

"Well, yes," Naruto said, blinking.

Sasuke shook his head. He said, "it's obvious that it is - otherwise, you wouldn't be so sane, and there would be large concentrations of Bijuu Chakra around you."

Naruto smiled and wiped a few tears, looking away. He said, "you're so smart, Sasuke. Smarter than most of Konoha," a bit bitterly.

"Hn," Sasuke 'said'.

The grunt didn't annoy Naruto this time, though, and the silence that followed wasn't awkward.

Sasuke broke it, though, saying, "will you tell Sakura?"

Naruto shook his head. He said, "not yet."

"She is our teammate. You will have to tell her eventually," Sasuke said.

Naruto sighed deeply. He said, "I know."

Naruto kept practicing his Grand Fireball. It took him a month to manage something that was of decent power, much to his dismay - especially after Sasuke told him it took Sasuke himself only six days.

According to Kakashi, not everyone had the same talent for elemental ninjutsu. Naruto leaned more towards genjutsu, taijutsu and Yin and Yang Release, and maybe other non-elemental skills.

As for his accuracy with shuriken without using the Sharingan, it improved to 'barely useful as a distraction', which was a notch below 'barely passable', according to Sasuke. He could use kunai as close-range weapons, but not throw them, though he preferred the Bo Staff in close range.

During that month, Sasuke taught Naruto what he knew of the Uchiha clan's taijutsu style, with Kakashi and Hiruzen helping incorporate it into the Drunken Fist to make his own style. Naruto had about as much strength as he did speed, unlike Sasuke and Kakashi, so he wasn't as compatible with the Uchiha style as the speedsters were.

Kakashi also worked with the boys on correcting common mistakes Sharingan users made and giving them information on the use of said eye.

Sasuke's left eye had two tomoe by the end of that month, making both eyes even. Naruto still had one tomoe in each eye.

The rest of the training time was spent on teamwork exercises for the three Genin.

Kakashi

A few days later, Kakashi truly showed up late for the first time since the formation of the team.

He found his Genin in the midst of practicing their ninjutsu, which he put a stop to by shouting, "hello my cute little students!" Making the kids' jutsu misfire. Except Sakura; she was too good at controlling her Chakra to suffer something like that.

A lightly cut Naruto and mildly electrified Sasuke glared at Kakashi, which only amused him.

Kakashi decided to cut to the chase and presented them with three pages, one each.

"What's this, sensei?" Sakura asked.

"I'm glad you asked, Sakura," Kakashi said, "these are nomination papers for the Chuunin exams," and Body Flickered away immediately - but much closer than his students would expect, hiding his Chakra expertly, in a way Sakura's sensor abilities, Sasuke's Sharingan and both things for Naruto, wouldn't catch.

He eavesdropped on the Genin's discussion.

Sakura said, "so? Are we going to enter?"

Naruto said, "of course!"

"Why? Are you having doubts?" Sasuke said.

"It's just-" Sakura said, hesitating. Then, she said, "guys, are we really a team?"

"Of course we are!" Naruto said, "Sakura, I know we've had our differences in the past, but it's all water under the bridge!"

"Hn," Sasuke 'said'.

"Still," Sakura said, "will we remain a team if we're promoted to Chuunin, or will we be split up?"

Naruto said, "there's no guarantee we'll be split up, or that we'll pass, for that matter. I know we will kick ass 'ttebayo, but to be a Chuunin, there are other requirements, too."

Sakura giggled. She said, "I didn't expect to hear that from you. Well, except the 'kicking ass' part."

Naruto pouted. Then, he said, "it has to be unanimous. If Sakura refuses to enter, so will I."

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask and left his students, looking forward to their performance in the exams, if they decided to enter.

Naruto

"Hiruzen-sensei. You wanted to speak with me?" Naruto said.

"Yes," Hiruzen said, "let me tell you about the threat of the Akatsuki."

* Naruto only fully activated the Sharingan when Sasuke was in danger.

*2 Yes, here, Naruto had black eyes to begin with. Kakashi wouldn't have been compatible enough with the Sharingan if he didn't have black eyes, and Minato didn't awaken the Sharingan because he had blue eyes. (Or, he had blue eyes because he couldn't awaken the Sharingan. BTW, one of Kushina's parents had black eyes, without being an Uchiha.)

Kakashi's stats, part 1:

Nin: 5+, Tai: 4, Gen: 4+, Int: 4.5, Str: 3.5, Spd: 4, Stam: 3.5, HandS: 5

(Total: 34 - Low Kage)