Okay, then. enjoy...i guess.

Naruto looked down at his stomach in misery. It was obvious Sakura was in a similar state. Sasuke appeared relatively indifferent, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that he felt the same as them. Every few seconds, his eyes would suddenly flicker downwards, and his hands would twitch slightly.

"Hi, goodmorning."

That was it, the final point. They had been waiting for almost FOUR hours, and all he says is HI!

Naruto and Sakura's screams rang out, almost simultaneously. "YOUR LATE!" Oddly, it didn't even seem to faze the man.

"Oh, well a black cat crossed my path, so..." He decided to take the moment to examine his situation. They weren't buying it. "Well anyway, let's begin, then." Kakashi removed a small alarm clock out of his pouch, placing it on a nearby log. "This is set to go off at noon. Your mission is..." He reached pack into his pouch, this time creating a distinct jingling sound. "...to recover these bells from me before time runs out. Those who don't do that don't get lunch. Instead, I'll tie you to one of those stumps and eat right in front of you."

"You only need to get one bell. There's only two, so one of you will definitely get tied to a stump. That person will then be sent back to the academy. You won't succeed unless you come at me with the intent to kill."

"Yeah right!" Yelled Naruto, seemingly at ease. "You couldn't even dodge an eraser!" Kakashi's eye drooped slightly at the remark.

"Those who bark loudest tend to have no talent. Anyway, we'll start when I say-" He didn't finish his sentence, as Naruto quickly removed the bow from his back. Just as he reached for an arrow, however, he felt a hand grab his arm. It took a second for him to fully realize that Kakashi was suddenly gone from in front of him. "I haven't said start yet, but at least you seem serious. Well then, ready, set, BEGIN!"

Kakashi stood in the middle of a large clearing. To an untrained eye, he seemed perfectly at ease. In reality, he was scanning his surroundings, watching for even the slightest movement. They all seem well enough hidden...

"HEY, COME HERE AND FIGHT ME!"

It took almost no effort to find the source; Naruto. "Uh, your a bit off. And shouldn't you have your bow...ready?" It was true. Hanging over his right shoulder was his bow, right next to his quiver.

"WELL TAKE THIS, THEN!" That was when Kakashi heard it, a low whistling sound coming from his left; an arrow.

Distracting me with himself while using a clone to attack my blind side...not bad, but not the kind of teamwork I was looking for... Kakashi was expecting that to have been the end of it, but Naruto suddenly formed a strange seal; a cross with his fingers.

"Ya Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"(Arrow Shadow Clone)

Suddenly, the single whistle noise turned into several, as the arrow multiplied itself into five. Of course, Kakashi made no effort to move. There really wasn't a point in protecting a log.

Naruto watched as the arrows smacked into their target. He almost started to celebrate, when he noticed 'Kakashi' disappear, leaving only a cleanly cut stump in it's place. Suddenly frantic, he began spinning around, looking for even the faintest hint of his opponent.

"Hey, let me down!"

Naruto jumped before stumbling forward. Not three feet behind him stood Kakashi. In one hand, he held the clone, tucked under an arm. In the other was a small orange book, which was one eye stared at blankly.

"Not bad." the jonin started. "But I have a few tricks too." With that, both him and the Naruto clone each disappeared into a cloud.

"GAH!"

Okay, not a bad start... Kakashi looked down from his tree towards his next victim. Lets see how she handles this. Acting slow, Kakashi created a bunshin to walk past Sakura's position as a distraction.

"Alright there he is." He heard her whisper to herself as she prepared to make her move. Seemed as good a time to attack as any.

"Sakura, behind you." She quickly span her neck to where he was, directly behind her. Before she could react, however, he suddenly disappeared, scattered into the leaves.

"What's going on..." Sakura watched as the leaves span around her, like a tornado, before finally blowing away. "...where's sensei?"

"...Sakura."

That voice! She looked over her shoulder quickly. "Sasuke!" However, what she saw was hardly even identifiable as Sasuke.

His entire body was covered in blood. Weapons were poking out of every inch of his body, including a kunai lodged into his cheek. One of his legs was completely twisted to the point that the foot was facing straight upwards as he leaned against a tree. Worst, his left arm was missing from the elbow down. In his attempt to speak, his voice came as little more than a whisper. "Help me...Sakura..."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto instantly stopped his hunt for Kakashi upon hearing the yell, concentrating on a new target. "SAKURA!"

He began a mad dash through the trees, trying to find the source of the scream. He only paused for a second, in an attempt to contact her. "SAKURA!"

It took a few minutes, but he managed to find her. "SAKURA!" He ran over to where she was laying, her arms folded to her chest as she foamed at the mouth.

What did he DO to you! Naruto wasn't entirely sure what he should do, so he did the first thing that came to his mind. Propping her up for a second, he grabbed both of her shoulders and started shaking her back and forth, her head violently whipping around with each motion. "SAKURA!!! WAKE UP!!"

"...Naruto..."

He stopped as soon as he heard her voice. For the split-second before he saw her face, he was happy. After that, he realized how pissed she really was.

"SHUT UP!!!" As soon as the words past through her lips, his face met dirt. "STOP YELLING IN MY EAR!" Naruto's face slowly turned upwards.

"S-sorry, Sakura..." Placing his hands firmly below him, he picked himself off of the ground.

"Well...Thanks for the help, anyways." She turned around, intending to leave him there. However, he started talking again before she could even take a step.

"Hey, Sakura, I have an idea."

As someone who had been struggling to come up with a plan for a long time, this caught her attention.

"Why don't we both go after him. That way, it's just us who pass, and not 'Sasuke.'"

"No way! I'm not going to do that to Sasuke!" But that's not a bad idea though. Maybe I could go ask Sasuke! Then he'll have to notice me!

With her mind set, Sakura began to walk away. However, her steps were suddenly beset by yet another interruption; an alarm clock.

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

Both of the student's heads suddenly dropped in perfect unison.

Kakashi had been late twice already. The first was when they were first assigned together. While none of his new students had been happy, it was excused. After all, things happen.

The second was only earlier that morning. They were definitely annoyed, but once again, it was passable. Not the best second impression ever, but passable.

This time, however, there was no way he could manage to talk his way out. There was no way that he could get lost or sidetracked this time. And the fact that Sasuke had been with him only made it worse. It was obvious to all of them that they failed; why prolong it?

Naruto and Sakura arrived back at the three poles first, heads held low. Sasuke arrived much later, covered in dirt.

"Hey, Sasuke! What happened to you!" Naruto had yelled, to which Sasuke responded.

"Shut up, failure."

And that was it for there conversation. Anything that Naruto would have liked to say was completely lost from the noise coming from his stomach.

When Kakashi finally showed up, over a half hour later, he didn't even bother to give an explanation.

"Well, none of you are going back to the academy." There was a second where the mood seemed to lighten. Then it was gone. "You three should all quit being ninjas."

His words were completely casual, which was the exact opposite of his student's.

"Alright, so we didn't pass!" Roared Naruto. "Why should we quit!"

"Because none of you deserve to be ninjas."

A split second later, Sasuke was sprinting towards the jounin. The next, he was laying flat on his stomach, a foot stepping down on the back of his neck.

"That's why you should quit. Do any of you even get the answer to this test?"

Sakura and Naruto looked at each other, before speaking simultaneously. "Answer?"

"Teamwork. If you had worked together, you might have gotten the bells."

"B-but." Sakura began to stammer. Before, when she was sure she had lost, she would have just kept quiet. Now, however, she still felt the need to argue it. "There's only two bells! If we worked together, than one of us still would have failed!"

"Yeah, that's the point. To see if any of you will set your own interests aside and work together. Instead...Naruto, you rushed in head on. Sasuke, you tried to do everything on your own. Sakura, you were so concerned for Sasuke you never even made an attempt. The duties of a ninja are done by a team. Individual ability is important, but even more important is teamwork."

Kakashi stood up, releasing Sasuke from his hold. Casually, he walked towards a monument, oddly placed in the middle of their training area. "On this stone is a list of names. These are ninja who have been recognized as heroes." The three stared at him, waiting for him to finish. "Each of them died on the line of duty. It's a memorial."

"I'll give you one more chance after lunch, but it'll be harder for you to get the bells. Sakura." He turned back towards his pupils. "Since you performed the worst, I'm going to have to tie you up. Also, you don't get a lunch. If either of you try to feed her, you will fail. Got it?"

"Well...I guess I'm on a diet, after all..." Despite her words, Sakura's tone gave her away, as well as the noise coming from her stomach.

Naruto stared down at the box in front of him. He wanted it...badly. In fact, it was amazing that his wasn't already gone. And yet...he couldn't help but stare at Sakura, her eyes looking down at the dirt. He span his head around, showing pretty much no subtlety. Not seeing Kakashi nearby, he stood up, holding his box out towards Sakura.

He dropped his voice as low as possible. "Hey. Psst. Sakura."

"Huh?"

"Here. Eat quick. He might be back soon."

"Naruto. What are you doing?" Sasuke looked over at the two, then down at his own food. "If you don't eat any, it won't be any better that Sakura starving."

"Yeah, so what? I'm not going to have Sakura to watch us eat."

He picked up his box, already half gone, and held it towards his teammate. "Here. You should take what's left. If we need to work together, then being weakened won't help."

Naruto could only stare. He really hadn't expected Sasuke to do...well...anything. As far as he could ever tell, Sasuke was just some moody idiot who somehow managed to gather the attention of the entire female portion of their class.

"Thanks..." He grabbed the box, slowly. Not that he distrusted Sasuke, he just didn't understand why he would suddenly do something so...nice.

Before he got the chance to actually EAT any, however, he was stopped by a sudden booming voice from somewhere to his left.

"YOU GUYS!!!" Kakashi burst out from the treeline, a huge cloud of smoke following behind him. "...pass."

It suddenly became dead silent, no one moving from their respective positions. Kakashi stood directly in front of Sakura, leaning over slightly. Sasuke held an arm over his face protectively, his eyes peeking out from under at the sensei. Sakura's head was twisted to the side, but her eyes were now wide open in shock. Naruto laid on his back, having fallen over from Kakashi's dramatic entry, which also forced him to drop the bento.

"What?" Sakura said it so quietly that her voice almost being covered up from the sound of Naruto sitting up. "...But we haven't done anything yet."

Kakashi stood up straight. "You guys are the first ones to pass. The other students were just morons, doing whatever I said. Ninjas need to see underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are trash, but those who don't care about their teammates are lower than trash."

"YEAH!" If Sakura could have covered her ears, she probably would have. Instead, the ropes prevented her, andNaruto's voice went unimpeded directly into her ear. "I DID IT!"

"NARUTO, SHUT UP AND UNTIE ME!"

"Oh...right." He stood up, removing a kunai from his pouch, and began to cut the ropes binding her to the stump.

"Careful..."

All in all, this was a good day for Naruto. Kakashi, even if he was a bit demented, seemed okay. Sakura passed with him, which meant they would be on the same team. Sasuke, even if he a bit annoying, at least seemed bearable. And best of all, he would be starting missions the next day.

Once again, i have a thanks list.

Reviews: Wrathchylde, griffin blackwood, 8675309, Dean the Cuddly Fox, Slick Will, Sourpatch-Devil, geetac

Communities: Dave's Cave, ConnectFire611's Favorites

Favorites: Dean the Cuddly Fox, EmmettLover93, Godslayer221, MissMom, purky, Sourpatch-Devil, starlight0017, Woodsymoments

Alerts: 8675309, Aikuchi Shikaku, ConnectFire611, Dean the Cuddly Fox, elis21, 09, Fuyuriku, Godslayer221, , Tristan Ludlam

Alright. now that that's over with...

I tried to not make it seem like i was trying to bash Sakura. I don't think i succeeded in that, but oh well. Writing beginning Sakura as not annoying is like writing Tayuya or Hidan without swearing (I sincerely hope that's not a pairing somewhere).