Sorry for all the delays! We had a huge family thing to go to over Labor Day weekend, and I couldn't write! Plus starting school again has been crazy for me, too many things to do! Hopefully I'll get back on track soon, but as things get more crazy for me, things might slow down. I'm starting to tutor a kid two times a week, and well, I want a social life too! But I promise I WILL make time for Fanfiction! Do not worry!
Just in case you don't know, I also started a new story, going by the name of 'A Few Minutes.' It should be out later today, so try to find it! :)
Well, now for the good part! Longest chapter yet!
PEACE!
~narutoobsessedgurl
Naruto and Gaara woke up early the next day, and packed a lunch for themselves. After all, Kakashi had said to specifically not eat breakfast, he said nothing about not needing a lunch, and if worse came to worse, they could just eat it when they got home.
They set off to the training grounds after finishing getting ready, and found that Sakura and Sasuke were already there, Sakura already annoying the hell of of Sasuke. They waited there and Minato showed up roughly ten minutes later, dragging Kakashi along with him.
"You're late!" Sakura screamed.
"You think that none of us know that Sakura? You didn't need to scream it." Gaara said, crossing her arms.
"Well, I'm aware that we're late, and you can thank your other lazy sensei for it." Minato said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, letting go of Kakashi.
"Sorry kids, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around." He said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Yeah right, just admit that you're lazy!" Naruto said, crossing his arms.
"Well, you're just wasting your own time now." Kakashi said. "Now, the test you will be taking today is hard, and has a 66% failing rate. Your mission is to get one of these bells from me or Minato-sensei. You have until noon to get one of the bells, if you don't have one, you'll be tied to a post and left without a lunch, and then be sent back to the academy. Understand?" Kakashi asked, holding up three bells.
"But, Kakashi-sensei, there are only three bells." Sakura pointed out.
"Of course. You don't really think that we could have a team of four do you? And besides, there's a strong likelihood that all of you won't get a single bell by yourselves." Kakashi said, dropping them a hint. "Now, Minato will have one of the bells while I will have the other two. You may start... now!"
The four kids jumped into hiding spots around the training area. Kakashi and Minato smiled and looked at each other, happy with the kids hiding.
"So, how do you think this will play out?" Kakashi asked Minato.
"Oh, I don't know. But I have no doubt that Naruto and Gaara will work together, Sasuke will be too arrogant to work with anyone if they even tried, and Sakura will try to find Sasuke, but will not be able to convince him to join her." Minato said.
"We'll see I guess." Kakashi said.
With Naruto
'Alright, so I guess I just have to go find Gaara-chan.' he thought, dropping down from the tree he was hiding in and roaming the forest floor. He walked through the trees, listening to see if he could hear the familiar breathing pattern from Gaara, or sense her anywhere.
He sighed as he leaned against a tree nearly 10 minutes later, stretching his senses to see if she had gone somewhere far enough away he couldn't sense without complete concentration. He started searching, but suddenly heard a yell, breaking his concentration. It was far off to his right. He couldn't make it out, so he just ran towards it, hoping he would be able to help.
With Gaara
"Naruto?" Gaara asked the air, going through a patch of bushes to get into the clearing she'd spotted. She'd stepped into is and looked around, but couldn't see any trace of her beloved blonde-haired brother. She shrugged and turned around, expecting to just go back towards the field and find him around there.
When she turned, she saw Naruto, one hand against the tree, holding him up. His clothes were torn and he had cuts and blood all over him, as well as bruises. He panted heavily and looked at Gaara.
"Gaara-chan..." he whispered, blood coming out of his mouth, just before he collapsed on the ground.
"Naruto!" She yelled, rushing forward to help him, not really knowing what she was going to do. She couldn't heal him, she didn't know any medical jutsu. She could carry him for awhile, and if she had to, all the way back to the clearing to find their dad.
As she went to put him in her lap though, her hands passed straight through him.
'An illusion?' She wondered, standing back up in case of attack.
"Gaara-chan!" Naruto called, running out of the forest and into the clearing. "Gaara-chan! Why did you scream!? Are you alright?!" He hurried out.
"How do I know you're not just an illusion too? Trying to trick me!" Gaara asked calmly, uncapping her sand as a precaution.
"What do you mean? Gaara-chan, I'm not an illusion! I'm the real me! I was looking for you when I heard a yell, yours apparently, so I ran towards where it came from to help." He said.
"To see if you are the real Naruto-kun or not, I have a question that only the real Naruto would know." She said, looking at him expectantly.
"Okay, what's the question?" Naruto asked, waiting.
"What ha-" Gaara started, but was cut off short as another Naruto ran out of the forest.
"Gaara-chan! Are you okay?!" The new Naruto asked.
'Two Narutos? Oh god! My head hurts already!' Gaara thought, rubbing her temples as the two Narutos stared at each other.
"Hey! Who the hell do you think you are!? I'm the real Naruto!" One of them yelled.
"No way! I'm the real Naruto! You're just tou-chan or sensei disguised as me!" The other one yelled.
They just started a shouting match at each other before it quickly turned into a battle of the fists, each fighting each other and rolling over, trying to gain the advantage. They hit each other multiple times, but neither dispersed in a cloud of smoke, showing they were both real people, and that one was just wearing a henge.
She sighed and took in a deep breath. "WILL BOTH OF YOU JUST STOP!" She shouted at them. Both boys immediately stopped fighting and looked at her, then they separated from each other and rubbed the dirt off of them.
"Now, I think I know how to solve this." Gaara said.
"No need Gaara-chan, I got it." One of the Narutos said, stepping forward towards her and standing in front of her, his face red with a blush.
"Naruto-kun, well, maybe anyways, are you okay?" She asked.
"No, well, yes, umm... I don't know! Well, here, this will show you it's not sensei, and definitely not tou-chan who is right here. But that it's me, Naruto." He said.
Gaara started, "What are you talking abou-"
She was cut off as Naruto's lips pressed against hers, her mind going completely blank and her eyes widening. She couldn't respond, believing it must just be an illusion. But then she realized; you can't feel illusions.
He pulled away just as quickly as he had done it, but Gaara felt like it had gone on for an eternity. Her mind decided to remind her that she hadn't kissed him back, but didn't focus on that since the other Naruto poofed into Kakashi, who was laughing so hard he was on his back. Naruto was blushing, and he stood roughly ten feet away from her, with his face looking away from her.
Gaara stood there with a half open mouth and astonished face. What had just happened again? Oh right, her adoptive brother, who she had a crush on, had just kissed her in front of their sensei to prove he was really her brother and not their sensei.
She never thought of that happening as she was preparing herself for the exam.
Kakashi was rolling around all over the place since he was laughing so hard.
"The first time you kiss a girl, and you choose your sister! Oh My God! And her face! If only you could have seen that!" He hollered.
Naruto, getting annoyed, kicked him in the balls, which promptly stopped the laughing. He acted fast and grabbed the bells from Kakashi's belt, and ran towards Gaara.
"Gaara-chan! Come on, we need to go before he recovers, or he'll beat the living hell out of me!" Naruto yelled.
Gaara stood there, dumbstruck, still staring where Naruto previously was. Naruto growled and picked her up, carrying her in a way that wouldn't hurt, and jumped away, hoping that he could get to his father before Kakashi was able to chase him down. If there was one thing that any man hated, it was getting kicked in the nuts, and Naruto had just committed that deed on one of the highest ranking ninja in the village.
He ran into the clearing and put Gaara down on the ground, flopping onto his back in the process. He cupped his hands against his mouth and yelled.
"TOOUUU-CHHAAANN!"
Suddenly, a yellow flash appeared nest to them and started checking over the both of them frantically.
"What's going on?! Are either of you hurt!? What happened!? Oh I'll kill Kakashi! I swear if he did anything to seriously injure either of you, I will skin him and hang him over our mantle! And then I'll-"
"Tou-chan! Calm down! We just need your protection from Kakashi-sensei! We got the bells." He said, holding up the bells. "But I did something he's going to kill me for."
"What? Kakashi's not an easy guy to piss off. What did you do? Burn his Icha-Icha?" Minato asked, gaining a puzzled look.
"Worse, I kicked him in the nuts." Naruto said.
Minato flinched. "Jeez son, did you have to go that harsh on him? I mean, it's kind of an unspoken rule that ninja don't go that far."
"Well, he was really pissing me off! I mean, come on! Laughing at me like that!" Naruto said, crossing his arms.
"Wait, why would he be laughing at you?" Minato asked, raising an eyebrow.
Naruto froze. "Oh you know... Just being an ass is all."
"Naruto, don't use such language, it's going to become a bad habit." Minato said.
"Sorry Tou-chan, but he just made me angry." Naruto said, kicking up some dirt.
"Naruto, what's with Gaara?" Minato asked, pointing at his daughter, who was just staring at the ground.
"Ohhh... that... umm... yeah, about that-"
"Naruto, can I talk to you about something?" Gaara said, finally looking up from the ground and looking at Naruto, her eyes hard.
"Oh, yeah, sure." He said.
"Good. Let's talk over there." Gaara said, pointing to the woods, and starting to walk over there.
Naruto tensed and followed, nervousness taking over his senses. He walked that way, with Gaara roughly 10 paces ahead of him. Behind them, Minato just watched them leave, an eyebrow raised. He shrugged and went out to find the other two kids, a bit disappointed that they all work together. He couldn't help but wonder though.
'What is going on with my kids?' He thought as he jumped through the trees on the opposite side of the clearing.
Naruto approached Gaara, who was already standing at the edge of the clearing, arms crossed and tapping her foot, looking at him, expressionless.
"H-Hey Gaara-chan." Naruto said, putting an innocent smile on his face.
"Naruto... what- no why- or GAAHH! I don't know! Why did you do that? Back with Kakashi-sensei. Why did you decide to distinguish yourself in THAT way? Why not just tell me something only one of us would know?" Gaara asked.
"I don't know! It was just something I knew neither of them would do, so it could only be me. It was just a spur of the moment thing, and I didn't think it through. I'm sorry Gaara-chan, please don't hate me!" Naruto said.
"Naruto-kun, I don't hate you." Gaara said, stepping forward and putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I just need to know something. Do you have feelings for me?"
"Whaa!? Why would you ask that ttebayo!?" Naruto yelled.
"You idiot. People don't just kiss other people for no reason. Now tell me, do you like like me or not?" Gaara asked.
"Well... maybe I have... some sort of... you know.. crush type of feeling for you..." Naruto mumbled out, looking to the ground and gaining a shade of red that would make Hinata proud.
Gaara blushed as well, gaining a light pink tint to her cheeks. "Well, maybe I... ya know... have the sane type of feelings for you." She stuttered out.
Naruto's head snapped up and he looked her in the eye, his own eyes widening in shock. "Really? Don't mess with me Gaara! It's not funny."
"I'm not messing with you idiot! Why would I think it would be funny anyways?" Gaara said, her blush deepening to a crimson color.
"So... what do we do now?" Naruto asked.
"I'm not sure... it's weird, because we're siblings... yet not siblings." Gaara said.
"Do you want to... ya know, go out?" Naruto somehow managed out.
"Ummm... I guess we could give it a try... But if it doesn't work out or seems weird, we WILL go back to how we were before today. Got it?" Gaara said.
"Totally! I couldn't agree more!" Naruto said, scratching his head. But he gained a blush again, before he quickly pecked Gaara on the cheek.
Gaara blushed just as deeply and then they both walked back out into the clearing. They walked, holding hands and talking, quickly transitioning to their normal types of conversation. When they reached the middle of the clearing, they heard a voice.
"Idiot! Don't you dare step on me!" They heard.
Both of them looked around but didn't see anyone. Naruto shrugged and took another step forward, stepping on something that made a large "Ow!". He and Gaara looked down to see a head sticking out of the ground. Sasuke's head!
"Dobe! I swear, the second I get out of this god forbidden hole, I'm going to kill you!" He yelled.
"Jeez, it seems the Uchiha can show some emotion." Naruto said, getting a giggle out of Gaara.
"Hn." Sasuke said, looking away from them.
"Kind of hard to be intimidating when you're just a head, isn't it? Besides, how could you fall for that?" Naruto said.
"Naruto-kun, I hate to mention it, but seriously? You fell for that more than once, that's why you don't like fighting with Tou-chan." Gaara said.
"Hey! That's not true!" Naruto said.
"Guys!" They heard yelled, and they turned to see a shock of pink hair coming from the trees. Sakura ran towards them, stumbling along the way, twigs and dirt in her hair.
"Oh thank god! Minato-sensei is a maniac!" She proclaimed as she raked her fingers through her hair to get the stuff out of it. She then looked at Naruto and Gaara, who were holding hands, fingers intertwined like a couple's, then noticed Sasuke's head was the only part of his body visible.
Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs and fainted, falling back onto the ground. The other just looked at each other and looked back at Sakura.
At that moment, Kakashi and Minato appeared in front of them, columns of smoke appearing before them. They both looked at the group of kids.
Minato narrowed his eyes at Gaara and Naruto holding hands, and then looked at Sakura and rolled his eyes. Kakashi just laughed when he saw Naruto and Gaara, making them glare at him, then looked at Sasuke and eye smiled.
"Ahh, still haven't gotten out of there yet huh?" He said.
"Shut up!" Sasuke growled.
"Well, since Sakura not only didn't get a bell, but is also unconscious, and Sasuke is unable to get out of his 'situation' and doesn't have a bell, they both fail." Minato said. "Gaara and Naruto, you two pass. Congratulations."
They woke Sakura up and got Sasuke out of the ground, and tied them both to a post. While Naruto and Gaara sat in between the two posts they were tied to, choosing to sit next to each other and their senseis stood in front of them.
"Now, Minato and I are very disappointed in you Sakura and Sasuke. You two will have one more chance to pass. After lunch, you will have another 2 hours to try to get the bells. Gaara and Naruto, you two will get to eat these lunches Minato prepared for you. Do not feed any to Sasuke or Sakura, they did not get the bells, so they do not get lunch. See you guys in a few!" Kakashi said, handing Naruto and Gaara lunches, then poofing away with Minato.
Naruto and Gaara looked at each other and blinked, hearing Sasuke and Sakura's stomachs growl. They smiled and each undid their bentos, and kneeled before their teammates.
"Sakura. Open your mouth." Gaara said.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because, if you want to pass, you need energy, and energy comes from food." Gaara said.
"But what about you?" She asked.
"I already passed, and don't worry, I brought my own lunch anyways. Come on, just eat." Gaara said, holding up a chopstick full of food.
"But Kakashi-sensei said-"
"I don't care what Kakashi-sensei said, what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Gaara said.
Sakura nodded and graciously accepted the food from Gaara, feeling a bit bad that she didn't like the girl just because she was close to her crush. The girl was nice enough to go against the rules just to help her out. She started to feel better about her teammate than before.
Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to get Sasuke to eat the food.
"Teme! Just eat!" Naruto yelled at the boy.
"Hell no! I'm not eating your pity food!" Sasuke yelled back.
"Eat the damn food!" Naruto yelled.
"I don't need your stupid food!" Sasuke yelled.
"Just swallow your pride and eat the food you idiot!" Naruto yelled.
"No way in hell!" Sasuke yelled.
"Teme! You're gonna eat the food and you're gonna like it!" Naruto yelled before forcing the food into Sasuke's mouth.
Once Gaara was done feeding Sakura and Sakura had told Gaara that she was sorry for her stupid prejudice against her, and asking her to forgive her, and asking if they could start fresh, to which Gaara said yes. And Naruto had finished force feeding Sasuke the whole lunch, making the poor boy almost throw up twice due to his gag reflex, Naruto and Gaara ate their own lunches.
After they were done, Kakashi and Minato appeared.
"You two!" Minato yelled, pointing at his own children. "We told you two not to give any food to your teammates, yet you did. You disobeyed orders that we had specifically given you."
"Tou-chan!" Naruto yelled back, standing up. "It's a stupid rule! We don't want our teammates to get hurt for no reason! Why should we let them do less than their best when we could give that to them?"
"Settle down! Settle down!" Kakashi said. "Now, since you directly disobeyed orders in favor of your teammates. You four all... PASS!"
"WHAAATTT!?" They all yelled.
"You four all pass." Minato said, smiling.
"But, why?" Sakura asked.
"Because, one man once taught me and Minato something we will never forget. 'Those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.' This test was about teamwork, and you were the first team since my team to actually pass." Kakashi said.
"So, all of you go on home and get ready for tomorrow, because tomorrow, we will have our first ever mission as Team 7. Be prepared!" Minato said.
The genin cheered and all started talking animatedly. Minato and Kakashi started talking to each other.
"So, how do you think they'll do tomorrow?" Minato asked.
"Who knows? I just hope they get to know the fun of catching Tora." Kakashi said, causing Minato to laugh.
"We'll see." Minato said looking at his new team, and he couldn't help but wonder. 'Will this team 7 turn out like the rest? Gaining the Team 7 curse?' He shook his head, no need to have bad thoughts. Kakashi and he would do their best to make sure none of that happened. He had high hopes for this team, and he just wanted them to succeed. 'Please let this team be different.' He thought.
Please.