Naruto jumped silently into a clump of bushes and peered out. Out in the flat grassy area stood his three Genin. Sakura was standing against one of the three wooden posts, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. Kiba was kneeling down on the ground, rubbing his young puppy's belly, while Hinata watched, a small grin lighting up her face.
Naruto had told his students to be at this training field at 7am sharp, and it looked like all three had followed his orders. He nodded to himself, then cast a Shunshin, sitting cross-legged on top of the middle post. He waited a moment, but it looked like he had arrived completely unnoticed.
"Morning!" he yelled, as loud as he could. The three Genin jumped and quickly turned around. Sakura was so surprised that she fell to the ground as she attempted to turn around. This caused Naruto to start laughing, stopping a moment later when he saw the beginnings of rage on Sakura's face.
"Right, now that should have woken you all the way up. Good morning, Squad 14! So, is anybody ready for today's test?" he asked, with a big grin on his face.
The Genin took a moment to answer. They looked at one another, confusion written on their faces.
"Ano...Naruto-sensei? A test?" Hinata asked, her index fingers pressing into each other.
"Yeah, your Genin test". He looked up at the sky as Kiba exploded, Akamaru barking in tandem with his master.
"But...we already had the Genin graduation exam! What's this about?"
Naruto only continued to smile, and waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Oh, that was nothing. That was just to see if you had the skills of a Genin, which of course you all passed. This is something different. This is to see whether you have the right mind-set to be a Leaf ninja. After all, anybody can learn to cast a Bunshin. But not everybody is entrusted with the defence of the village. However..." at this he paused, then looked them in the eye one by one.
"Fail this test and you go back to the Academy. Fail it bad enough...and I'll recommend to the Hokage you be stripped of ninja status. Don't think that's an empty threat: my dad's student, Kakashi Hatake, is one of the strictest sensei in the village and he did just that for every member of the first two teams he got".
Kiba had his arms down low, hands unclenched, claws and fangs extended. He clearly didn't lack confidence.
Sakura nodded, her eyes full of fire. However, Naruto was quick enough to catch a small measure of doubt.
Hinata stared at the ground for a moment, obviously worried. She looked back up when she heard her name being called.
"Hina-chan...believe in yourself. I know you can do it!" Naruto gave her a thumbs up, but lost his smile when he heard Sakura. She had crossed her arms and was again frowning.
"Well of course you're going to pass your friend!"
At this, Naruto jumped down, and sighed. He looked at them one by one again.
"Understand this, I am entrusted with the security of the Leaf village. The Hokage himself believes in me, believes that I have the judgement necessary to recommend who continues on and who doesn't. If I honestly believe that you don't belong in the ninja corps, I will remove you. Sorry Hina-chan, but you know me. It's the honest truth and it's how I live my life. However...Sakura...you will not talk back to your superior with such disrespect!" He frowned now, almost daring her to start again. She did.
"Respect? What respect? Just why the hell are you our sensei? Were you some throwaway ninja?"
Naruto closed his eyes and when he opened them again, Sakura stopped. She honestly felt like she was about to die. It was like pressure, like the air around her was pushing on-top of her. She struggled to speak, but no sound came out. After a moment, Naruto disappeared. Sakura felt a brief pain and then blacked out for a moment.
When Sakura opened her eyes, she found herself on the ground. She quickly glanced to her team-mates, startled to see that they too were pinned by a Naruto holding a kunai to their neck. She almost jumped when she heard Naruto speak but managed to stop herself barely in time. That kunai was dangerously close!
"I am not weak. I am not a throwaway. I have proven myself to the Hokage and now I have proven my skills to you. In just a few seconds, I was able to incapacitate and disarm all three of you. I am your sensei and you will learn from me". The two Kage Bunshin he had created poofed away and he stood back up. He held out his hand to each of them in turn and pulled them back up.
"Now, the test. It's pretty simple. You have to hit me". The three Genin stared.
"Hit you? That's it?" Kiba asked. He looked up to Akamaru who had positioned himself on his head, who barked in agreement. Naruto nodded.
"Yep! Just land a single direct hit on me...woah easy there, Kiba!" Kiba was indeed in the middle of fishing out a kunai from the pouch strapped to his thigh.
"There are a few rules. First off, when I say so, all three of you will jump into the trees and hide yourselves as best as you're able. Then, I'll call out a name and that person will then try their best to hit me. Yeah, that means this is one on one. Team up together and this will prove to me that you can't follow orders, and I'll fail all three of you immediately. Also...since Sakura pissed me off, I'll add in this extra rule, so you'll have her to thank: if I am hit, only the person who landed the hit will pass. That means that today, at least two of you are going back to the Academy! Or worse!" Naruto grinned a bloodthirsty grin.
The Genin looked at each other, surprise on their faces. After a moment, they had the same thought and jumped away in different directions. Naruto nodded to himself.
'Good. Let's see if any of them can figure it out, and hopefully, convince the others'. He paced around the small field for a few minutes at random, then called out a name.
"Sakura!"
He caught a quickly stifled curse. He closed his eyes, feeling his chakra being invaded and warped.
I'll give her credit for being able to cast it, but her jutsu is far too obvious. Even if it were to take effect, anyone would know they're under a Genjutsu and thus doubt their senses.
He opened his eyes. Although all he could see was an empty field, he could feel someone creeping up on him. He waited, then twisted around and grabbed what looked to him like empty air. He heard a cry of surprise and the air shimmered, revealing Sakura with her fists clenched, his hands on her shoulders.
"Nice try. Go back into the trees".
After a few more minutes, he shouted "Kiba!". At once, he heard "Gatsuuga!" and what looked like a couple of tornadoes shooting through the air directly at him. Naruto waited until the last second, then jumped up, his hands outstretched. Near-invisible wire quickly twisted and tangled the boy and his dog, who came crashing down hard to the ground. Kiba swallowed a curse as he looked at his sensei.
"Not good enough, Kiba. Hang on, I'll release you and you can go hide again". Naruto did just that with a few quick swipes of a kunai, and turned his back, hearing the Inuzuka race off back into the trees.
Naruto sat down in the ground in a lotus position. He closed his eyes and controlled his breathing.
Not good, not good. So far, no-one's thought this through. Hina-chan...I want you to pass...but...I can't risk letting her pass if she isn't up to it! Damn it!
He growled for a moment and then shouted "Hinata!"
After a few minutes had passed with nothing happening, he opened his eyes and looked around. There was no-one there.
Suddenly, he felt his sense of danger kick in and barely dodged a Gentle Fist strike to his back. He jumped back about ten meters.
"Good work, Hinata! I didn't feel that invisibility genjutsu. Now, are you going to try again!" His eyes widened as Hinata ran at him, launching into a furious barrage of attacks. Naruto quickly schooled his expression into one of boredom, as he effortlessly dodged each strike by what seemed like the barest of margins. After a couple of minutes, he noticed Hinata was starting to slow down. He spotted his opportunity and quickly shot out with his leg, tripping her and causing her to fall to the ground. He palmed a kunai and was instantly pinning her to the ground, the kunai again at her throat.
"Good effort, but not good enough". He stood back up, holding out a hand to help her up. She took it, looking downcast.
"Kiba! Sakura! I want all three of you at the training posts!"
A few minutes later, the three Genin stood in front of their sensei, who had a hard expression on his face. He paced by them, looking at each in turn.
"What I saw out there just now...was pitiful. Sakura, your Genjutsu was far too obvious. Although I couldn't see you with my eyes, I knew I had been affected and was able to figure out where you were with my other senses.
Kiba, you just blew in to the field with no plan. You didn't bother checking if I had trapped the place, thus getting yourself tangled in my wires.
Hina-chan...I have to admit, you came the closest of the three of you, but it still wasn't good enough. I actually didn't feel your invisibility Genjutsu, which has me puzzled as to how Sakura got a higher score than you in the Academy. However, you saw my last spar with your dad, and he wasn't able to touch me, even though he's a lot faster and more precise". Naruto then stopped his pacing and put his hands in his pockets.
"I'm gonna give you guys one more chance. I'm going to walk away for fifteen minutes. You will then decide amongst yourselves who is going to be next. I will allow only one person to try again, so choose". With that, he jumped away.
Naruto didn't go too far. Instead, he stealthily climbed a tree and peered down. From here, he was able to observe what was happening. As he expected, Kiba and Sakura were arguing amongst themselves, both saying they needed to be the one to try again. Hinata tried to get a word in here and there, but failed.
Looks like they don't get it. Sorry Hina-chan...I promised that I would be your sensei...hopefully another year at the Academy will teach you to look at things from a different perspective.
He got ready to jump back down but stopped, as he heard Hinata let out a loud scream. This silenced the other two Genin immediately, who looked at her in complete surprise.
"Both of you...stop! I...I don't...I don't think this what we're supposed to be doing!"
Kiba and Sakura looked at each other.
"Umm...Hinata, what do you mean? Sensei said only one of us was allowed to try again", asked Sakura.
Hinata looked at the ground then looked Sakura in the eyes.
"Even if one of us passed, I don't think it would mean anything. That would mean one sensei and one student. When was the last time Konoha had a one Genin team?"
Sakura and Kiba again looked at each other.
"Ya know...you're right. So, what do ya mean?" asked Kiba.
"I think...I think that Naruto-sensei is testing us. We...we...we would never be able to him, we're Genin and he's a Jonin. So there must be something else going on".
Naruto nodded to himself.
So close, Hina-chan. Now, let's see if you can get the other two to change their attitude. He continued watching
"Why would Naruto-sensei pit us against each other? We're supposed to be a team, but instead we're fighting against each other".
At this, the other two did look embarrassed. It was clear neither of them had thought of this.
"Ya know...that does sound weird. I mean...think about it" Kiba began. "The Hokage puts the three of us on a team and the first thing our sensei says is that only one of us actually becomes a Genin? You're right Hinata, its bogus. So, what do you guys think he's trying to do?" he asked.
The two girls looked at the ground, lost in thought. Sakura perked back up.
"It must be a test of team-work. We're supposed to be a team, not fight each other". Hinata and Kiba both nodded their agreement.
At this, Naruto jumped down, a hard expression on his face.
The three Genin gulped, hoping against hope that they were right.
"Okay, I'm back. So, who is it going to be?" Sakura walked in front of the other two and looked at their sensei.
"All of us. We're a team, and you're a Jonin, so...it would take all three of us to even have a chance of hitting you!"
Sakura closed her eyes and prayed that he would accept this.
Naruto's eyes widened in anger.
"What's this? Are you disobeying my orders? I thought I said only one of you!"
At this, Akamaru started barking madly and Kiba flexed his claws.
"Yeah, she's right! Your orders were bull from the start. If you only wanted one Genin, why bother having all three of us? We're going to take you down, and teach you some respect!"
Naruto's frown deepened.
"So, do all of you agree with this? Sakura? Kiba? Hina-chan?" The three Genin looked at each other, and then nodded.
Naruto then grinned, exuberantly.
"You all pass! Took you guys long enough to figure out the real test". Sakura let out a sigh and whispered under breath "I knew it!" Naruto then started pacing.
"Hinata was right, there has never been a one Genin team in the history of Konoha. The reason being that it would waste a Jonin's time to be teaching only one student.
"Yes, this was a test of team-work. I needed to see if you could put aside your differences and act as one unit, not just think for yourselves. Out in the field, one of you might be captured by an enemy. A team-mate would risk life and limb to save that person, not just run away to save their own life.
"There was also another part to this test. You disobeyed my orders and said you would take me on together. I had to see if you could think for yourselves and not take orders like mindless zombies. Now don't get me wrong here, you're supposed to obey me, but if you feel you have a strong enough reason, then don't do it. Not only that, but you must be prepared to accept the consequences. If you do disobey, there will be punishments, even if you believe you're right".
With this, the three Genin breathed a collective sigh of relief. They looked at each other and smiled.
"Good work, team! It's now official, Squad 14 rocks! I'll give you the rest of the day off. Meet me in front of the Hokage Tower tomorrow at 8am sharp, for your first mission!" He jumped away again, this time leaving the clearing. He wanted to get back home, where he could brag to his dad about how awesome his team was.