Harry arrived at the training grounds at 5am belly full of cereal. The sun had not yet risen but the sky was beginning to lighten allowing him to see where he was going as he made his way to the training grounds. Sasuke and Sakura arrived at the same time he did but from different directions. They met in the middle but none of them said anything, they just stood or sat on the grass waiting for their teacher to arrive.

The sun had already risen and was almost halfway across the sky before Kakashi bothered to arrive. Harry decided that in the future he was going to carry a book on him so he could at least do something useful with his time. Time, which his sensei seemed determined to waste.

"Good morning," Kakashi said in a flat voice raising his hand in greeting.

"You're late," he and Sakura both said at the same time, though Saskura was louder.

"A black cat crossed my path, so…let's move on," the jounin said.

He crossed his arms and scowled at the jounin not willing to respond to such an awkward excuse. It was pathetic and lacked imagination. Kakashi took out a small alarm clock and placed it on a tree stump.

"Today's task is to get one of these bells from me. Whoever can't will have no lunch," in his hand he held a pair of silver bells.

He was happy he had decided to ignore Kakashi's orders not to have breakfast. While the others fought hungry he was at full strength. As if to prove his point Sakura's stomach suddenly growled loud enough he could hear it from where he stood two feet away.

"What?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"I'm going to tie you there, and eat lunch in front of you," their sensei told her pointing to the stump that the alarm was sitting on and the two on either side.

"Why are there only two bells?" he asked sensing a trick somewhere.

"Since there's only two, at least one of you will have to be tied to the log," Kakashi said his only visible eye crinkling, "That person will fail because in not getting a bell they didn't complete the mission."

He narrowed his eyes, "What happens to the person who doesn't get a bell?"

"They will go back to the Academy," Kakshi jingled the bells in his hand for emphasis on the point.

He smiled, an idea already forming. He had a way to get the bell without fighting for it, though he still wanted to see if he could win it. Luckily, that is what shadow clones were made for. He could be in multiple places at once.

"You can use your weapons. You won't be able to get a bell unless you have the will to kill me," one black eye made contact with two green.

"But that's too dangerous, sensei," Sakura protested.

If he had to guess she would be the one going back to the academy. In fact he was sure of it. Sasuke despite his personality issues was talented.

Not wanting to appear as moody as Sasuke he decided to taunt Kakshi. "This should be easy, he couldn't even dodge a chalkboard eraser."

"In society, those who don't have many abilities tend to complain more. Just ignore the guy with the lowest score," Kakashi brushed him off.

That hurt. He was glad he had learnt at a young age how to hide what he was feeling. He made sure his face was completely blank aside from the slight narrowing of his eyes.

'Maybe you should be more careful, you set yourself up for that,' he shrugged the fox off, the hurt would only help to fuel his clone's wishing. Now he wanted those bells more than ever.

"We'll start after I say, go," Kakashi paused, "Go."

Harry quickly leaped into the forest trying to get as far from Kakashi as possible. He knew the forests well from his evenings training. He split himself into four. One clone he sent to watch Sakura, the second to watch Sasuke. The third he sent to hide in the best spot it could find and set it to wishing very hard for the bells. Then, he walked back out of the woods to test himself against Kakashi directly. He wanted to know how his skill compared to a jounin. Being entirely self taught it was important for him to find out how his skills might compare to those who were taught properly by the academy teachers.

Kakashi looked around the training field pausing when his eye landed on Harry who was standing in the open.

"Aren't you a little weird compared to the rest?" Kakashi asked seeming disappointed.

He shrugged, "You can think what you want."

He ran toward Kakashi with purpose but there was still quite a bit of distance between them. Kakashi seemed to be bored and reached into his weapons pouch.

"Shinobi tactic number one, taijutsu. I'll teach you that first," Kakashi pulled out a dirty romance novel.

He paused frowning at the book. He refused to have anything in common with Kakashi-sensei and so he would not be brining a book with him when they went on missions. He would think of something else. Perhaps he would meditate, that would help him to focus and improve his wishing success. As it was he was only successful about 70% of the time. He certainly would never be caught with a book like that, period, and especially not in public. His nose crinkled like he smelt something rotten.

"What's the matter? Come and get me," the jounin had begun to read the book in his hand, "don't worry it's the same whether I read this or not."

He ground his teeth silently. He knew he was being underestimated. He knew he could use it to his advantage so he shouldn't rise to the bait. It was not a bad thing he told himself firmly, trying to believe it. But he would be lying if he said it didn't make his blood boil.

'If I helped you, we could take him easily,' the fox said as he began to leak some of his chakra beyond the cage.

The power of the red chakra was very tempting, but he didn't want to rely on others. He needed to know that he was able to protect and fight for himself. He needed to measure how far behind or ahead he really was.

'I appreciate the offer but I will have to decline. I am testing my strength today, not ours.'

The fox chuckled but the red chakra seeped back behind the bars of the cage, 'Don't cry to me if you fail.'

Once the chakra was all gone he ran toward Kakashi pushing his chakra into his fist as he went. He went for a punch to the sensei's face but his fist was blocked by Kakashi's palm. Though he did cause Kakashi's palm to be pushed back an inch. He followed up with a roundhouse kick once again pushing chakra into where his body would connect with Kakashi. They clashed for a few more minutes but every kick and punch was blocked by Kakshi. He was so focused on trying to land a hit that he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings. Suddenly, he found himself flying through the air over the riverbank.

The water was freezing. It was a shock to his system but brought back his focus. The mission was the bells. He needed to think more like a shinobi. He needed to get the bells not land a hit on Kakashi. Power in numbers was the best strategy he could think of. He quickly brought his hands together into the sign for shadow clones. Once the shadow clones were surrounding him in the water he took out a pair of shuriken and threw them toward the shhifting shape he identified as Kakashi standing on the bank.

He didn't expect the weapons to work but he really needed a distraction so he could climb out of the river. He coughed a little as he pulled himself onto shore. He may have been pushing how long he was able to hold his breath. He glanced up to see that Kakashi had indeed caught the shuriken he had thrown at him.

"What's wrong? You won't get any lunch if you don't get a bell by noon," he glared at Kakashi, no one asked for his input.

He sent a mental signal toward the clones in the river. The clones used chakra to their feet to jump from the water and headed straight for Kakashi. While Kakashi was distracted he ran faster than he had ordered the clones to run in order to get behind Kakashi. He attacked the jounin jumping up onto his back. Just as Kakashi noticed the weight on his back the other clones reached Kakashi distracting him. From behind his back he used a combination of the transformation and substitution justsu and replaced the bells with a transformed kunai, meanwhile the bells were transformed into the kunai he had in his hand.

With a mental order he released the clone that had been wishing. In his moment of distraction Kakashi used the substitution technique to swap with a clone but it didn't matter because the bells were his. Rather than tell the sensei that he had the bells he pretended to fail. He wasn't sure if Kakashi was allowed to take them back but he was sure he couldn't stop him if he tried. He released the clones surrounding him and looked for Kakashi. He was no longer in the clearing.

He glanced around to make sure there were no surprises waiting and something shiny caught his eye from beneath one of the trees. There was a bell sitting on the ground in the open. Because he already had the bells he knew it was a trap but, he was curious how the others would rise to the challenge of retrieving the bells and so allowed himself to be caught.

"Use your techniques while thinking carefully. Otherwise, they will be used to your disadvantage," the bell turned into a rock with a small puff of smoke, "Also, don't fall for such an obvious trap, stupid. Shinobi need to think beyond the normal."

"I already know that," he pouted, 'and used it to great success, stupid.'

If only he could say what he wanted aloud. Inside his mind the fox was laughing and he had never felt so smug.

"I'm telling you this because you don't, got it?" the sensei was in full lecture mode, he sighed having no choice but to listen, "Your movements are filled with unnecessary motions. You're so…"

From behind Kakashi a mixture of shuriken and kunai came flying through the trees. He knew it would be from Sasuke because Sakura was only good at the written work.

Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a wooden log. He looked around and saw that Kakashi hadn't reentered the clearing meaning he was off with Sasuke and Sakura. He swung from the rope to gain some momentum. He grabbed his legs with a grunt of effort and pulled himself up so he could cut himself down. As he fell he twisted so that he would land on his feet but they were still tied together. He landed wrong and fell back on the ground hard. He felt like his bottom was going to be bruised when he wok up tomorrow. He took the kunai he had used to cut himself down and cut off the ropes keeping his feet together. He took the opportunity to spread his legs out and leaned back on his arms looking at the sky. He couldn't think of anything better to do while he waited for the others to fail.

'Oops!' he suddenly realized that he had made a mistake.

He sat up quickly and put his head in his hands, "I'm so stupid."

He realized he wouldn't be able to reveal the bells as soon as he had planned because that wasn't even the point of the test. Why would any jounin think a genin could get something off of them? The truth was that they couldn't, not alone at least. They were meant to come together as a team and they had failed. He had failed to divine the true purpose so set on proving his own worth. He groaned into his hands. He really hoped there was a way to salvage his chances. Though given he technically passed the verbal challenge even if they don't pass as a team he was sure there would be a team he could join. Shinobi did die on missions all the time.

It was also a fact that Sasuke was doted on in the village. Would the Hokage risk not letting him pass? And he was a jinchūriki, surely they would prefer he be a shinobi under their control than a regular civilian who could come and go as he pleased. He nodded to himself, he was sure there would be a second chance to pass the teamwork test. Now that he felt better, he got up and dusted off his pants wincing a little at the pain in his behind.

He heard Sakura scream from Somewhere behind him. He looked toward the forest as he received memories from the clone he had used to watch Sakura. She had been placed into a genjutsu while running around trying to find Sasuke as though she would be able to do anything even if she had found him. 'Pathetic.'

He was bored waiting around for the others to come back. He decided to explore the training area a little as this training ground was one the academy had never used. Feeling a little hungry now that it was almost noon he decided to see if he could find the lunches Kakashi had promised anyone who got the bells. He did technically get the bells so one of them was his.

He found the lunches sitting on a stone memorial just beyond a thin line of trees. Reading the names he noticed several were from recognizable shinobi clans. It was a memorial to fallen shinobi. He bowed his head respectfully and picked up one of the lunches. Just as he was about to open it the memories from his last clone gave him the memories of Sasuke's defeat. But with Sasuke now also defeated he put the lunch back down and tried to look innocent knowing Kakashi-sensei would be on his way back.

The alarm went off signalling it was noon. He let Kakashi tie him to the middle stump even though it was unfair. He had already figured there would be a second part to the test, giving them a second chance to pass. As he was being secured to the stump he felt his skin crawling with unease. He hated to be put in a position of vulnerability that he hadn't orchestrated himself, after all if it was his idea he had a way out and was never truly vulnerable. It didn't help that none of the others had done anything to earn his trust or goodwill.

After he had tied him up Kakashi had gone back into the forest and brought the other two over who were now seated on the ground in front of the other two stumps.

"I hear your stomachs growling," Kakashi said even though it was really only Sakura's, "By the way, the results of today's training is that none of you need to return to the academy."

The jounin paused to let what he said sink in. Sakura started to celebrate while Sasuka had a smug expression he was dong nothing to hide. But he knew it wasn't that easy, they had failed, he was sure of it. He let confusion he didn't feel show on his face as he looked at Kakashi.

"You three, should quit being shinobi," as expected they had not passed.

"Why do you say we should quit being shinobi?" he asked, still playing up his confusion, "We didn't get a bell but we didn't do that horrible, did we?"

"It's because you three are just kids who don't deserve to be shinobi," Sasuke ran to attack Kakashi and was promptly defeated, "See? You're just kids."

"Don't step on Sasuke-kun," Sakura yelled almost crying.

He rolled his eyes at her, a real enemy wouldn't listen to your crying so why bother. They would in fact hurt Sasuke more to prove a point if she yelled like that to a real enemy. If you cannot back up your words with your actions, do not speak. Simple. It was a lesson he had learnt the hard way while dealing with the villagers growing up.

"Do you guys think being a shinobi is easy? Why do you think we're training by breaking up into groups?" Kakashi seemed genuinely angry, even so, he wished he would stop lumping him in with the other two.

'Then why don't you show him the bells?' the fox supplied.

'Because I would still fail. Weren't you listening to me earlier,' he snapped back.

'Then stop complaining, it's annoying. I was having a nap.'

'Then go back to sleep.'

"In other words, you three don't understand the answer of this test. Are your brains all empty. Can you really not understand why you're all in a group?" the other two looked shocked at what he was saying but still seemed like they didn't have a clue, "Teamwork."

"You mean, cooperate with each other?" Sakura asked as though it was a concept she had never considered before.

"That's right. But it's too late even if you notice it now. If all three of you came at me at once, maybe you could have gotten a bell. But that's too bad," the jounin said standing to his full height.

"Why do we need to use teamwork when there's only two bells. If three people work hard to get it, one person will have to go back to the academy. A group conflict will occur instead of teamwork," Sakura complained thinking the test was unfair.

"Of course. This test tries to put you three against each other. In this situation, we select those who can prioritize teamwork before themselves. That was the purpose, but all of you were pathetic," his eye moved to land on Sakura.

"Sakura, you cared more about Sasuke than Hadrian, even though Hadrian was right in front of you and you didn't know where Sasuke was. Hadrian, all you did was work on your own. And you Sasuke, assumed that those two were only going to burden you and did everything yourself," Kakashi looked at each of them as he reprimanded them about their actions during the test.

"Missions are done in groups. It's true that shinobi need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important. An individual action that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or even death for the teammates. For example," Kakashi pulled a kunai from his pouch and placed it at Sasuke's neck, "Sakura, kill Hadrian or Sasuke will die. That's what will happen."

Kakashi removed the kunai from Sasuke's throat and let him up. Harry felt concerned as he looked at Sakura. She had seemed so surprised when Kakashi made his request. He was sure he had seen her hand twitch toward her weapons pouch before she stopped herself. His eyes narrowed but he chose to ignore it for now, though he wouldn't forget it.

"After getting someone taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision, and someone will die. In every mission, you put your life on the line," the jounin walked over to the memorial stone, "Look at this stone. All these names are those praised as heroes in this village. But they are not normal heroes, they are those who have died while on missions for the village. The names of my friends are carved here as well."

He felt bad for Kakashi. He sounded so sad when he spoke of his friends' names being on the stone. He wondered if he had been partially responsible given how passionate this subject seemed to make him. His speech had been long but looking over to the others it seemed it had been effective. They both looked thoroughly chastised with their heads bowed.

Then the moment he had waited for came, "I'll give you one more chance. However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher after lunch. Eat lunch only if you are up to the challenge, but do not let Hadrian eat."

"Why can't I eat lunch?" he asked angry that he was being singled out when they had all failed.

"This is your punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat lunch early. If anyone feeds him, that person will immediately fail," with his warning given Kakashi walked off.

He felt shocked, at first, but then saw the trick. The only question was whether his so called teammates could figure it out as well. As the others sat down and began eating without even looking in his direction he began to doubt it. He felt this test was flawed as it did not require any acknowledgement of teamwork on his part, only Sasuke and Sakura needed to show they were willing to work as a team.

He decided to give them a little push, "I'll be fine even if I don't eat."

The other two paused in their eating. Sasuke was the first to get it and glanced up at him before holding up his lunch. Harry looked at the lunch and then Sasuke in disbelief. He was tied to the stump, how exactly was Sasuke expecting him to eat it?

"Sasuke, sensei just said that we would fail if Hadrian eats," Sakura cut in panicked and clueless.

"Don't worry. I don't sense him nearby," Sasuke soothed her, "We three are going to get the bells together. It will only trouble us if he's hungry."

They were speaking like he wasn't even there. He rolled his eyes at the sky wondering what he had done to deserve this. Sakura held out her lunch box for him to eat as well. They both seemed to have forgotten that his hands were literally tied.

"Thank you, but I can't move my hands," he stated the obvious.

"Hurry, we don't know when Kakashi will be back," Sasuke seemed annoyed at her despite the fact that he too had forgotten.

Sakura looked pained as she used her chopsticks to bring a mouthful of rice to his mouth, "I'm only going to do this once. You understand?"

He wished he could roll his eyes, "I understand."

He ate the mouthful of rice just as Kakashi poofed back into the clearing.

"You three," he yelled, "You broke the only rule. Are you prepared for the punishment?"

Kakashi completed the hand signs for a jutsu so quickly it was impossible to follow. Suddenly, the whole sky darkened, "Any last words?"

He remained silent.

Sasuke jumped in, "We're a three man team."

Sakura was quick to agree with Sasuke as always, "Yeah, we three are one."

"You three are one, eh?" Kakashi said walking closer.

The sky was still ominously dark behind him as he loomed over them. It was intimidating to be so vulnerable, he couldn't help but swallow nervously hoping he hadn't misread things.

The jounin's eye crinkled suddenly, "You pass!"

"We pass?" Sakura said shocked.

"In the world of shinobi, those who break the rules are called trash. But those who do not take care of their teammates are even worse than trash. The training ends here, you all pass. Our first official mission will be tomorrow."

Sakura began to celebrate loudly. Sasuke was actually smiling. He felt accomplished which reminded him that he still had the bells.

"You can all go home," Kakashi said as he started to leave.

"Kakashi-sensei," he called out before the jounin got too far away. Were they really just going to leave him?

Sakura and Sasuke continued walking home. Kakashi turned back and untied him assuming that was why he called out.

"Sensei, before I forget," he reached into his weapons pouch and brought out the transformed bells.

He hung the kunai from his index finger by the hole in the end of the handle and released the transformation jutsu with a puff of smoke. The bells that were on Kakashi's belt also poofed into smoke and a kunai was left on his belt in their place. He smiled at his sensei who was shocked speechless.

"I thought you might like these back," he dropped the bells wondering if Kakashi would be able to catch them despite his shock.

"Why did you wait to return them?" he asked catching them just before they hit the ground.

"Because I did figure out the point of the test," he looked his sensei in the eyes, "I told you when we met, I dislike people who judge a person before they know them."

He walked away without looking back at his new sensei.