Team Kakashi
"You're late," said a disgruntled Sarutobi as Kakashi pushed open the window to his office. A shrug was all he received in response. Sarutobi sighed and let it go. It was a small price to pay for the exemplary services Kakashi provided to the village. And he had more or less given up on trying to improve Kakashi anyway. The entire village had recognized that as a lost cause.
"What's this about?" asked Kakashi as he walked to the centre of the room.
"Naruto."
"I see."
"You heard about yesterday?"
"Yeah. Quite the act he pulled off. The folks over at ANBU haven't been so gleeful about something in quite a while. I wouldn't want to be Tenzo for a while."
"And a gigantic pain as well. The Council's been a right pain in the ass."
"About him graduating?"
"Yeah."
"What're you going to do?"
"He's graduating and that's that."
"Everything stays the same, right?"
"Yeah. You're still getting him."
"And the other one as well?"
"Yes. You're the best one to handle him. He's quite similar to the younger you, from what I hear."
"Not surprising. Given what's happened to him."
"Yes. I want you to keep a good eye on him as well. I want regular reports. A team like yours doesn't come about too often."
"I'm more worried about the third one."
"You'll just have to make sure that she isn't left behind."
"I'll try my best," said Kakashi in an extremely unconvincing tone.
Sarutobi refrained from sighing. The man seemed to feed upon any sign of weakness and take it as encouragement.
"Now for the main reason I called you here."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Naruto. He knows about the Kyuubi. Has known about him since he was 4. He even communicates with him. Utilizes the Kyuubi's sensing abilities."
"What? That's not possible!"
"Well, it is."
"Did he tell you so?"
"Yes. Just yesterday. The boy has been pulling the wool over our eyes quite well, I'll have to give him that. You know what this means, don't you?"
"Not exactly."
"His time with you is going to have to be cut down. I'll be calling Jiraiya back quite soon."
"I see. Makes sense. How much time do I have?"
"6 months. 7 months maybe. Don't worry. He'll still come back to your team after Jiraiya is done with him."
"Hmm."
"Maybe this is a good thing. You'll have more time to devote to Sasuke."
"It does seem that way."
"You don't seem too happy about the prospect."
"Well, I definitely am not looking forward to teaching someone who was just like the younger me."
"Minato did. And I never heard him complain about it," chuckled Sarutobi.
"I have nowhere near as much patience as sensei did."
Sarutobi chuckled again. "Joking aside. Keep a good watch on Naruto. You see anything suspicious, come straight to me."
"What if the worst happens?"
"It won't. I inspected the seal. It's fully intact. Barring an external trigger, the seal will hold for many more years."
"I see. That's good to hear. Anything else I need to know?"
"Iruka says the boy has trust issues and I think he may very well be correct. Be careful with how you handle him."
"Understood."
"Good. When're you testing them?" asked Sarutobi as Kakashi made his way to the window.
"Tomorrow morning."
"You're in for a surprise then," chuckled Sarutobi.
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see."
"I don't think I will. I'll be paying a visit to Tenzo. That boy trained like a monster even when I was guarding him. Who knows what else he gets upto these days? And I don't intend to find out the hard way."
Sarutobi chuckled.
Tenzo was just finishing up a late breakfast when a light knock to his window caught his attention. It was Kakashi. Not that it surprised him. He had been expecting this visit.
"Taicho," he greeted respectfully as he opened his window and let the silver-haired shinobi in. "It's been a while. How've you been?"
"Not bad," replied Kakashi with a shrug.
"Vague as usual. You're never going to change, are you?"
"Why fix what ain't broke?" asked Kakashi he pulled up a chair at Tenzo's dining table.
"Naruto?" he asked as he set about clearing up his meagre breakfast.
"Yeah. Naruto. How did he manage a hit on you?"
"Simple. I severely underestimated him. I thought I knew the limits of his abilities. Turns out the kid had managed to hide a lot from me."
"Like what."
"Fuuton techniques."
"Really?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "Already?"
"Seems to be. That's how he got me. And I was stupid enough to go and hold his katana."
"Fuuton jutsu and Gai-like speed. That's one scary kid."
"Yup. Who knows what else he managed to hide from me?"
Kakashi sighed. "I'll have to go visit Gai as well."
"Don't forget Anko."
"Anko? Anko Mitarashi?"
"Yes. The kid spars with her a lot."
Kakashi sighed again. "This keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"
"Why're you getting so upset about it? The better he is, the less work you have to do."
"The better he is, the more lop-sided my team gets."
"Ahh," exclaimed Tenzo as realization struck. 'There's that as well. I presume they gave you the Uchiha as well."
Kakashi nodded.
"He's good. Not anywhere as good as Naruto but definitely the best of the rest. At least that's what I could make out from the times I watched him in the Academy training grounds. Talk to Kage, if you want to know more. He's been on the Uchiha detail for a couple of years now."
"Nah. I'll pass. He's good. But not beyond genin level from what I hear."
"That is, he's not another Itachi."
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah. And that's a good thing. Given his history, I wouldn't think it's a good idea for him to get too strong too fast."
"Tell that to the Council."
"This isn't war. As long Hokage-sama stays in power, what we went through isn't going to happen to the current generation anytime soon."
"I don't know about that. Innocence doesn't help us shinobi. Just gets us killed. Innocence lost the earlier the better."
"Yes. But how early? Look at us both now. Doesn't seem to have done us much good."
Tenzo chuckled. "Hardly a good way of judging my point, given how fucked up both our childhoods were."
Kakashi chuckled as well. "Can't argue with that." With a wave, he got up. "Thanks for the information. I better go hunt down Gai. The faster I get that done, the better."
Naruto's alarm clock woke him up that morning. He had lost track of time chatting with Chouji and Shikamaru the previous night and had slept really late. He sat up blearily and turned it off. He tried to form a Kage Bunshin but in his bedraggled state his chakra control was nowhere near perfect. Putting his hands together, he made the required handsign and created the Bunshin and sent it off to the Academy. He then promptly crashed back into his bed and fell asleep again.
As Iruka walked into the room, he could sense the palpable excitement and the suppressed tension in the room. Today was the start of their lives as shinobi and he hoped that he had taught them enough to make sure they survived. He was followed by a group of jounin. He clapped his hands and called for silence.
"From now on, all of you are shinobi. I wish you luck in your careers and hope that you all will become valuable shinobi to this village. Now I will announce your teams and your instructor's names one by one. When your name is called, get up and leave with your jounin. They'll handle it from here. Understood? Now let's begin."
Iruka scanned the classroom and bit back a groan. Naruto was late as usual. At this rate, if that kid ever became Hokage, he was going to be late to his own appointment. Clearing his mind of thoughts of Naruto, he opened his list and began reciting the teams.
"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Sakura Haruno and Uzumaki Naruto," he eventually intoned.
The clone hiding in the tree outside the classroom resisted the urge to hit something. Although the odds were against it, he had been hoping to be in a team with Shikamaru and Chouji. He created another clone and dispelled it.
A rush of information into his head broke Naruto's sleep once again. He calmly digested the news; handling it much better than his bunshin had. With a sigh, he closed his eyes again.
Kakashi sighed as he stood in front of the green apartment door. It had been a while since he had visited Gai. In fact, he hadn't been around since his friend had received his own team. Gai had been extremely busy ever since he had received the personal project that was Rock Lee. He knocked.
The door opened an instant later and his friend beamed out.
"It's good to see you again, my youthful friend," he boomed. Years of being in Gai's company had gifted Kakashi with eardrums stronger than most. Brushing off the loud greeting, he entered Gai's abode.
"Just made some tea. Would you like some?"
"Sure."
"Sit down then. I'll be with you in a minute," called Gai as he made for his kitchen. Kakashi, instead, followed him into the kitchen and leaned up against one of the walls.
"How's it going?"
"Pretty well. Just got back from an escorting mission."
"Your student?"
"He's showing a lot of improvement. Still no match for Neji but he'll get there sooner or later."
"Is it wise to play up rivalries within your team like that?"
Gai shrugged.
"I don't see the harm. Gives them a goal to work towards. It worked for us."
"Don't compare us to them. We grew up in wartime. We had to get better or we'd be dead."
"Everyone needs a motivating factor. It's very easy to lose sight of your path in this lifestyle of ours," said Gai, handing Kakashi a cup of tea.
"Hmm," nodded Kakashi. Years of partnering and friendship had ingrained Kakashi's habits into Gai. In the midst of battle, the only way to survive is teamwork. And teamwork requires understanding your partner. Gai promptly turned away and gave Kakashi the opportunity to take a few sips of his drink. He sat himself down at his kitchen table with a cup of his own.
"I just came from Tenzo's. You heard?"
"Not much. Just a vague rumour."
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."
"What exactly?"
"His skill levels."
"So he's been given to you?"
Kakashi nodded.
"That's good to hear."
"What do you mean?"
"He's a tough one to handle. Not everyone would have been able to do it."
Kakashi sighed.
"What?"
"If even you're saying that, then the kid must really be complicated."
"He's not complicated. Just different from the others of his age. Understandable given his upbringing."
"I know. That's not what I meant."
"Yeah, I know. You were whining. It's too late for whining, my youthful friend. If you wanted an easy way out, you should have never agreed to take on a team in the first place."
"I didn't really have a choice in the matter, did I?" muttered Kakashi.
"Haha. That's true."
A comfortable silence enveloped them.
"So back to Naruto. Hit me with everything."
"Well honestly speaking," said Gai, scratching his head. "I don't know the full limit of his skills."
"What the fuck are you talking about? You trained him, didn't you?"
"I didn't train him per say. I gave him guidance and pointers on his taijutsu. That was mainly in the mornings. I have no idea what he did for the rest of the day. I cannot help you with information about his ninjutsu."
Kakashi sighed and rubbed his face.
"I haven't even met the kid yet and he's managed to be a royal pain in the ass. Go on," he waved.
"He's been wearing body weights since the time he met me. We progressively increased the weight with time. I believe the first time he took them off in years was for yesterday's graduation test. At least, that's what he's told me. As such, while I can't be too sure since I've never seen it myself, his speed and reaction times should surpass almost all chuunin level shinobi and maybe even a few of the slower jounin."
Kakashi digested the news calmly. He was no longer surprised by anything the boy did.
"He wields dual katanas and wields them well. From what I can gather, he does not prefer head-on fighting but that is the only thing I have practiced with him in our spars and he is quote deadly at it."
"Style?"
"He utilizes both his blades very effectively; almost ambidextrous even. Fast and deadly. Two blades are much harder to block than one."
"Straightforward if you ask me. Quite easy to counter."
"Well yeah but I've hit him with enough counters during our spars that he's grown out of it. Doesn't rush into banzai attacks quite so often now."
Kakashi nodded and filed away the information.
"Anything else. Personality-wise?"
"Extremely impatient in some scenarios while extremely patient in some. Introverted. Self-critical. There's a lot more. One cannot sum up a person in a few sentences. You're going to have to find out for yourself."
"Seems to be the case and for once, someone's managed to pique my curiosity."
Gai chuckled.
"You're going to have a lot of fun with him. He's a good kid."
"Let's see."
"One thing though. When you're training him, break down his performance after every session. Point out where he went wrong and where he can improve. I know you're the kind of person who would prefer to let him figure it out himself, but trust me don't do it with Naruto. Do it for the important things like teamwork etc. But for things like taijutsu and ninjutsu, just come out and tell him what's off. Naruto never commits the same mistake once it's been pointed out and if you give him some advice, be assured that he'll execute it better than you could have even imagined."
"I see. This I'll have to think about."
Waving goodbye, Kakashi got up and exited through the window.
Uchiha Sasuke waited for his Jounin instructor impatiently. On the outside, he looked calm and composed but in reality his mind was a raging tempest of anger. Anger at being made to wait. He was the top of their class and yet here he was waiting for his mentor while all the other students had already met theirs. To exacerbate the issue, he was not happy with the composition of his team. The prospect of having to spend time in close quarters with one of his most irritating fangirls just made him shudder.
That and the mystery that was Naruto. He had never considered the blond worthy of his time. That had changed after yesterday's events. Firstly, he had even been surprised that Naruto'd been allowed to graduate. Shinobi villages did not take to attacks on comrades kindly. Secondly, the array of skills the boy had showcased had been unquestionable. With extreme revulsion, he had had to accept that he may not definitely be the most skilled of the graduating students. The speed of the fight had been beyond his current skill level to comprehend. All that he could conclude was that the blond was extremely good. And he intended to find out how. And then become better as fast as he could.
His stomach churned at the thought of being fooled so easily. He had been confident in his own skills and the profiles he had developed for the rest of his batch. If someone had told him a week ago, that there was someone strong in his class, he would have scoffed at the very thought. And yet here he was. A fact which made his blood boil. By this age his brother had been in the ANBU.
His eyes flicked over to the clock. His instructor was more than 3 hours late and so was the blond. He wasn't surprised at Naruto's lateness but he had expected the jounin to be punctual. The only upside was that Pink wasn't trying to jump him. She seemed extremely nervous. The only silver lining from yesterday's events he supposed. He perked up when he felt a presence outside the room.
Naruto's clone felt the presence as well and dispelled to let his original know.
Naruto sprang out of his bed once again. Picking up his weapons, he moved towards his trusty window.
Hatake Kakashi walked to the room in which his genin team was waiting for him. He hoped they weren't too pissed off. He was actually early by his standards as they would soon learn. He paused outside the room for a second. He was finally going to meet Minato-sensei's son properly in just a few seconds. In preparation, he had decided upon his opening lines last night itself. Preparing himself, he walked in ignoring the girl's shriek of indignation.
"My first impre-... Huh? Where's Naruto?"
"He's late. He's always late. I can't imagine what ridiculous excuse he'll come up with today," said Pinky.
Kakashi blinked in surprise. Naruto was late? Always late? Kakashi sighed. This was the first time in a long time that he was waiting on somebody. And why hadn't he been told about this particular personality trait?
"Well then, we'll just have to wait for him won't we?" he said with a crinkled eye, pulling out his trusty book of porn.
Sakura watched as her sensei pulled out a book which could easily be considered as porn and began reading it. He was most definitely a pervert. And a weird one at that. Why did her sensei have to be a weirdo? Well as long as he didn't get between her and Sasuke-kun, she didn't really care.
She glanced at her crush and considered approaching him but was too nervous to do so. Her thoughts were fixated solely on Naruto. He had been so strong yesterday when he had attacked sensei and the ANBU guard. She hadn't even able to see his movements. She wasn't relishing the prospect of being teamed up with a psychopath. She had been most surprised when his name had been called out. She had assumed that the blonde had not been allowed to graduate. It was only later that she realized that her teammate was simply late as usual. What was she going to say to him when he finally turned up?
Naruto walked into the room 15 minutes later with a sheepish expression on his face.
"You see I was in the bathroom when I noticed that there was no toilet paper. Had to wait for 3 hours before my roommate got home. Sorry sensei."
"He was late as well. He got here just now," informed Sakura disdainfully.
"Really? Why were you late sensei?"
"Me? Well you see I got lost on the road of life."
Naruto twitched violently. That excuse blew his out of the water. Looks like he was up against a professional.
"Kakashi-1, Naruto-0."
"Shut up you mangy furball."
"Okay you three. Rooftop. Now." said Kakashi before shunshining away in a whirl of leaves.
Kakashi analyzed the three genin in front of him. Sasuke seemed to have the typical snobbish, elitist Uchiha personality which was surprising given that he hadn't had any live Uchiha about to influence him. He would have to get rid of that attitude if he wanted to perform well on a team.
The girl seemed to be a typical fangirl. Not surprising given that she came from a civilian background. Most civilians mostly calmed down after their first mission out in the field. Or they died. Either way their personality issues generally sorted themselves out quite soon. In case that didn't work out, he'd have to ask Kurenai for help. He had no idea how to handle a girl of her age. He then considered his third student.
His meetings with Gai and Tenzo had been quite illuminating. He had managed to get a good grasp of the kid's skills. And from what he had heard, he was quite impressed. Not that he was going to tell the kid that. The girl had said something about him being always late. He hoped that the blonde wasn't as bad as he himself was. He definitely did not want a team in which two people who were always late. How was that going to work out? He wondered what excuse the kid was going to come up with next time.
"Why don't we introduce ourselves to each other? We are a team now after all. We need to get to know each other very well in order to survive out in the field. Why don't you go first Sasuke-kun."
"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are lots of things I dislike and I don't really like anything. And... I can't really call it a dream but I have an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and to kill a certain man."
Kakashi restrained himself from sighing. He had forgotten about the kid's revenge obsession. The pink haired girl almost seemed to be swooning at the boy's words. He wondered if it was a bad sign that he couldn't even remember her name.
"Next you, Pinky."
Kakashi resisted the urge to bang his head on something. The only thing he got from her words was her name and that she was Sasuke's ultimate fangirl. Forget asking Kurenai for pointers. He was going to loan Pinky to Kurenai until she had it beaten out of her.
"Naruto, you're up."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen. My dislikes are... um... not much really. My hobby is training and my dream is to become the Hokage and to have my name in as many Bingo books as possible."
Kakashi twitched. Was this kid intentionally trying to annoy him?
"Hmm. I see. My turn I guess. All you need to know about me for the time being is that my name is Hatake Kakashi. Now listen up. You guys passed the graduation exam but you have one more test left. I will take one more test tomorrow and only if I think you guys are good enough will I take you on as my team. "
He held up a hand to silence Sakura's protests.
"Come to training ground 17 at 5 in the morning tomorrow. Make sure you do not eat breakfast."
Kakashi eyesmiled and shunshined away before they asked any questions. He landed a few rooftops away and paused to take out his book. He was definitely not expecting someone to land beside him. Some of his surprise was alleviated when he saw that it was Naruto. How had he managed to catch up?
"You're Wolf, right?"
Kakashi waited for a few seconds before replying. He had just met the kid and he was already surprising him. Other than the one time he had rescued the boy, he was quite sure that the boy had never seen him or sensed him. How did the boy know?
"Yes."
"Thanks for saving my life back then."
"No need. I wasn't supposed to let you get hurt in the first place."
An awkward silence stretched between them as they both distinctly avoided each other's gazes.
"How did you guess?"
"The hair."
Kakashi digested and stored this piece of information away for later reference. Naruto couldn't have gotten anything more than a glimpse of him. Plus the boy had been in extreme pain at the time. It was extremely unlikely that he managed to identify him based on his hair. Either the kid was extremely intelligent or he was lying to cover up the fact that he had used the Kyuubi's sensing skills to identify him. If that was the case, the lie had been a brilliant one. Anybody else would have accepted it at face value and not thought any further. Of course, others were not as paranoid as he was. There was a reason he had managed to live so long.
"You were my father's student, weren't you?"
This was something the Kyuubi could not have told him. Or could it have? He had spent a lot of time together with Kushina-san and Minato-sensei. Had the Kyuubi viewed their interactions? For that matter, was it viewing their conversation right now? One thing was certain though. If he didn't get a full grasp of Naruto's powers soon, his paranoia was going to kill him.
"Yes."
"Can you tell me about him? I have read many books about him but I want to know what sort of person he actually was. Did you know my mother as well? I couldn't find anything about her no matter how much I searched."
"Yes, I knew your mother. I'll tell you about them but now is not the time. First pass my test tomorrow and then we'll see."
Naruto snorted.
"What?"
"If you fail the last Uchiha, every person in the village will be after your head. The test is a farce."
Kakashi twitched. Kakashi-1, Naruto-1, he grudgingly admitted. He shunshined away without replying.
Anko growled in frustration as she tried to find the kid. The blond wasn't in the Forest of Death or in any of the other training grounds. He hadn't been at Ichiraku as well. When she tried his house, she found that she couldn't get in and wait for him. The kid had set up some sort of seal which was locking her out. A strong enough attack should have been able to break through but she had no intention of destroying the building from the backlash. She stomped out of the building to try the window. She would kill Naruto if he had sealed that as well. She jumped up to the branch just as her object of attention turned up there as well. With a snarl, she grabbed him by the neck and began to throttle him.
The kid had no idea what he had done. She had spent hours of her time honing his skills and he had gone ahead and attacked a comrade.
"A...ko...nee...an," he gasped. She dropped him onto the branch and gave him a hard knock on the head for good measure.
"What the fuck?" he wheezed out as he massaged his throat and struggled for breath.
"You moron! Do you have any idea what you have done?"
"What?"
"Useless piece of shit. I've spent a shitload of time helping you and this is how you pay me back?" she asked, glaring down at him with her hands on her hips.
"What are you talking about?"
"You attacked an Academy teacher."
"Oh that," said Naruto in a tone of realization. "Yes, that did happen." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a veritable rocket slammed into his stomach. He was thrown back with force and slammed hard into the building on the opposite side of the street. He fell to the ground with a groan, the wind well and truly knocked out of him.
"That was uncalled for," mumbled Naruto as he lay in a prone position.
"It wasn't?" threatened Anko as she stood above him and glared down. Given that she had put in time into his training, any wrongdoings on his part reflected poorly on her. Her standing in the village was poor enough as it is. She intended to get that point across. With extreme force, if necessary.
"No, no. My bad. I'm sorry. I deserved it. Please," pleaded Naruto. Satisfied that her point had gotten through, she squatted down beside her protégé.
"You need to be more careful, kid," she said quietly. "These people are always after our blood," she said gesturing with a wave of her arm. "You and I can't give them more opportunities. Look, I'm sure you were provoked but that doesn't give you the license to cut loose like that. What you did was serious."
The kid sat up slowly and looked carefully at her.
"I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him get under my skin."
"Good. As long as you realize that."
"Since when did you become nice and helpful?" grinned Naruto.
"This isn't a joke, brat. Look, I'm only going to say this once. You've managed to worm your way into my life. Now don't go doing about stupid things and fucking it up."
The brat looked stunned.
"Wow, Anko-neesan. You actually have a heart. I thought you ran on pure spite."
Trust the kid to fuck it up. She punched him one more time.
"You need to stop taking stupid risks, kid."
"That's rich coming from you."
"That's the point. If I'm the one saying it, then you really need to change it up."
"Relax. It may seem like I'm crazy but most of the things I do are calculated."
"That's there but every once in a while you, quite literally, seem to lose it."
The kid had the grace to look sheepish.
"Well yeah, that's there... Hahaha."
Anko sighed. The brat wasn't going to listen to her. He did exactly what he wanted to do and nothing was going to change that.
Next Morning
Sakura watched Sasuke as they waited for their teammates, both of whom were currently running over 2 hours late. He was leaning against one of the three stumps in the training ground. She considered approaching him yet again but decided against it. He had shooed her away quite brutally the first couple of times.
Her thoughts shifted to Naruto once again. How could a boy who had been deadlast every year fight so well? She had been top of her class and she couldn't even come close. His fight with the ANBU must have been a fluke, she decided. Her musings were interrupted by the simultaneous arrival of Kakashi and Naruto.
"You're late," she screeched.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted.
"Sorry, I met Naruto on the way. We got talking and we both lost track of time. "
"Sorry, I met sensei on the way. We got talking and we both lost track of time."
As soon as the words were out of their mouths, both of them looked at each other and glared. Sakura's sweatdropped. They had to have set that up. There was no way that had been natural.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted.
Kakashi walked over and leaned against the middle stump. His three students gathered in a small semi-circle around him. He put his hand into one of his pockets and pulled out an alarm clock. He placed it on the stump to his right and turned it on.
"Now about your test. You have to get these bells from me before 12 or else you fail," Kakashi said, holding up a pair of bells. "As you can see, I have only two bells so only two of you will pass. The third will be tied up to the stump over there and will have to watch as we eat lunch."
As if on cue, Sakura's and Sasuke's stomachs rumbled. With a sigh, Kakashi looked at Naruto. "You had breakfast, didn't you?
Naruto nodded and smiled sheepishly.
Kakashi sighed. There wasn't anything he could do now. The breakfast thing had just been his inner sadist talking anyway. He wondered if he could fail them just to make a point. He sighed. The Hokage would kill him if he did that. With a shake of the head, he walked over to the centre of the ground.
"Anyway, the person who doesn't take a bell from me will also be sent back to the Academy for another year. Come at me with the intent to kill or you will never be able to get a bell. Don't worry, I'm a Jounin. I can take it. Besides a couple of cute kids like you will never be able to get a hit on me anyway," he said pulling out his trusty book of porn. Turning the pages to one of his favourite sections, he began reading. Without looking up, he said, "Now, we begin at the count of 3."
"Hold on, hold on!" interjected Naruto.
"What?" asked Kakashi.
"That's your test?"
"What?"
"Taking the bells from you?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"You have a problem with that?"
"Well yeah. Do I really have to... you know?" asked Naruto his voice trailing away but articulating his point by gesturing at his teammates with an airy wave of his hand.
Kakashi was impressed. The kid had figured out his test. Either that or someone had told him beforehand. It couldn't have been Gai. He would never do something like that. And he wasn't sure if Anko even knew about his method. They weren't close friends by any standards.
He shrugged.
Naruto sighed and began grumbling under his breath.
"Fine,' he sighed. Turning to his teammates, he said, "Come on you two, we have a lot to talk about."
"There is nothing I wish to talk to you about," said Sasuke, with quite a bit of hostility.
Naruto turned back to him and said, "See! They don't want to."
Kakashi shrugged once again. He had no intention of making it easy for the kid. Either way, the test was merely a formality now. The main premise of the bell test made the assumption that the students wouldn't be able to figure it out. It would be a good way for him to test out their combat skills. That was the only positive he could see from this turn of events.
"Look, I figured out his test. It's a double bluff. We need to talk or we'll fail."
"What is there to figure out? Take the bells and pass the test," said Sasuke.
"He's trying to trick us," pleaded Naruto.
"Why would sensei try to trick us?" asked Sakura.
"Yeah Naruto. What would I gain by tricking you? I'm even hurt that you'd accuse me so," interjected Kakashi. He could see that the boy's patience was wearing thin.
"He's a shinobi. And a jounin at that. I would be shocked if he wasn't trying to trick us. The possibility exists that this test is a triple bluff and we're walking right into his trap right now."
"In that case, it's best if we don't listen to you," said Sasuke.
Naruto sighed. "No. It would be best if you listened to me first and then decided for yourself. If this test is a double bluff, then we're shooting ourselves in the foot right. Besides what do you have to lose by listening? If you think I'm full of shit, then just attack him like you originally intended to."
Sasuke stared at Naruto in silence. Kakashi could see that the blond seemed to have convinced the Uchiha. Sakura was almost definitely just going to go along with what Sasuke did. The Uchiha shrugged. Naruto nodded and led them off into the trees.
Kakashi stared at what was now his new team. There was no going back now. They'd even passed his test. Albeit thanks to Naruto's intelligence. He sighed. Looks like his days of peace were over.
Naruto led his teammates into the forest and walked for a couple of minutes. He wanted to make sure he was out of Kakashi's earshot. He didn't put it past the jounin to attempt eavesdropping them. He forced chakra to his nose and his ears and strained both his senses to his limits. As far as he could tell, their sensei was still back on the training ground. His instincts seemed to be in agreement and he tended to trust his instincts.
He whirled about and faced his teammates. If they had to survive out in the field, they would need to be a cohesive unit. And for that they needed to form a bond. For all his distaste, he guessed that he should at least give them a chance.
"The test is a double bluff," he began. He was always for getting right to the point. "At least that's what I think. Tell me if you agree with me. There is no way in hell, three raw genin can take on a jounin. Especially one on his guard. There is absolutely no way that can happen. Not even theoretically. Doesn't matter how talented the genin are. And he knows that. In other words, this test has been engineered keeping in the mind that the examinees will not actually be able to achieve the task set to them. In other words, there's a trick somewhere."
"Hn," interjected Sasuke. "Not if he had no intention of passing us in the first place."
"Irrelevant," said Naruto. "If that's the case, there's no point attempting a direct assault. That's what he wants us to do."
"Hn," agreed Sasuke.
"Okay. Let's stick to the assumption that the test actually allows us to pass. Otherwise, there's no point in us being here. We might as well go home. Then, like I said, there's a trick hidden somewhere. I think it's the bells."
"What about them?" asked Sakura curiously.
"They're only two of them," replied Naruto triumphantly.
"What about it? It means only two of us can pass."
"No. That's the thing. Have you ever heard of a 3-man team? The village regulations categorically state that each and every team must have 4 members. Not more. Not less. It doesn't make sense for them to pass only two of us."
"They might re-allocate us later."
"I don't think so. That's no wasteful. The probability that the number of people who manage to pass the test will be a multiple of three is relatively lower compared to the other options. And they can't assign a raw genin to a team with experience. Similarly, they can't assign an experienced shinobi to a team with raw genin. Waste of personnel and resources. I think the fact that there are only 2 bells is to make us turn on each other. Which is the worst possible offence for a shinobi."
"Bit rich coming from you," sneered Sasuke.
"That may be so," said Naruto, brushing off the jibe. "But isn't that the point. They want to us to work with each other. This is a test of our teamwork. If we work individually and somehow manage to get the bells, I don't think he'll pass us. Remember the amount of bullshit they spouted about teamwork back in the Academy. They tested our ninjutsu and our taijutsu in the graduation test but they didn't test this. Why spend some much time and effort on one concept and not even bother testing it?" asked Naruto hurriedly.
Sakura looked doubtful.
Sasuke grunted. "Though it hurts me to admit it, but I have to agree with the dobe."
"What did you call me?" growled Naruto with menace.
"You heard me," replied Sasuke, not baking down.
"I can take insults from enemies, strangers and from the people I respect and not give a fuck about it. But from you? No." His right hand rested on the hilt of his katana. A movement which didn't escape the notice of Sasuke and Sakura. A movement which made Sakura decidedly nervous. A movement which just excited Sasuke.
"Well, well. We don't seem to be getting on quite so well here," called a snide voice.
That was the only warning they received before 3 sharp kunai headed at them with deadly precision.
Instinctively, Sasuke jumped to the right. Sakura, however, was not so fast. Surprised by the sudden intrusion, she was staring blankly at the oncoming weapon. Reaching out, he grabbed her by the back of her outfit and yanked her back as hard as she could. Brought to her senses, she lashed out with her legs and pushed herself out of the way. The weapons aimed at him and Sakura harmlessly thudded into the ground. Naruto however was not so lucky.
The kunai buried itself into his forehead with a soft plop. Sakura screamed in horror. Sasuke's heartbeat shot up. Their teacher had just killed Naruto.
With a soft pop, Naruto disappeared into a cloud of smoke. Simultaneously, the metallic clang of weapons clashing sang out from above them. Looking up, he saw Kakashi and Naruto straining against each other. Naruto with one of his katanas and Kakashi with a kunai. In fact, it was just Naruto straining himself. Kakashi was matching his strength with ease. Naruto must have pulled off a Bunshin Kawarimi realized Sasuke. How he'd managed that, he had no idea. He had neither noticed Kakashi approaching nor had he the time to react the way Naruto had reacted. And that irritated him. Immensely.
"You're going to have to do better than to sneak up on me," snarled Naruto.
"And you should realize that strength is not your strong suit. At least, not right now."
"Oh, don't worry. I definitely know that. Especially with these weights on me. I'm just holding you in place."
As silent as a ghost, another Naruto appeared out of nowhere on the branch above them and swooped down on Kakashi, his blade drawn.
Kakashi backpedalled with ease and avoided the attack. The second Naruto landed lightly on the branch. As one, both the Narutos attacked Kakashi.
"Stupid move," smirked Sasuke. Kakashi already knew that the first one had been the real Naruto. There was no point in the both of them attacking. For that matter, Kakashi hadn't even needed to dodge the airborne assault. Two metallic clangs sounded as Kakashi blocked two blades.
So they were solid clones. He had definitely not expected that. Naruto was pissing him off even more with every passing moment.
"Given that he'd figured out my test, I thought I'd surprise the three of you. Ambushes are quite the norm when you're out in the field," said Kakashi listlessly, as he attacked the two Narutos.
"Ambushes are also generally conducted by more than one person as well," said another voice from behind them.
Sasuke whirled around as fast as he could. There were two Kakashis behind them as well. One for each of them. A punch came speeding at him. In a flash, he leaned back as far as he could and let the punch fly over him. Sakura wasn't so lucky. The punch caught her square on her face and instantly knocked her out.
Leaning forward, he sent a punch down the same way Kakashi had sent his. Kakashi grabbed his fist with ease. Using his superior strength, Kakashi held him in place. In his other hand, he produced a kunai and slashed at Sasuke. Using his hand a pivot, Sasuke spun vertically and avoided the slash. Using his momentum, he aimed a kick at Kakashi's neck, confident that it would land. There was no room or time for the jounin to maneuver.
That was when the world went black.
The second clone stood staring at the first as his fist landed on the back of Sasuke's head and knocked him out.
"That was quite… underwhelming," he drawled.
Up on the tree, Naruto and the original Kakashi stared down at their teammates and agreed, "Yeah."
"Now what?" asked Naruto after a few seconds of silence.
Kakashi looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
When Sakura awoke, she couldn't move. Not surprising as she was tied to a stump. Looking to her left, she saw that Sasuke was faced with a similar fate.
Kakashi and Naruto stood in front of them. Kakashi looked really disapproving.
"That was quite pathetic. I don't know what they taught you at the Academy but you two aren't going to survive for long if you don't improve. The shinobi world is quite cruel and harsh. If you're not cut out for it, then it's better if you quit early. No point in dying doing something you don't want to do."
He pulled out his book and started walking back to the village along with Naruto ignoring her pleas to free them. Her partner in crime seemed to simply boiling with anger. As she watched, Sasuke let out a guttural growl and he commenced the long and painful process of freeing himself.
"Hmmm. So you do know that you completely ruined my bell test, right?"
"Kakashi-1, Naruto-2," thought Naruto.
"Come on! You can't blame me for actually using my head."
"Well, I don't really blame you but you could have played along a bit."
"How?"
"I don't know? You could have given them a chance to figure it out as well."
"Oh come on! You can't hold that against me."
"I'm not holding it against you. I'm just saying... you know."
"Hmm."
"You guys desperately need to improve your teamwork, you know?"
"You got that right."
"You need to give them a chance. I can see that you've already written them off."
"Not really. I wouldn't have bothered explaining the whole thing to them if I had."
"That's good, I guess. You need to have a strong bond with your comrades to survive."
"I'll try."
"Well, I can't really ask for more."
A companionable silence spread between them. As they neared the village, Kakashi looked down at Naruto and said, "Please tell me that you still don't sustain yourself on ramen."
"Huh? What's wrong with ramen?"
"It's not healthy for you."
"Can't afford anything else."
"Now that you will be doing missions, I hope that you will start eating other stuff as well."
"Maybe."
Kakashi twitched. This kid was just as annoying as his mother.
"Come on. My treat and I'll tell you a little about your parents."
Next Day
"Traitor."
Kakashi ignored the accusation hurled at him by Naruto and continued reading his book. This was his revenge. Team 7 was currently in the mission assignment room to receive their first mission.
"You want me to WALK A DOG? Are you guys crazy? I did not train 16 hours every day for the past seven years to walk a DOG. Give me something else, Jiji."
A proclamation which surprised his genin teammates. This was old news for the Sandaime, Iruka and Kakashi.
The Sandaime shifted the pipe in his mouth.
"Naruto, a genin team is not authorized to take anything above D-ranks. You may be allowed a C-rank after you have completed the required number of D-ranks and if your sensei deems you ready."
"How many?"
"Well, at least 20."
20 Kage Bunshins poofed into existence around Naruto. Kakashi controlled his surprise. The fact that a genin was able to perform the Kage Bunshin was an astonishing feat in itself. And here was a genin making 20 of them. A jutsu that, he was quite sure, was forbidden in Konoha.
"Give me 20 of those. I'll have them done in an hour."
Sarutobi rubbed his face in exasperation.
"Naruto, D-ranks are meant to be a team-building exercise. Plus your sensei hasn't said you are ready for a higher ranked mission."
Naruto whirled around and glared at Kakashi who lazily looked up from his book and said, "They need to work on their teamwork. It was quite abysmal yesterday. More importantly, I'd like to know who taught you that jutsu. Tajyuu Kage Bunshin is a forbidden technique."
The anger was wiped out of the kid's face and replaced by an expression of sheepishness. His clones disappeared in clouds of smoke. Cleary, he knew that he had let his emotions get the better of him and pulled an idiot move. A fact which Kakashi took note of. It might be his team's bane on a mission.
"Well?" he prompted when he received no response from the blond.
"Umm..."
"I taught him," interjected the Sandaime. Kakashi turned his attention back to his leader and raised an eyebrow. That was quite clearly a cover-up.
"He was pestering me for a technique and I taught him this one. I felt that it would be quite useful to boost his chances of survival in a mission. Plus, the technique is forbidden as it can cause severe chakra exhaustion. Given Naruto's reserves, I thought I guessed that we could dodge that particular bullet. It turned out that I was right. No harm, no foul."
It was a valiant attempt at a cover-up by a master manipulator but it was too little too late. Kakashi shrugged. If the Hokage was fine with it, then who was he to question it.
Kakashi smiled. Kakashi-2, Naruto-2.
Naruto's face took on an expression of dejected acceptance.
"Fine, I'll walk your fucking dog," he grumbled.
"Language, Naruto!" Sarutobi growled.
"Warehouse cleaning. You?"
"Dog walking."
"Bummer."
"Come on, Shika. It wasn't that bad," offered Chouji apologetically.
"It was for me," growled Naruto, glaring at the pristine cloud that was floating by him, as if it was responsible for his blighted fate. They were currently whiling away time on Shikamaru's favourite cloud-watching spot till it was time for dinner at Chouji's place.
"I work my fucking ass all this time and now they tell me to walk a dog? This village is mad."
"My dad told me about this. He says that D-ranks are extremely important for the economy of our village. Pays for about 30% of our income," said Chouji.
"Does it?" snorted Naruto sarcastically.
"Yeah. What Chouji's saying is true. My dad said something similar a while back. Plus, its tradition. Haze the new kids on the block with shitty jobs just to piss them off."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's important and all the nonsense. Doesn't make it any better."
"You got that right. The warehouse was dirty as fuck. That obviously meant Ino fucked right off," drawled Shikamaru. "Left everything to me and Chouji."
"Hmph," chortled Naruto. "How's she holding up?"
"Still annoying as ever. It's like she was sent down just so that she could grate on my sensibilities with that voice of hers."
"Your sensei didn't stop her?"
"Who? Asuma? He's bloody easy-going. Just scratched his head and let her go. That dude wouldn't move if his voice was on fire."
"Seems like the perfect fit for you," shot back Naruto. Chouji chortled from his position on the right if the trio."
"So, what's he like? Your sensei. I never saw much of him. As far as I could tell he had some beef with the old man."
"Seems like an okay guy. Too early to say more."
"Hmm," nodded Naruto. "Mine is completely crazy."
"That suits you as well, doesn't it?" laughed Chouji.
"Let's hope it does. He was my dad's student."
"Really?" asked Chouji in awe. "That ought to be interesting for you."
"I certainly hope so," agreed Naruto.
2 Days Later
Anko looked up from her dinner when she heard an urgent knocking on her door. With a smirk on her face, she got up and walked to open her door. She knew exactly who it was going to be and what it was going to be about. She calmly open the door and grabbed the fist flying at her.
"What's wrong, Naruto?" she asked innocently.
"You lied to me!" Naruto screamed as he stormed in. "You said D-ranks would be fun. That I would get to learn a lot. Bullshit! I have been walking dogs and painting fences for 2 bloody days," he fumed.
"Awww! You're so cute when you're angry, Naruto-kun. Let Anko-neechan take care of you."
With a widening smirk, she walked over, lifted Naruto and pressed him against her chest.
"Let go of me, you crazy bitch!" shouted Naruto, his voice muffled by her assets.
"What did you say?" she growled as she dropped him onto the floor. Naruto's face flooded with fear and he started backing away as he realized his mistake.
"Nothing. Nothing. I said you were very nice," he said, holding up his hands in apology.
Kurama sighed heavily and shook his head in disbelief as he watched his container get beaten up by Anko for the umpteenth time. When was the kid going to learn to not piss of crazy women?
Naruto - 0, Crazy snake woman - 31.
2 Days Later
Naruto and Lee lay panting on the ground as Gai continued doing pushups.
"Good work, the two of you. Especially you, Lee. You are now able to keep up with both Naruto-kun and myself. At least for short periods. Good work. May you blaze with the fires of youth."
"Gai-sensei," shouted Lee with tears in his eyes.
Naruto watched as the two of them hugged each other with a grimace. As they embraced, they both burst into flames and an image of the sun setting into sea bloomed behind them. Naruto found it difficult to keep his breakfast in control even though he had been witnessing the Sunset of Youth for more than a year now.
"Where's TenTen and Neji?" he asked in order to distract them. By virtue of Gai, Naruto had trained quite often with his team. He thanked kami when it worked and they broke their embrace.
"We're going to meet them in Training Ground 5 in an hour. That reminds me, Naruto-kun. I heard your new team leader is Hatake Kakashi?
"Yeah, He said he knows you."
"Yosh! Hatake Kakashi is my very own Eternal Rival," Gai informed him at the top of his voice.
"Yosh! Gai-sensei. This is amazing. Both our Eternal Rivals are in the same team. So youthful!" Lee shouted with tears in his eyes on again.
"Lee!" Gai cried, his arms ready to embrace his prized student.
"Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted, reciprocating his teacher's gesture.
Naruto got out of there as fast as he could. He would have to kill himself if he had to witness any more youth.
Next Day
Sasuke glared at the creature in front of him with all the distaste he could muster.
"Moo!" said the cow.
Sasuke's glare wilted.
"Sensei, do I have to?" he begged.
"Well, what kind of shinobi do you hope to become, if you're not even able to complete D-ranks?" called Kakashi from his comfortable perch up in a tree. "Look at Naruto. He's already begun."
Sasuke glanced to his right. Sakura was staring at the bovine assigned to her with equal disgust. Naruto, however, had begun milking his with a look of grim determination on his face.
Sasuke sighed and rolled up his sleeves. His shinobi career had not started off the way he had hoped it would.
A Few Hours Later
It was a quite muddy and extremely disgruntled Team 7 which left the Hokage's office after their mission.
"Well, that went well, didn't it?" said Kakashi cheerily.
Sasuke's head snapped up and he glared at the pathetic excuse for a jounin that had been assigned to him. Sakura had joined him. Naruto, however, seem too dejected to even care.
"I'm off. See ya," said the blond with a turn and a wave.
"Not so fast, Naruto," called Kakashi. "It's almost been a week since we began doing D-ranks. I think the team is sufficiently acquainted with each other."
That was an absolute lie. The three of them had barely spoken a word to each other since that disastrous incident in the forest. An incident which Sasuke wanted very badly to forget. He hadn't been humiliated that badly in his entire life. Shown up by Naruto and tied to a stump together with the likes of Sakura. He was going to have nightmares about it for the rest of his life.
"I think it's time we had a training session. We need to establish team roles and attack patterns. What to do in case of an ambush and whatnot. For that, you guys need to have a proper measure of each other and of me as well. Combat is very instinctive. If you don't know what your teammate is going to do, then you aren't going to last long. Follow me."
Sasuke's mood perked up. Finally, something useful.
They followed Kakashi to the same training ground.
Kakashi stared impassively at his three students. They were back at the training ground they had used a couple of days ago.
No matter which way he looked at it, this wasn't going to end well. Sakura was absolute crap. Sasuke was way too full of himself and Naruto thought he was god. Things which weren't going to go very well together.
He suppressed a sigh. The sooner he got their inevitable fallout done with, the better. He had already delayed it enough as it is.
"So... Taijutsu. I would say it's the most important skill you guys need to have. You may not like it but it's a skill you need to have. Combat never goes the way you plan it out. If you happen to be a long-range specialist, then you can expect the enemy to find a way to get in your face. It's always better to be well-rounded. Gives you a better chance of living a bit longer. Now I got a chance to test you guys out a bit last time but that's not going to cut it. I need to know what you guys can do if I have any hope of protecting you out there. First Sakura," said Kakashi before pausing. Try as he might, he couldn't think of a single nice way to say this. He shrugged. He wasn't known for his niceness anyway. "Well, simply put... you suck."
As he had expected, she didn't take it too well. Her face first widened in shock, when she heard his words. She then hung her head in dejection.
Kakashi sighed. This is why he hated kids. They tended to overreact to the littlest of criticisms. Granted, his criticism had been a tad more severe than the norm but nevertheless.
"Look, I'm not going to mince words here. I'm your jounin sensei and as such, my job is to groom you to be good shinobi for this village. My job also is to ensure that you guys survive out there in the field. I saw your scores, Sakura. You graduated from the Academy solely on the strength of your theoretical scores and your ninjutsu. You scored really poorly on all the practical tests. Shinobi life is not a schoolroom test. It's real. If you're not prepared, you die. Somehow, I get the feeling that you're not really serious about this. If you're not, then I suggest that you quit now. No point in risking your life needlessly. If you want to continue, then I suggest you buck up. This is not going to be easy."
She was staring at him openmouthed but seemed to be listening. That was a good sign, he supposed.
"That said, your scores also indicate that you have excellent chakra control which is an excellent skill for a shinobi to have. If you work properly, you can branch out into genjutsu or even into the healing arts."
Her expression buoyed by the compliment he had paid her. Kakashi refrained from sighing again. Just add a compliment at the end and she was going to listen to each and everything he said. It just couldn't be that easy. Now, he knew how the Hokage felt.
"You two on the other hand," he continued, turning his gaze over to his other two students. "You two do seem to have some potential and you weren't too bad the other day. But you guys seem to be missing one important fact." He had their attention. "The village constituted this team and allotted me to it so that I could mould you into a useful resource. I'm not here just to aid and abet you in your personal ambitions. I'm here to fulfill what the village wants of me and you guys should be here because you want to protect this village. If your reason for being here is something else, then I'm telling you right now that we have a problem. Understood?" His words were clearly directed more one of the duo than the other. And from what he could discern, Sasuke wasn't taking too kindly to his words. Nevertheless, it was too early to judge. He had to give the boy a chance.
He received two nods in response; one extremely sullen and the other slightly bored.
"Good. Okay then, we'll be meeting here every day after we complete our allocated quota of D-ranks. I'm going to be drilling team formations and tactics into you. I'm also going to training you in fields I feel are essential to survival and you happen to be lacking in. Am I clear?"
There were nods all around.
"Good. Time for some sparring. Sasuke vs Naruto. Taijutsu only. And that means no swords, Naruto. Sakura and I are going to watch."
Sasuke was clearly too excited for his liking.
"This is a friendly spar between comrades, you two. Keep it clean," he called as he and Sakura backed away to give the two genin some room.
"This definitely isn't going to end well," thought Kakashi.
Sasuke took up a fighting stance and stared Naruto down. The idiot, however, just stood there, with his hands in his pockets. Either the blond wasn't taking him seriously or he was baiting him. It was most probably the latter. Picking up a stance, he thought back to Naruto's fight with the ANBU. He must have most probably used a Shunshin when he had taken on that ANBU. Kakashi had insisted that this fight was Taijutsu only. That meant he didn't have access to the speed he had showcased earlier. And that meant that it was a level playing field.
From the fleeting instants of action he had witnessed from Naruto, he had noticed that the blond seemed to prefer his right. Sasuke slowly began to circle to the left. Naruto didn't move a muscle. Sasuke continued circling him until he was almost at his blind spot. In an instant, Sasuke sped into action. Accelerating as fast as he could, he slipped into Naruto's blind spot and charged. With his left hand, he feinted. With his right, he aimed for the blond's liver. In an instant, he was within striking distance. A feeling of triumph bloomed in his mind. It was too late for Naruto to react.
He called that too early, he realized a second later. His eyes widened as Naruto began to move. He watched, as if in slow motion, as his opponent moved with a speed far beyond his own. Neatly sidestepping his attack, Naruto launched a perfectly timed counter-attack. One that would use all his momentum against him. He was going to have to take the blow. Gritting his teeth and tightening his neck muscles, Sasuke braced himself and plotted his next move.
He never got an opportunity. Naruto's punch hit him like a herd of rampaging elephants. Sakura shrieked in alarm. His neck snapped back violently and he felt himself being thrown back. He bounced and rolled over multiple times on the ground and came to a rest 20 feet away from where he had been a few seconds ago.
His head felt as if it had disintegrated into a million pieces. He lay there, staring up at the sky blankly, all coherent thought driven out of his mind. Sakura was upon him in an instant.
"Are you okay, Sasuke-kun?" she wailed. Bending down, she began to examine his face
Her voice drilled through the haze of pain and brought his mind to reason. Irritation bloomed within him. He didn't need Sakura to worry about him. With a look of distaste, he pushed her off and slowly made to sit up. A task made difficult by the fact that his body didn't seem to be listening to him. Sakura grabbed his shoulder and helped him up.
"You okay?" asked Kakashi as he and Naruto walked up.
Sasuke nodded slowly.
"Good," he said and turned to Naruto. "And you're going to remove your weights for all further training sessions. We can't have you killing your teammates with a misplaced blow. This one was bad enough as it is."
"Really sorry, man," said Naruto in a sincere tone. "I've only ever sparred with Gai-sensei before. I've never really managed a proper hit on him. Had no idea…"
The dots added up in Sasuke's mind as he tuned the blond's voice out. Naruto was using body weights. That's why his blows carried such momentum. How could the blond be so fast even with the weights strapped on?
With a growl of anger, he pushed himself off the ground and tried to take up a fighting stance.
"Whoa man, what're you doing?" asked Naruto.
"Shut up and fight. I'm not done."
"No. You can't even stand up properly."
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN'T DO! JUST FIGHT!"
Silence reigned upon the clearing.
"Look man, if you've got a problem with me being better than you, then you're going to have deal with it. I've worked my ass off to get to this point and I'm not going to lower myself to your level just because your pride can't take it."
Something snapped within him. He took a fast step forward and launched a vicious jab at the blond. His attack didn't get anywhere near to landing. Kakashi had stepped in and grabbed his fist.
"Calm down, Sasuke," he ordered in a serious tone. "Shinobi Rule 7: A shinobi must never let his emotions dictate his actions. Naruto is right, Sasuke. The point of this spar is to get a measure of each other's skills. It has no room for ego."
Sasuke just glared up at his jounin sensei, his brain seething. Pulling his hand back, he whirled about and stalked off without a word.
Kakashi shook his head as the Uchiha stormed off.
"You two are dismissed," he said to Naruto and Sasuke. "I'll see you tomorrow. Same time. Same place."
With a wave of goodbye, he started off behind his errant student. Slowly gathering pace, he caught up with Sasuke in a few minutes.
"Sasuke," he called as he got within earshot. His student simply increased his pace in response. At least he hadn't taken off running. That what was the only silver lining he could think of. With a shunshin, he teleported himself in front of his student.
Sasuke stopped and glared at him defiantly at Kakashi. Kakashi refrained from hitting himself.
"Listen, kid. You really need to grow up. The way you're behaving right now, is not going to help you in the long ruin. You really need to let go of all this anger of yours."
"Fuck you!" growled the Uchiha.
"Will you please stop acting like a spoiled brat for once?" Not surprisingly, that last statement did not go down well.
"I AM NOT acting like a spoiled brat," Sasuke growled.
Kakashi suppressed his irritation. He wasn't going to get through to the kid this way.
"Calm down, will you? I'm trying to have a civilized conversation here. Listen, you have been treating your teammates arrogantly and you have rebuffed any attempts to improve your teamwork. Just because you are an Uchiha, does not mean you are better than them."
"Do not compare me that weak girl and that deadlast idi-"
"Oh, don't fool yourself! You know as well as I do that Naruto is miles ahead of you currently. But that is no reason to resent him. He has worked extremely hard to get where he is. Much more than you."
Sasuke offered no reply.
"Look, let me spell it out for you. You're a shinobi of Konoha. All this. Me. The Academy. We don't exist just to help you satisfy your revenge fantasy. We're here to train you to be shinobi of Konoha. To serve the village's interests. If you have no interest in that, then the shinobi life is not for you."
"You have no idea what it feels to lose what I have."
"Listen you self-centred moron, you aren't the only person in this world to have lost someone," Kakashi shouted. "Every person who was important to me is dead because of my mistakes. I know about revenge better than anybody else. Revenge eats away at your soul and kills you from the inside. Death is irreversible. Even if you do manage to kill Itachi, the pain isn't going to go away. The dead remain dead."
"So are you saying that I should let Itachi go free?"
"No. Hunt him down if you wish. But not for revenge. Hunt him down for justice. Hunt him down as a shinobi of Konoha. Justice for all the lives he took. To do that you need your comrades' assistance. If you follow the path you are currently on, you will end up being no better than Itachi!"
1 Month Later
Kakashi watched his team as they walked into the mission assignment room once again. Not that he could even call them a team. The three of them hadn't said a word to each other. They just worked out his orders in sullen and obedient silence. In fact, Sakura seemed to be the most positive of the three, having made massive progress in her taijutsu. The stand-off between Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem to have cooled off at all. For his part, Naruto was in no way goading or even bothering with Sasuke. All three of them were just robotically going through the motions of being a team. Sakura seemed too afraid of both Naruto and Sasuke to say a word to either of them. To that extent, he had managed to drill the basics of team formations and maneuvering into them.
He was sure of one thing though. If he took one more D-rank, Naruto was going to explode. The look on his face after the last D-rank clearly had expressed all his thoughts on the matter. So here he was, taking a C-rank even though his team wasn't really ready for it. His only hope was that his team sorted themselves out after a sticky situation out in the field.
I don't like writing mushy stuff so there won't be any pairings in this story for a long time. Thanks for reading and all the reviews people.
