You awoke the next morning, your head groggy & your limbs like lead.

'Urgh, Stupid sleeping pills' you complained as you stood up and your head spun, the effects would wear off in a couple of minutes but at the moment it felt like someone was hammering your skull & your blood had been replaced with lead. You walked into your bathroom, running the cold tap and splashing your face with the icy water. You straightened up, feeling slightly better, & did the rest of your morning routine. By the time you were ready the effects of the drug had almost completely worn off.

You left home without eating breakfast & walked to the training field, the longer you walked the clearer your head became. You saw three silhouettes standing in the middle of an opening and assumed they were your team mates, as you came closer they saw you.

'Oh look, she's finally decided to show up.' Sasuke said, rolling his eyes,

'As far as I'm concerned, if sensei's not here when I arrive then I'm not late.' you retorted.

'Who's late?' Said a voice behind you, you spun to see Kakashi,

'You!' Naruto complained

'Well sorry, a black cat crossed my path and I had to take another route.' he explained, as if it was a perfectly plausible reason, 'Anyway I have set this alarm to go off at noon, I have three bells, you have to try and get one before the alarm sounds, anyone who doesn't get one doesn't get lunch & will fail.' you rolled your eyes 'Did everyone here not have breakfast?' addressing you more than anyone else.

'No, I didn't' you replied sighing, the rest of them looked at you, puzzled, but you ignored them.

'Good! Just checking.' he said, his eyes creasing to show he was smiling.

'Wait, How are you expecting us to get a bell off you? You're a Jounin, we're only Genin.'

'That's your problem, not mine. but, one of you will end up not having lunch & failing, seeing as there aren't enough bells to go round, and if you fail, it's straight back to the ninja academy for you' he paused to let the words sink in, 'You may use any weapons, and if you want to beat me you're going to have to come at me to kill, otherwise none of you stand a chance'

'WHAT? But that's too dangerous!' Sakura said, worried.

'Yeh! especially since you couldn't even dodge an eraser' Naruto added, laughing, you smiled slightly at this.

'He does have a point' you said.

'The loudest ones are always the worst, always weak & stupid' Kakashi said in reply, directing his words at Naruto who glared and pulled out a kunai, you side stepped out of the way, seeing as you were between him & Kakashi. Once Naruto was past you he headed straight for Kakashi, who, in a single movement almost too fast to see, dodged & countered Naruto's attack.

'Not so fast, I didn't say go.' was all he said, looking completely under control.

You looked round at the others to see looks of awe on their faces, even on Sasuke's

'Wow Sasuke, you actually look impressed' you commented, grinning. His face snapped back to normal and he glared at you

'But you came at me as if to kill,' Kakashi continued as if you hadn't said anything, 'So that's a good start, Hmm, maybe, just maybe I'm starting to like this group, Now...ready, set, GO!'

Sasuke and Sakura jumped into the trees and, seeing as you couldn't do that, you dived into a nearby bush and moved from there. You climbed up into a tree which was full of leaves -perfect for hiding in. You moved so you were crouched on a branch, one hand on the trunk of the tree to steady yourself. You watched as Kakashi stood in the open, looking round, You saw an orange blob out of the corner of your eye and turned to see Naruto, standing in the open like an idiot.

'Come on sensei! You and me, right here, right now, a fair fight.'

'Erh, Naruto? Compared to the others you're acting a bit strange.' Kakashi pointed out.

'Strange? You can talk with half a face & morning encounters with Cats!' & with that he jumped at him, but stopped again as Kakashi reached a hand into his pocket, but he only pulled out a book, Naruto sweat dropped.

'WHAT THE HELL! WHY ARE YOU READING A BOOK!'

'To find out what happens in the story, isn't that why people normally read books? But just ignore it, seeing who I'm up against it won't really matter either way.'

'I'M GONNA BEAT YOU TO A PULP!' Naruto exclaimed and jumped at him again, he made several attempts at hitting him but missed every time

'NARUTO!' you called, but taking care to project your voice so Kakashi wouldn't be able to tell where it was coming from, "thank god for drama classes" you thought silently to yourself 'HE'S TRYING TO ANNOY YOU INTO MAKING A MISTAKE, DON'T FALL FOR IT!' Kakashi wasted no time in getting behind Naruto and nailing him in the butt so hard he went flying, but after that he straightened up looking around trying to find where you were hiding

'You shouldn't give your position away like that' he said, you didn't reply as you knew he was just trying to get you to talk again so he could pinpoint your location, you ignored him for awhile and instead tried to look for Sakura and Sasuke. You found Sakura first, you jumped down onto the floor, wincing as your feet hit the ground & you realised you were slightly higher up than you had thought. You rushed over to her, tapping her on the shoulder, she jumped & made a small noise from alarm.

'Don't scream' you warned her, she turned her head, and, noticing it was only you, relaxed, you continued, 'Listen, don't you think it's a bit ridiculous that we would have to defeat a Jounin? Especially seeing as we've only just graduated?'

'Yeh, I guess so.'

'Well, I think the whole point of this exercise is to check how well we work as a team.'

'Yeh, that makes sense.'

'Right, you stay here, I'm going to go find Sasuke & tell him, then I'll signal you and we'll all go out and attack him together, don't move from this spot'

'Got it' she replied, you nodded and crawled out from the bush, still keeping slightly bent until you were further away. You climbed up into another tree and tried to look for Sasuke, you saw Naruto hanging upside down from a tree & Kakashi standing in front of him, then you saw Kakashi falling to the ground as a wave of kunai hit him, you rushed over to the spot which the kunai had come from, but Sasuke was already gone.

'Shit' you swore under your breath, you threw another kunai to cut the rope Naruto was hanging from and saw that there was only a stump of wood where Kakashi's body should have been. Naruto landed and got caught in another trap, you heard a scream in the distance that sounded a lot like Sakura, you rolled your eyes, of course she had moved, probably as soon as she had seen Sasuke was in danger. You jumped down in front of Naruto, seeing as Kakashi was hopefully preoccupied elsewhere

'I'm not going to cut you down yet, stay there & once I start fighting Kakashi I'll cut you down at an appropriate time. When I do I'll need you to help me by making as many clones as you possibly can and attacking Kakashi from all angles, got it?'

'Erh, yeh' he said looking unsure,

'That will do, now I need to go find Sasuke, just wait here.'

You went off in the direction of the scream and saw Sasuke peering round a tree, you went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, motioning with a finger on your lips for him to be quite, he nodded, you whispered in a voice so quiet you yourself could hardly hear it.

'There is no way they'd ever expect us to beat a Jounin at our level, the whole point of this exercise is to test our skills at working in a team.'

He rolled his eyes at you, 'Maybe that's the case for you, but I'm stronger than any of you, I can take this loser.'

You sighed, but spun as you sensed a presence behind you.

'Say that once you have a bell Sasuke.'

'Kyouri, get out of my way' Sasuke said, standing in front of you now, you rolled your eyes, here we go.

'The power of the Uchiha clan, the strongest bloodline in Konohagakure, I'm looking forward to this.'

They both moved at the same time, you sighed and turned to face where Naruto should have been hanging, but he was gone, you sighed again, why couldn't anyone just listen to instructions?

You turned to see Sasuke almost grabbing one of the bells from Kakashi, you came at him from behind, throwing multiple kunais and jumping up into the air, extending your leg in a kick. Kakashi spun round just in time to block your attack, but had to release your leg as Sasuke came at him from the other side, your hand shot out and you grabbed one of the bells, he gasped and pulled out a kunai, scraping it along your hand causing you to loosen your hold, the bell clattered to the floor. Sasuke dived for it at the same time as Kakashi, you waited until Kakashi was going too fast to stop then quickly charged straight into him, it knocked the breath out of you, but you managed to slow him long enough for Sasuke to grab the bell. Kakashi quickly got you in an arm lock and held a kunai to your throat.

'Sasuke, hand over the bell or I'll kill her.' Kakashi's voice was deadly serious but you saw through his lie.

'Don't, he wouldn't, in fact he can't.' you said hurriedly

'You wanna bet?' he ran the kunai lightly over your neck, just enough to draw blood, you felt him pause for a second and remembered the cut that had been carved onto your neck in the ally. Sasuke tightened his grip on the bell, his gaze flicking from your face, to Kakashi's, to the kunai

'Think about it seriously Sasuke, he's a jounin of this village, He can't kill someone from his own village, that's against the law.' Sasuke relaxed slightly but grew tense as Kakashi next spoke.

'Who says I'm not a rouge ninja?'

'Because A. you would have killed us straight off and B. What reason would you have for betraying the village and killing innocent people?'

'People don't always need a good reason to betray their village, or kill innocent people, Do they Sasuke?' Sasuke glared at him with such hatred that you were actually slightly scared, 'You're not going to let another person die are you Sasuke, Uchiha' Sasuke glared at the floor

'Sasuke! Listen to me! He's playing with your head, I have no idea what he's talking about but don't listen to him!'

Sasuke looked at you, then the bell, then Kakashi and finally the kunai against your neck. He nodded once

'Just go! Go help Sakura & Naruto, trust me, he won't kill me.' you assured him, he nodded and jumped off.

'Are you really sure I'm not going to kill you? Or did you just say that to save Sasuke?'

'Honestly? I have no idea whether you're going to kill me or not, But if you were really a rouge ninja, why would you be interested in our lunch anyway?'

'Good point, maybe I was just testing him to see if he believed me or not & then I would have killed you anyway?'

'Maybe, but in that case you'd probably have then killed Sasuke and hey, one life lost is better than two right?'

He laughed and let you go, 'You seem to be the only one who has understood the true meaning of this test, You were even prepared to sacrifice yourself to save your team mate, very good. But, though you tried to make the rest of them listen to you they still felt like doing things by themselves, their own way.'

You just stood there, looking at the laughing man before you who had threatened to kill you a second ago, you sighed and ran a hand through your hair, 'God, being a ninja sure is stressful.'

'Does that mean you still don't trust me because I threatened to kill you?'

'duh' you replied to this

'Then that is good! Never trust a previous enemy or stranger immediately.'

You nodded your head, looking down at the floor, then, acting so quickly he shouldn't have had time to move, you thrust out your hand and grabbed hold of the rest of the bells, but Kakashi grabbed your wrist, twisting it round, you tightened your grip even though his hand was pulling at the cut he had made earlier and it stung like hell.

'Another thing' he said through gritted teeth as you were both struggling to get the bells, 'What's with that strange scar on your neck'

'Oh that? I just fell over and cut myself.' you lied

'Uh-huh? And that's why it's shaped very carefully like a cloud?'

'It was on a biscuit cutter shaped like a cloud' you said, lamely improvising

'How did you manage to fall on it so perfectly that it cut a perfect cloud?'

'Just luck I guess, or chance, whatever. It's no big deal.'

'Hmm' he said, kicking out his leg, it connected painfully with your stomach, but you still refused to let go of the bells, 'Persistent aren't we?' he said as you tried once again to pull your arm out of his grip.

You didn't bother replying, instead you reached into your back pocket and tried to grab a kunai, but Kakashi saw you and grabbed your other arm. Your lip twitched in annoyance but an idea suddenly struck you; You closed your eyes, widening your senses & looking with your "vision". You could feel the chakra in Kakashi's body, you could feel the point of the kunai in your pocket, you slowly lifted it up and-

'RRRRRRRING!' the bell sounded somewhere in the distance, in your surprise you opened your eyes and let go of the technique.

'Time's up.'

You glared at him and let go of the bells,

'Well, If you'll excuse me I have to go stop Naruto.' he said and disappeared in a puff of smoke

'What is it with ninja's and smoke?' you asked yourself out loud, then sighed again and began to walk back to the three tree stumps. When you arrived you saw Naruto tied to one of them & Sakura & Sasuke sitting either side of him, Sasuke still had the bell clenched tightly in his hand. As you approached Kakashi turned round to look at you.

'Oh good, Everyone's here,' he paused while you went to sit down next to Sakura, seeing as she would have killed you if you'd sat next to Sasuke. 'Now, who's going to keep the bell and pass?' he asked, looking at Sasuke. Sakura turned to him in shock, obviously she hadn't known he'd gotten a bell.

'Sasuke! You're soo amazing! How did you ever get a bell?' She asked, though you could tell she was worrying about something, Sasuke glared at her, then at you, then back at the bell again. Sakura looked at you confused, 'Wait? Sasuke did get a bell, didn't he?'

'Yeh, he is holding it, duh.' you replied, looking towards the bell in Sasuke's hand,

'Well yeh, but...' she trailed off, not sure what to say

'So, who's it going to be?' Kakashi asked

'Well, whoever got the bell should keep it, shouldn't they?' Sakura began, 'But maybe none of us should get it and we should just try again next yea-' she stopped herself as Sasuke turned to glare at her again, 'Or not' she finished

'Ok, whoever got the bell should pass, is that right?' Kakashi asked, looking at all of you.

None of you said anything.

'Ok, what about this, let's say you got all three bells, who wouldn't get a bell?' Kakashi asked, looking at Sasuke again, who avoided his eyes

'Well, It should be Naruto!' Sakura exclaimed, 'He cheated!' Sasuke nodded.

'True, what do you think Kyouri?'

'If we got all three bells, then I wouldn't take one, 'cos I never wanted to be a ninja, whereas that's all you guys know & want' The other three looked at you surprised, you rolled your eyes, 'What? It's not that amazing.' They looked back at the floor again, 'Anyway, they all deserve it more than I do; they've been training all their lives.'

'Hmm, that may be true, and yet, you're the only one I would pass.' Kakashi continued, not looking at any of you, you sighed as you knew he'd been about to say that.

Sasuke glared at you, Naruto & Sakura looked confused.

'That's not fair!' Naruto said, 'We should all pass! We all tried our best'

'Mm, but you missed the point of the exercise!'

'Huh? I thought it was just to get the bells?' Naruto asked, and the others nodded

'Idiots! Do you really expect we'd put a Genin up against a Jounin? Why do you think you were put into three or four man cells?' Kakashi replied, exasperation in his voice.

'I don't know! How should we know why you chose that?'

'Isn't it obvious? Teamwork! Naruto; you do everything by yourself! Sasuke; you thought you were too good for the others! Sakura; You fixated yourself with Sasuke and completely ignored Naruto who was right in front of you!' he paused to glare at them 'The only one who tried to work as a team was Kyouri! And Sakura, when she told you to stay put you went running off after Sasuke! Naruto, you ignored her and decided to try and eat everyone's lunch by yourself! Sasuke, you dismissed her advice even after she explained why! You honestly thought you could beat me by yourself?' Sasuke glared at the floor, 'And when I threatened to kill her you refused to give me the bell, you would have sacrificed someone else's life just so you could pass some test?'

'I wouldn't have let you kill her! She told me you wouldn't kill her, and you didn't!' Sasuke retorted, anger suddenly high in his voice, death was obviously a touchy subject for him, you wondered why.

'She only said that so, in case I was going to kill her, you wouldn't get killed as well, isn't that right Kyouri?' Kakashi replied smoothly, turning to you. You nodded your head and the others stared at you.

'You'd have risked your life to save me?' Sasuke asked, staring at you, the normal hatred that was there when he looked at you had gone, replaced with an empty confusion.

'Well, yeh. I guess. But if he was trying to kill me, he would have done so either way, whether you'd run off of not.'

Sasuke glared at the floor again, but just before he broke eye contact you saw some long buried memory playing behind his eyes. Ok, death & running away, what had happened in his past to make him react so much to those two things?

'So then Sasuke, who's going to get the bell?' Kakashi asked again, looking at him, Sasuke's grip tightened on the bell and his eyes narrowed as he stared at the floor, eventually he relaxed 'None of us.' he relented, defeated. He tossed the bell at Kakashi who caught it.

'WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Naruto exclaimed outraged, Sasuke glared at him and he shut up.

'Kyouri, you weren't perfect either. You'd have been far better off if you'd kept everyone with you; a team works best as a team, and for that to happen you need to work together. You should have explained your full plan to everyone, rather than just keep it to yourself. That way, if you got captured or killed, the rest of the team could still complete the mission.' Kakashi pointed out. You nodded. 'Hm, Well after lunch I'll give you another three hours to get the remaining bells. You can keep this one.' he said, throwing the bell back at Sasuke who caught it again. 'It will be harder, so eat up. And no-one is to feed Naruto, if anyone does then that person will automatically fail.' with that he disappeared again.

'Fine! I can go without food for days, Weeks if I need to!' Naruto said defiantly but his face fell as his stomach growled.

'Here Naruto, have mine' Sasuke said, holding out his lunch to Naruto

'No! Sasuke! What are you doing? Kakashi sensei sai-' Sakura started

'I know what he said, But if Naruto is weak & hungry then the team is weak, & if the team is weak then we won't get the bells'

Sakura looked at the floor then held up her lunch to Naruto, 'No, have my lunch. Sasuke eats more than me & I'm on a diet anyway' she said, smiling at him.

'S-Sakura?' Naruto stuttered out

'Just take it!'

'I can't, my hands are tied. You'll have to feed me.'

'Grrr! Naruto!" Sakura burst out, fire burning in her eyes

'Just do it! Kakashi could come back any second' Sasuke warned.

'Fine, but this is the only time I'll ever do this! You got it!'

'Yeh I got it' Naruto replied, smiling all over his face, Sakura began to put food in his mouth. You sighed, and, grabbing one more rice ball from your own lunch, pushed it in front of Sakura, she looked down at it questioningly.

'Have it, I'm stuffed'

'But-' she began but you cut her off

'If you've been on a diet then chances are you're hungrier than the rest of us, and I normally skip breakfast anyway.' you replied truthfully. You took a bite into your rice ball and almost choked on it as there was a crack of thunder and Kakashi appeared, glaring at all of you.

'YOU! You all disobeyed my orders! Now, you must pay the PRICE!' He said dramatically

'Yes we disobeyed your orders! But we did it because Naruto needs to eat if the team is going to be strong, if we want to beat you!' You turned your head to look at Sasuke. Sakura nodded her head and you turned round to look at Kakashi too.

'Is that so! WELL ANY LAST WORDS?' He asked, thunder clouds grouped round his head and there was a flash of lightening, 'BECAUSE YOU ALL...' he paused 'have passed' he finished, smiling at all of you, you sweat dropped.

'Huh?' Sakura asked as the storm clouds cleared,

'You all passed' Kakashi repeated, still smiling.

'But, I don't understand'

'Every group of ninja before you have listened to my orders, they were unable to think for themselves. Ninja have to find the hidden meanings behind the hidden meaning & see through deception'

'WOOOT! I'M A NINJA! NINJA, NINJA, NINJAAAAAAA!' Naruto sang, beaming from ear to ear.

'WHEY!' Sakura said, jumping up

'Hn' Sasuke said smiling. You smiled at all of them, they were a bunch of stuck up, arrogant or boy mad imbeciles, but maybe they weren't all bad. Maybe.