The test
It was seven thirty, and Naruto was going to the quietest place in the village, the area around the memorial stone. It was a good place to eat, or just spend time. There was usually a shinobi, Kakashi, there as well, just like he was this morning. An hour and a half after they were supposed to arrive. Very dedicated to his students wasn't he. Instead of hiding on the other side of the memorial stone like usual, he sat down next to his soon to be sensei, and opened his meal, an old recipe he had found in the library, and it was delicious.
"Didn't I say not to eat breakfast?" Pausing in his preparation, Naruto replied apathetically
"Didn't you say to be there by six? If you can break one rule, I can break another." Kakashi shrugged, and then his stomach growled. Naruto looked up at him, asking him if he wanted some. Kakashi looked at the food; it looked like rice with some sort of white gravy and bits of meat in it, along with round circles of cooked bread. It smelled good; even it didn't look entirely appetizing.
"What is it?"
"This is sausage gravy over rice, with biscuits. It's very good, give it a shot." Kakashi shrugged and sat down, accepting another plate that Naruto unsealed from a scroll. Kakashi looked curious, and as he pulled the mask down to eat, he was about to ask a question, but Naruto cut him off,
"I was going to give to my teammates, but if they are dumb enough to sit there three hours without breakfast, they don't really deserve it, do they?" Kakashi shrugged and took a bite, and looked like the newest version of Icha Icha had just come out.
"This is really good, how often do you cook?"
"I've been cooking for myself for years, its rather relaxing. I've gotten quite good at." Naruto stated with some pride.
"Mmm." Kakashi decided he had might as well get to know his sensei's son, rather than the crap that served as introductions yesterday.
"So, how about you tell me a little about yourself, I'll go first as a gesture of good faith. My name is Kakashi Hatake; my likes are Icha Icha, lazing about, and irritating people by arriving three hours late and reading Icha Icha in public. My dislikes are traitors, arrogant, and above all, fan girls." Kakashi shivered. "My hobbies include reading Icha Icha and irritating Might Guy, the Taijutsu master of Konoha. You might want to look him up, although he is a little eccentric, he is the best person to teach you taijutsu, if you have an interest in it. I also enjoy irritating Kurenai, the Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, right now one of the best Genjutsu users in Konoha, although, if it was not for my Sharingan, she would have Genjutsued me to death by now. I have a friend named Asuma, wind user, skilled Jonin. My dream for the future is to make my father and Sensei proud." Naruto nodded, and then asked
"What is a wind user? Someone who focuses on mainly wind?"
"Ah, a wind user is usually found in Suna, but a wind user is someone whose chakra nature is wind. You find out your chakra nature with the aid of chakra paper." 'So that's what those papers were for.' Taking out a scroll from an inner pocket of his Haori, he unsealed several pieces of it.
"So, what do I do, just channel chakra into it or something?" Kakashi nodded. Doing so, the whole paper crumbled into dust. 'So he's an earth nature eh? Well, that's good; I know a great deal of earth Jutsu from when we fought Iwa.'
"You're an earth type that means that earth jutsus will come easier to you." 'Hey the Hokage said I could not teach him anything dangerous, not that I could not teach him general knowledge. And now I know which scroll to make his target in our first training session.'
"Hmm, well, you properly introduced yourself, so I guess I will return the courtesy. My name is Naruto Uzumaki; my likes are cooking, sewing, training, and a good fight. My hobbies are the former except for the fighting. My dislikes are arrogant people, traitors, fan girls, and when people are too loud. Dream for the future? I have never really thought about it. Just survive I suppose." After making small talk, and becoming genuine friends over the time they spent on that meal, Kakashi grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and shunshinned off to the rest of the team.
"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! YOU'RE BOTH LATE!" Sakura screamed, as miles away, in Iwa a baby went deaf. Back in Konoha, the three males were wincing, and several drops of blood fell from Naruto's ears. 'My hearing is too sensitive to hear that again, from now on I need to have earplugs in around her. If I hadn't of trained my senses this wouldn't be a problem.' He had trained his senses out of necessity during the three years on the streets.
"Maa, maa, we got lost on the road of life." Naruto plugged his ears, waiting for it, "LIAR!" she screamed, looking incredibly angry. Kakashi coughed, "anyways, your objectives are these…"Kakashi held up a pair of bells, then tied them to his belt.
"The one that doesn't get a bell goes back to the academy; you have until noon to get these from me. The looser also doesn't get lunch." Two stomachs growled furiously, causing Naruto and Kakashi to stifle a chuckle. "Alright, begin!"
The three Genin hid immediately, so Kakashi walked over to a tree, leaned up against it and stretched out his senses, while reading a little of Icha Icha. 'There's Sasuke, hiding well, but evidently incapable of hiding completely. Other Genin might not be able to see him, but sensing him is another story. Sakura…he could see her plain as day. The pink hair, pink dress, and the fact that she was screaming at naruto…screaming at naruto?'
"YOU STUPID BAKA! YOU'RE GETTING IN THE WAY OF ME AND SASUKE-KUN!" Back to Kakashi, he was currently puzzled. 'Naruto is the only one that she screams at like that, I've seen it before. But I can neither see nor sense the boy. This is ridiculous. I'm a retired ANBU that specialized in tracking and assassination, how the hell can he hide from me? Ah well, I suppose I should be proud. It will help him in finding what I need to teach him if he can track half as well as he can hide…looks like Sasuke is preparing to attack, god it took long enough, we've been doing nothing for 15 minutes.'
Ten shuriken came flying out of the woods hitting the log that Kakashi had substituted with, while Sasuke came out in the clearing.
"You know, I figured that you would be a little better than that…seeing as you're the 'last Uchiha' and all." Sasuke glared at him, and then charged. 'Tsk, no patience, no planning either.' The boy swung forward with a punch…dodged, used the momentum to launch a spinning kick, blocked. 'With the way this is going, I don't even need to put away my…spoke too soon' as Sasuke had nearly managed to touch the bells somehow. Sasuke started through handsigns, 'He can't do that, Genins are not supposed to have enough chakra.' "Katon: Gokuyaku no jutsu!" (Grand fireball Jutsu) "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu." (Inner decapitation skill) Kakashi muttered.
The fireball raged overhead, as he moved through the earth towards Sasuke, coming up underneath him, hearing him mutter "left? Right? Above?" he could not resist saying "below" as he dragged Sasuke into the ground, up to his neck. Dusting off his hands, he left, came across Sakura, knocked her out with an e-rank genjutsu, and finally found his should-be-otouto.
Or rather, he found what seemed like a hundred senbon, all told, aimed at him. He substituted quickly, hey; they were spread out and damn well aimed, as they pierced through the log, as he sensed movement behind him, he jumped forward and spun around, just in time to deflect several kicks that came from Naruto. The boy's arms seemed to be dead at his side, and his face was dead, eyes ice cold. The boy's battle mode was on full blast, and for some reason Kakashi was getting worried.
"Oh? I figured that you were smarter than to take a Jonin head on."
"Under normal circumstances I would not, but both of my teammates refuse to work with me. So I have no choice, it is either this, or set my training back a year." Kakashi raised his visible eyebrow.
"Well, come on." Naruto charged forward, hands still seemingly dead by his side, launching a kick that Kakashi blocked with both hands, surprised by the lack of force behind it, until he started spinning and landed a kick on Kakashi's head, Hard. Or would of, if Kakashi hadn't of substituted with a friendly log, which was promptly smashed. Turning his head towards Kakashi, he shrugged
"A simple feint, but always worth a shot." 'A simple feint? With the way that kick looked like it was going to hit, he had put all his strength behind it! Yet there was barely any! How much has he trained his Taijutsu to fool me? Admittedly I was underestimating him, but still!' Naruto charged again, this time going in with a…Konoha Sennpu? Where the hell did he learn that? As Kakashi ducked the kick, Naruto's left hand snapped out, and Kakashi only saw a glint of steel before his shoulder was cut. Kakashi lashed out with his right hand, which Naruto met with his foot, and kicked against it using Chakra, allowing him to back flip backwards, and during a flip, he filled Kakashi's arm with senbon needles. Landing, both arms dead at his side again. He cocked his head to the side,
"You should probably step it up from genin, Mr. Mud clone." The clone smirked, and dissolved into mud. Kakashi came out from behind a tree, unharmed. This time Kakashi was the one to charge at Naruto, and launched a punch, followed by another, a third, then a kick, all at high Chunin speed. Naruto dodged all of them, shocking Kakashi. 'I know he's not that fast…his eyes!'
Naruto's eyes, from the moment he began dodging, and maintained it still, had taken on an incredibly focused appearance, the pupil shrinking down to a small dot in the rest of the eye. If Kakashi didn't know better, he would say they were eagle eyes put into the boy. Kakashi speeded up to low Jonin, causing Naruto to frown, and barely dodged the multitude of strikes that Kakashi sent at him. Several minutes of that, and the two separated, Naruto panting, Kakashi only lightly breathing.
"You're pretty good for a Genin, you have not been hit yet, but I'm moving faster than you, by quite a bit. How are you able to dodge me, but not use your hands or arms at all?" Naruto merely looked at him, and drew a plain Ninjato in his left hand, while his right remained at his side. Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose, stating
"You still want to fight? You do realize you can't beat me right?"
Naruto's head lowered, and then he leaped forward. Left slash, dodged, right upper diagonal slash, dodged, countered with upper left slash from kunai, dodged by Naruto and retaliated with a hail of senbon from his right hand. Kakashi deflected them, and was about to leap forward when the alarm rang.
The pair leaped apart, Naruto replacing his weapons, attaching chakra strings to the senbon he had used and bringing them back to him, having to do this for only a few seconds, seeing as he used but a few, the rest were shadow senbon he had cloned from the original. Nodding to Kakashi, the pair walked back to the original clearing like nothing happened.
"So, care to explain how you were able to keep up with me and counter? No one else your age could do so, no matter how fast." Naruto looked at his sensei, stating "If I can see it, I can dodge it." Kakashi looked at Naruto for more details, but none were forthcoming. The older man shrugged, then said
"You go wake Sakura, I'll dig up Sasuke." Naruto nodded, and in a matter of minutes everyone was gathered in the original clearing, around the three logs, while Kakashi tied…Naruto to the pole, speeding behind him faster than he could see, and knocking him out, then tied him up and woke him. Naruto shook his head and asked,
"Any particular reason you tied me up? Considering I was the only one to get a bell." Standing shocked for a minute, everyone looked at Kakashi's belt, only to find a bell missing. Five eyes widened, and Kakashi moved to untie him, only for Naruto to replace himself with Sakura.
"You neglected to restrain my hands." He stated, while pulling out the missing bell. "When did you get that?" Kakashi asked, truly puzzled.
"I got it right before I confronted you, when you passed a tree. You were not expecting it; therefore you did not sense it. Genjutsu is a powerful force." Naruto stated, with a little pride. Kakashi's visible eye widened, 'I was caught in a Genjutsu? Naruto is a Jinchurikki! At this point, he should not have anywhere near enough chakra control, now or ever to use Genjutsu! Much less one without him sensing it!' "Alright, Naruto is the only one of you guys to pass…"
"Give me the bell dobe. You do not deserve it!" Naruto cocked his head, "Do not deserve it? If I gained one of my own merits, then surely I should deserve it, correct?" Sasuke stood there glaring at him. "I will have that bell, if not from him, then from you!" 'This is not the way I would rather get it, but he's no match for me, and the Jonin is too good.' Sasuke charged him, only to be tripped and sat on by the Jonin.
"Care to explain why you tied me up, Kakashi?" "Felt like it." Naruto merely nodded, and sat down after cutting Sakura free. "I am too bored to continue this, so you all pass.
The objective was teamwork, which only Naruto got if Sakura's screaming was any indication, so normally I would fail you all. However, I have been directed to pass you all whether or not you should of, so I am not even going to bother with the next part. Just take a look at that stone" everyone looked where he pointed, the memorial stone.
"Everyone on there is a hero to this village, heroes who fell in battle in the service of this village. Some of them could have been saved, if everyone in this village followed a simple thing. 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' Got me? Sasuke, you took me on without thought for your comrades, they could have been killed. Sakura, you insulted and belittled your comrade, without thought or even reason, and gave away your position. Naruto, you tried your best to get them to work together, but they refused, so you continued on the mission, achieving your objective, even if it was not the way it was supposed to be obtained. So, therefore, you should be the only one to pass, but you're not because of external manipulation. So you all pass, meet me here tomorrow at 7 am. Ja ne!" and with that, Kakashi left.
Naruto began to leave, but a yell from Sasuke stopped him.
"Dobe! Fight me!" "Why?"
"I am an Uchiha, elite, yet was unable to get a bell. Furthermore, there remains the matter of team leader when Kakashi is not there. We shall fight for pride and leadership." Naruto, shook his head, but turned around and took a position, arms once again dead at his side. "Any limits?" "No." Naruto nodded. For near ten minutes they stood there, Naruto merely bored, Sasuke impatient. Sasuke finally had enough, and charged him. He launched a punch at Naruto, who dodged, launched a side kick, which Naruto's right hand snapped up and caught the leg, causing Sasuke to grunt. Naruto looked up.
"It's over." And his left hand sped forward in a punch, hitting Sasuke in the balls, and while he was…occupied with pain… he knocked Sasuke to the ground, on his knees, grabbing both arms by the elbow joint and locking them with his hands, which held two kunai to the back of Sasuke's neck. (Master lock with Kunai.) "Yield." Sasuke refused for some reason, so Naruto knocked him out by reversing the Kunai, and left him lying on the ground, Sakura soaking the front of his shirt with tears and screaming for him to wake up, as Naruto walked away ignoring her.