Growing up

Sasuke and Sakura had remained in silence for a good while since Naruto abandoned them. In many ways they were reflections of each other, but there were just as many inversions to be found. Sakura's worn clothes and bandaged features were a stark contrast to Sasuke's seemingly brand new attire and unmarked complexion. Yet they both appeared so very despondent at that time.

They both knew what it was they had to do if they wanted to get through this exam successfully. But reconciliation was never an easy thing, especially when a relationship of conflict was all the two of them had ever had. Four years of rivalry against three of barely knowing one another. To go back from all that would be the same as acting as if they'd never met at all. If only there wasn't so much bitterness in the way.

It was funny in a sense. Sasuke had often heard tales of school dramas, where a boy and a girl enter into a relationship that becomes the talk of all their peers. He hadn't taken long to realise his position in the academy by way of student politics, so he had always wondered if he would ever get caught up in such drama. But he'd never expected the kind of connection with the female counterpart to be one of a purely antagonistic nature.

Sakura lightly kicked some loose dirt at her feet, distracting herself with the small cloud stirred up by her motion. She didn't like to think at moments like this. She'd always seen problems of a social nature as trivial and not worth the time or effort it would take to try and resolve them. It was so much easier to just push the troubling person out of your life and get back to what really mattered.

"We're wasting time." She muttered. "We have to settle things and convince Uzumaki before he gets us all failed."

Sasuke could barely give out a breath of response. He was well aware of their situation, and Sakura was as guilty of delaying progress as he was. Why couldn't she be girly at least once and get things moving along? He might feel a little more willing if it didn't have to be him who initiated the heart to heart.

The sound of Sakura's heel hitting the tree behind her in a constant beat was maddening. Was that all she intended to do after verbally pressing the matter at hand?!

Then it stopped. "I don't know what to do." Sakura confessed.

Sasuke's head dropped to his chest. Of course she didn't. In five years she had rarely spoken a word to anyone if it wasn't an instructor asking her to answer a question or repeat something she'd studied. Whereas Sasuke had maintained a constant stream of social activity throughout that entire duration. If there was anyone between the two of them that had a chance of getting the ball rolling, it was obviously him.

And so with a twinge of unease he opened up his mouth. "If I had to guess, I'd say the first step would be to clear the air." he straightened himself up and stared out into the trees, his hands buried in his pockets. "If we're going to work together we can't have underlying issues that we keep to ourselves. We can't be passive aggressive with each other."

He turned his head to see what Sakura thought of his suggestion. He was immediately flustered when he saw her round green eyes watching him, listening intently. "Ok." She agreed. "What's next?"

Unable to keep up the eye contact, Sasuke quickly looked away, rubbing a reddening neck at the same time. "N-next… we have to get past the petty things. Forget about the worthless stuff that made us mad at each other in the academy. It's not like we're in that same situation anymore, so there's no reason to continue to hate each other over the little details."

"…Is that it?"

Sasuke's brow twitched. Sakura wasn't making this easy. "No. I think after all that negative stuff is out of the way we should try and replace it with the positive." Of this he was feeling most nervous, but he knew it to be true. "Then when all that's done, we do our best from here on out to show each other our better sides… that's all I got."

It was embarrassing to put all that out there. Sasuke knew before he'd even mentioned such actions that he was condemning himself to follow through. He couldn't back out of his own idea now, could he?

After a moment of thought Sakura nodded her head and bounced to her feet, putting herself directly in front of Sasuke. "Ok then, you go first." She stated. But then she coolly added. "Show me how it's done."

Sasuke missed none of the warning in her invitation. He knew that however far he went with the negative, Sakura would do her best to match him, if not surpass him. That was why they couldn't chance reducing this conversation down to spouting verbal assaults at each other. In order to avoid that, Sasuke had to put his best foot forward and count on Sakura to do the same. With that in mind he was able to build up the courage to look Sakura in the eye as he began the proceedings.

"You're hostile to everyone you meet. If you're not being confrontational with people, you treat them like they're not even worth acknowledging."

Sakura winced. That was a harsh thing to say. Harsher because she knew it to be true. But she kept her mouth shut and didn't interrupt.

"You always show up looking like someone's been beating you. But when anyone tries to care you shove them away and treat them like idiots for ever giving a crap about you."

That time Sakura couldn't help but look away. She hadn't been expecting to hear those kinds of things at a time like this, not from someone like Sasuke. It was difficult to listen to.

"All you had to do was walk in the room to bring the mood down." Sasuke too had trouble looking Sakura's way. It was one thing to fight verbally with someone, but another to say things like this. "Eventually everybody learned to ignore you and move on. But the two of us were pushed together because I was the only one who could compete with you. Ignoring you was never an option for me. So I hated you instead."

That was all he could bring himself to say. He didn't regret saying those things, but that wasn't to say he was relieved having gotten them off his chest. As a result of having been in frequent contact with her, he'd inadvertently come to know her more than anyone else did. That wasn't to say he really knew anything about why she was the way she was. But there was something in her solitude that was familiar to him.

"You remind me of my brother."

The instant those words left his lips he wished he'd kept silent. Sakura's attention was brought to him again, curiosity mixing with the other emotions she'd accumulated from having listened to Sasuke for the past couple of minutes.

"He was the pride of the Uchiha. Everyone in my clan saw a bright future after my father's retirement, knowing Itachi would take his place. But some things happened a while back. It looked like the clan had turned their back on him, and he'd turned his back on them." he began to look depressed. "And me as well."

His words carried off with the stirring of the wind. Sakura could no longer hold her steel against him, try though she might. They were both beginning to feel truly uncomfortable, Sakura wishing as much that she hadn't heard that as Sasuke wished he hadn't said it. A small part of both of them wanted to go back to the way things were an hour ago, so long as it wasn't now.

"I-I've never said that to anyone before." Sasuke murmured, reddening as he left his step into himself and returned to the here and now. He had to move on for the sake of both of them moving on. For that, he steadied himself and met Sakura again with a touchy smile. "Don't tell anybody alright?"

Sakura seemed a little distracted, but she gave Sasuke a tiny nod. "I promise."

Giving her word made Sasuke breathe a little easier. He took a few seconds to collect himself again, and then carried on with what he was saying. "Despite the way things were between us, I could see how hard it was for you to get to where you are now." he was less cautious with his words, but just as embarrassed as before. "I was mad about you overtaking me at first, but then I realised. You managed to become stronger and smarter than everyone in the class without a single advantage given to you. All that hard work and perseverance…" he gave a small laugh. "I know I've never tried that hard at anything in my life. I guess beneath all that other stuff… I respected that about you."

His words hit Sakura harder than the wind, leaving her with a slight gape to her lips and surprise stretched across her face. Never in her life had she ever expected to hear such a thing come out of the mouth of Uchiha Sasuke. Neither had she heard such a thing from anyone other than the instructors of the academy. It was the first time in five years that anyone had praised her without using her as an example for others. It was… it was…

Feeling her face growing hot Sakura quickly looked away with a glare not aimed at Sasuke, but at herself. She pushed aside the thought she was about to have out of fear of what it might do to her. It was hard, but she kept it at bay. Now wasn't the time or the place, and the company certainly wasn't right. Even if Sasuke was willing to tell her things about his home life, she couldn't do the same. Selfish though it sounded, those things were private.

The strange way that Sakura acted made Sasuke unsure of how he himself should feel. He couldn't tell if he'd crossed the line or stepped on a landmine. Had he made things better, or worse? He yearned for Sakura to at least make that clear instead of leaving him in the dark over here. Even so, he didn't say anything. Sakura had already confessed she wasn't good with this sort of thing.

As the seconds passed the mood shown on Sakura's face became hard to pin down. She tried to force a scowl, but she couldn't maintain it. One hand gripped the other arm and she found herself staring off and away from Sasuke, the redness of her cheeks not going anywhere. Eventually she was able to put her pride aside, and confess to the truth.

"I don't hate you."

In the silence that followed she chanced a glance at Sasuke, though she could only bear it for as long as it took her to see his expression. Like she had a while ago, his brow shot up in surprise while the rest of his face displayed his confusion. Shamed and aggravated by what she herself was saying, Sakura felt like a mess as she continued.

"There are lots things about you that annoy me. Your noisy games with your entourage, how you always take everything so easily, that you don't have any ambitions. But I'm not petty enough to hate someone over something like that!"

She stopped after her sudden yelling. The state she was getting herself in was like nothing Sasuke had ever seen of her. Normally he would think to placate someone who was acting as such. But he wanted to hear more.

Delicately he posed a question. "Why then-"

"Because-!" Sakura shouted again, cutting herself off before she could finish. Her knuckles were whitening and she looked as if she was about to get a nosebleed from blood pressure in her head. Was being openly honest so difficult for her? "Because you're…" her voice became smaller. Shame filled her face. "… the only one I can take my frustrations out on."

A leaf fell out from a branch, drifting lazily down the air. It nestled on top of Sasuke's head without any notice from the Uchiha. He was too busy giving Sakura a look that almost never came upon him. He could feel his eye twitching and a vein in his temple pulsating even as he tried to maintain at least a semblance of a smile, though only succeeding in a contorted variant.

Every emotion kindling inside of Sasuke was demanding he press Sakura for more. But the logical side of him could already see it all. As the only member of the class who bothered to interact with her, at least until Naruto showed up, he could see that somehow or another he would be a strong social figure to Sakura. And thinking back to all those vicious sparring matches, he'd known for a long time that Sakura was taking advantage of their fights to vent her stress. Which was fine, since Sasuke pretty much did the same thing. Still, hearing it flat out like that made it easy to get angry about it.

"I knew that… well, no." Sakura was mumbling in a low voice that Sasuke had to crane his ears to hear. "I was aware that everyone else in the class was giving up on me. I was relieved, because that was what I wanted. Or… what I think I wanted. I'm not sure." The redness started to fade away as she physically calmed herself down, taking on a sombre tone as she spoke. "In a way I'm glad that you hated me. I wanted an enemy more than I wanted a friend. It made going on a little easier."

By now Sasuke wasn't able to keep up his irritation in the slightest. What Sakura was saying was difficult to understand. He'd never in his life heard of someone wanting an enemy over a friend. It didn't make sense to him. And with that he realised that Sakura was far more unusual than he first thought. For the first time he felt himself being concerned about her. Not that he could figure out why.

"Having you as an enemy made the rest of my life easier to deal with." Hard though it was, Sakura made herself look Sasuke in the eye. "But my goal is to do whatever I can to end crime all over Fire Country. I know there's going to be a lot more difficulties ahead than this. If no longer being opponents is something I have to do in order to get closer to that path… I'm willing to settle for just being team mates."

There was conviction in her voice, Sasuke could see that. Sakura was honestly saddened by the thought of no longer possessing the bad relationship she had with him. It was so strange that Sasuke could barely wrap his head around it. But there was one thing he understood, and one thing he could act upon.

He took the few steps needed to close the distance between him and Sakura. There, he raised his hand and lightly hit her forehead protector with his palm.

"You idiot." He smiled. "What is "just team mates" supposed to mean?"

Sakura frowned. "What?"

Letting out a quiet laugh, Sasuke looked over Sakura's head to the trees. "My dad told me that your team mates are the same as your family. When you leave this village and go out on a mission, they are your only connection to home. They're the ones who will be there beside you whether you succeed or fail, and you have to stand by them just the same." He grinned and rubbed the back of his head shyly. "Well, thinking of each other as siblings seems too embarrassing. But if we can get rid of the antagonism… I wouldn't mind having you for a team mate."

He looked at Sakura again to see what she thought of this. Given the list of abnormal things she'd been saying he couldn't be sure just how she would respond. He was glad then to see that she was only mildly blushing, averting her eyes and furrowing her brow. Exactly as he'd expect of her.

"O… Ok." She mumbled.

Sasuke laughed again. Since when did Haruno Sakura ever look cute? He decided to keep that question to himself though, since it seemed like they were finally getting to where they wanted to be.

"Well, it wasn't exactly how I thought it would be, but I think that about wraps it up." He grinned, nodding his head off to the distance. "But it's all for nothing if we can't convince that pain in the ass to do the same." There was a moment of hesitation as he reddened a little too. Then, on a decisive notion, he held out his hand. "What do you say? Partners?"

"Huh?!" Sakura wore a grossed out expression at Sasuke's last words. She couldn't tell if such a question was outdated by thirty years of fifty. A testy cock of the brow from Sasuke told her she was being antagonistic again, so she quickly checked herself and with an inward groan reached out to shake Sasuke's hand. "Fine… partner."

Pressing himself against the surface of a large rock embedded in the earth, Naruto listened keenly for his opponent hiding within the foliage. He had managed to condense that red chakra, the chakra of the Kyuubi, to the point where the only visible clues to its presence were the ones put upon his own body. It made hiding so much easier.

As the crimson hue of his irises implied, great resentment was shown against his features. That had not waned in the time since he had last encountered Kakashi. Namely because that encounter had been less than a minute ago. Naruto still nursed a wound from that encounter. His right hand hung limply beside him from a dislocated wrist. It had been a gift from Kakashi to convince Naruto to stand down. A message the boy had yet to bear any intentions of acknowledging.

Checking all the angles that the rock did not cover, and staying more aware of the earth beneath his feet than he normally would, Naruto inspected his wrist with a wince. It felt like millions of near microscopic carnivores were gnawing at his muscles ravenously. Not a pain he was unfamiliar with, but still enough that he couldn't ignore it.

After another quick to check to make sure he wasn't being surveyed, Naruto raised his disabled hand and stared at it. His brow furrowed in concentration and the red in his eyes diluted slightly to make a purple shade with his natural blue. Through the sleeves of his shirt on his upper arms a faint red glow could be seen. And then, with a cringe worthy crack, Naruto's wrist snapped back into place.

Letting out a breath of relief, Naruto tested his hand to see if everything was in order. Each finger wriggled without ache or pains and rotating the wrist caused him no discomfort. With that matter resolved Naruto backed off from the rock and turned on the spot, tuning all his senses to their sharpest in his search for Kakashi. When they didn't help, he put his hands together in his unconventional seal-

Before he could use his jutsu Naruto was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Kakashi. The Jonin didn't so much drop from a tree as he did dart down to the rock, landing on it and kicking off in an instant. Surprised, Naruto jumped back and raised his guard, only to find that Kakashi was a Bunshin and the real one was behind him.

At a time like this, in any other situation, Kakashi might have berated Naruto for his lack of observation. He should have seen the Bunshin's lack of shadow, but had missed it due to his own carelessness. Now wasn't the time for teaching though. Too much time had already passed. The situation had to be contained.

The Taijutsu of a seasoned Jonin is not visible to the naked eye. In as much time as it would take for most humans, ninja or not, to recognise movement at all, a Jonin could lay several strikes upon his or her opponent. Kakashi was a bit more than a seasoned Jonin. He was confident he could lay four hits on Naruto before risking counterattack.

The first was a hard blow to the back of the neck with the base of Kakashi's palm. Next was both the second and third strike in close succession. Kakashi lashed out with his foot and struck the back of both of Naruto's knees. Fourth was not so much a strike as a shove with the force of a punch aimed at the rear of Naruto's skull. Then he simply had to wait as his attacks did their job.

For Naruto the impacts were near simultaneous. The blow to his neck stunned him, leaving his mind blank as his knees buckled and he fell forward. He would have been able to stop himself from hitting the ground, had the shove not propelled him further forward than he was expecting. Before he even knew what was happening he was face down in the dirt. And that was when Kakashi made his final move.

The weight of the Jonin was put down on the centre of his back as Kakashi knelt on him, rendering it impossible for Naruto to get back up. If not for the fact that Naruto was painfully familiar with this kind of submission he may have struggled. As it was, he settled for glaring at Kakashi with one eye.

"That's enough of that." Kakashi warned. "You can settle down or I can knock you out. Your decision."

Naruto watched Kakashi's equally red eye, clearly showing thoughts of resisting anyway. But he must have seen the futility of such a thing, for his muscles relaxed and his tension ceased. The red in his eyes faded into blue, his canines shrank and his facial markings became neat again. Until not even his Sharingan could see the signs of the Kyuubi's chakra, Kakashi held on. When that time passed however, he got up to his feet and allowed Naruto the same courtesy.

After righting himself Naruto turned back and leant against the rock, brushing dirt off his clothes and making sure he wasn't cut. Kakashi stood back and watched the boy go about this routine, noting that even without the chakra of the Kyuubi the anger had not drained from his face. He was merely exerting proper control over it. That was a good thing. Self control was vital for a Jinchuuriki more than anything else.

While Naruto was preoccupied with making himself presentable again, Kakashi switched his forehead protector around again, bringing relief as he could close his Sharingan eye. One of the pockets of his flak vest contained chemical wipes for removing toxins and such from the skin. Perfect for getting rid of Naruto's odd pepper spray attack.

Eventually Naruto came to realise he would not be able to avoid Kakashi's gaze any longer and he reluctantly looked the Jonin in the eye. Having lost to Kakashi's skill Naruto had no designs on making a half assed and desperate attack. For all intents and purposes the current time could be considered a cease fire.

The two silently stared at each other for a good couple of minutes. Little by little Naruto was calming down. Kakashi waited until he thought Naruto was settled enough to talk before going ahead and doing just that. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?" he ironically enquired. Without waiting for permission, he went ahead and asked it. "Why do you dress like a waiter?"

Unguarded from such a question, Naruto's brow shot up in surprise. As such the question was left hanging in the air as long as it took Naruto to understand that he hadn't misheard. At that point his brow dropped back down to a flat and pointed look. "Why do you dress like a ninja?" he rebutted.

Confused, Kakashi answered immediately. "Well, I am a ninja."

"So I see."

The face Kakashi made at that was the same Naruto made when the question was posed to him. Even so Naruto chose to give a real answer if for no better reason than it was on a topic he liked talking about. "I guess you spend your life living one way, you can either reject all other ways of life or embrace them all." He looked over the stains on his shirt and wondered if he should just throw it out instead of trying to clean it. "I didn't feel like lollygagging so I went straight for the polar opposite of my old life and found I kind of liked it." he looked at Kakashi then. "You could say I find it liberating."

Kakashi folded his arms with a thoughtful look about him. He wasn't sure he could understand where Naruto was coming from, though that was hardly surprising. In any case, now that they could talk about something like that, it was best to move on to something more. "Before we go any further, there's one thing I have to confirm." That got Naruto's attention. "I understand you have some ill will towards your dad. But what are your feelings about the village?"

The mere mention of the Yondaime soured Naruto again, though not to the same degree as it had before. He dug his hands in his pockets and took a deep, sharp breath to keep his cool. He stared off into the distance, searching for something beyond the trees.

"Why would you believe anything I say about that? I know what I am to Konoha. If I don't make myself look like a ready and willing member of your society, there's every chance somebody's gonna decide to just pull the Kyuubi out of me and drop my body in a ditch somewhere." Suddenly he put on the biggest and fakest smile he'd ever made. "I love this village very much, so please don't strap me to a table and rip my life out of my body!"

Kakashi's expression was unchanging, and remained so until Naruto's did. The smile retreated and was replaced with something cold yet conflicted. "I don't have any choice in the matter. I have to give a damn about this village because it's the only way I get to keep breathing." He gave out a long exhale and set his eyes on Kakashi. "The prosperity of this village and my life go hand in hand. I'll do whatever the village needs, but I'll do it for no one's sake other than my own."

It was getting rather windy. A chill breeze conflicted with the heat of the sun. But Kakashi could ignore it for staring at Naruto. It had been a long time since he'd seen such a young boy with such a look in his eye as what he had now. Kakashi had seen it in his own reflection, but only after seeing the horrors of war and what it did to the people you cared about. And yet Naruto, who had seen none of that, looked exactly the same as he had back when he saw his father holding a tanto to his stomach.

"Back then I turned away and let dad choose his own fate." Kakashi thought. "He didn't go through with it, but what would have happened if I tried to stop him? Would he have been able to recover like he did? Would I have been able to stay as I was, not thinking of those who don't follow the rules as trash?"

An uncomfortable twang hit his gut. Something terrible occurred to him. "What if dad had gone through with it? What if he never became Hokage? It was his actions that led to Naruto being sent out of the village. His own misjudgement that caused Naruto's way of life." A frown came upon him. "As the student of the Yondaime and the son of the Godaime…"

This time it was Kakashi who gave out the long exhale. Raising his eyes to the sky he looked through the leaves to the clouds and gave thought to a rather serious matter. Naruto was looking at him strangely, perhaps wondering if now was a good time to attack. "The Jinchuuriki is a tool of both war and peace. He can be a weapon to turn the tide of conflict or a deterrent to keep enemies from attacking. As such a Jinchuuriki must be strong and in control, otherwise the village is put at a disadvantage to the other villages and their Jinchuuriki."

Naruto clearly knew about this, as his unaffected expression told. "What's your point?"

Kakashi lowered his gaze to Naruto, somewhat bright and curious. "If war was no longer a concern of the village, then the Jinchuuriki would be relatively free to live how he-"

"Naruto!"

Atop the rock behind Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura made an unexpected appearance. They both glared down at Naruto with sweat streaked faces. However long they had been searching for him, they had done it fast an under a harsh heat. Now that they found him, he wasn't sure what they planned to do.

Cicadas chirped among the trees, filling the otherwise soundless woods with their incessant noise. A trio of squirrels each chewed on acorns, watching the scene play out below. It had been a few summers since last they saw a display as such. With their meagre intelligence they viewed on and nibbled their food, hoping above hope that the branch they were on would not explode like it had in the past.

The rock that stood in the centre of the clearing was serving as a perch to two would be ninja. Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura were like hawks ready to drop from the nest and dive at their prey. Prey that on this occasion seemed to be Uzumaki Naruto. By the squirrels' accounts he would make an easy target, since he wasn't even looking their way.

The squirrels weren't the only ones viewing this scene with interest. His chance to say to Naruto what he wanted to say was gone. In the presence of those other two, it simply wasn't appropriate to continue. But Naruto was sharp. Enough so that he was able to extend his awareness to his team mates behind him without taking his eyes off of Kakashi's. The dullness in those blue circles were gone. What Kakashi had said, if nothing else, had earned his critical focus.

Sakura and Sasuke had no idea of what it was they were intruding upon. Approaching Naruto before he ran off again was more important than finding out whatever it was he and Kakashi had been talking about. In that same frame of mind, silence wasn't beneficial to their goal. "If you're going to be an arrogant idiot, do it on your own time!" Sakura shouted.

"We're not just going to stand back and let you ruin this test for all of us!" Sasuke added in with aggression to match Sakura's. "Even if we're wrong and this test isn't about team work, what's the harm in having some backup?"

As they berated Naruto with some very good points, Kakashi was wondering if they even realised he was still there. More importantly however he wondered what Naruto was going to do. If teamwork was such a hard thing for him, how did he expect to achieve his goal? What would the Kyuubi do if Naruto messed things up?

"Should I tell him the truth about the test?"

Sakura and Sasuke continued to stare relentlessly at Naruto's back, waiting for him to at least acknowledge what they had said. The dirt on his body told them without a doubt he'd been fighting with Kakashi. The fact that he was still conscious had to mean he was recuperating. Surely then he knew the challenge that was being-

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, casting a casual smile over his shoulder. "I was just giving you two some time to talk things over."

The three around him, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi included, all sent to him their own brand of doubt. He turned his head back to face Kakashi, smiling just as plentifully, but with more of his typical devious glimmer. "You didn't think I was some sorta lone wolf did ya?" he asked with a chuckle. "I'd be bored out of my mind if it was just me and this guy from here on!"

While Kakashi tried to figure out whether or not he should be offended, Sakura and Sasuke dropped down from the rock to stand next to Naruto, looking plenty uncertain and having plenty of reason to. Sasuke watched Naruto from the corner of his eye, a slight narrowing occurring while the blond boy was looking the other way.

"These two made one hell of a mess back there." He thought, casting a quick look to Kakashi and back. In their pursuit he and Sakura had come across the clearing where Naruto and Kakashi had fought, witnessing remnants of an impressive struggle. "If Naruto didn't make that crater, then Kakashi did. Either case, their fight was on a higher level than Sakura's or mine." He found himself giving a sterner stare to Naruto. "What's so special about this guy that would make a Jonin put in extra effort that he didn't with us?"

Sakura was more focused on the now than the then, particularly in regards to Naruto. Her nature wanted her to call Naruto out on his sharp heel faced turn and get the truth out of him. She would have tried, had Sasuke not been in her peripheral vision. After what they'd talked about back there, and after all Sakura had learned about the way people looked at her, she knew she couldn't behave as she had in the past. She had to be better than she was, not just as a Kunoichi, but as person overall. And not just for the sake of passing this test.

In the end though it was Naruto who was the most bothered. He hid behind a tough face, but the truth was he was concerned about what Kakashi had been trying to say to him. He understood the base meaning of the words. If Konoha could somehow reach a stable frame of peace with the other nations then he as the Jinchuuriki would be able to live without the burden of being a weapon. Where was Kakashi going with that? He wanted to know.

"Well it looks like the three of you are plenty convicted." Kakashi remarked, keeping a smile at bay. He instead raised a hand and gave them a gesture to approach. "Come on then. I'm ready when you are."

No matter how it was, Naruto knew he would have no choice but to depend on Sasuke and Sakura for now. He wasn't stupid enough to tap into the Kyuubi's chakra with them around and he didn't stand a chance against Kakashi without it. His only hope was to give their team work a try, even if he didn't like to think it.

"I can give you guys an opening." He said in a low voice. The effort was unnecessary, because Kakashi could read his lips, but it served the purpose nonetheless. Sakura and Sasuke were listening intently. "But you'll have to act fast. Any more than a second's delay and the chance is gone."

Sasuke and Sakura were justifiably uncertain of Naruto's vague plan. However the simple fact that he intended on supporting them instead of the other way around was comforting. For that reason they both gave sharp nods and readied themselves for whatever it was Naruto had in mind.

While Sasuke and Sakura sidled away from Naruto to give each other room, Kakashi regarded them all with keen intrigue. It was a pleasant surprise to see them come together like this. And he was genuinely interested to find out just how they were going to attack. That said he had no intention of making things easy for them. After all, the test was never about getting the bells in the first place.

A short time passed until everyone was in their positions. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all locked eyes with Kakashi, who was clearly ready to respond to whatever trick they tried to pull. Timing was crucial for such a thing. Naruto understood that. Still, he felt confident enough to give them a signal. "Three…" he started with a grin growing on the edge of his mouth. "Two-"

The moment was suddenly and violently disrupted by something that pierced through the trees like a swarm of angry bats screeching in pain. The three ninjas in training felt their hearts come to a frozen stop as somewhere past the woods the sound of a shrill bell ringing permeated to their position. The timer Kakashi had set was giving its loud call that it had concluded its countdown.

Nothing seemed to move. Or at least, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke couldn't hope to budge an inch as long as the bell continued to ring. Every repeating note was like a leech draining at their resolve, visibly deflating them until nothing but their own stunned faces remained. When the bell concluded its cry, silence took its place. Even the cicadas seemed to quiet.

Kakashi had his eyes on the rough area where he thought the timer to be. It was to his surprise that he too had managed to lose so much track of the time. As an extra measure to be absolutely sure he looked straight up to the sun. A moment's glance was all that was needed to confirm that it was indeed noon.

"I suppose it's time for your evaluation." He said, returning his gaze to the three young ones, who were slowly undoing their ready stances. "Individually you all show great aptitude when you take the initiative. Yet in the beginning you were far too cautious and let opportunities pass you by.

"Sakura, you showed adaptive thinking and your speed at placing and removing traps is one of your strong points. Sasuke, your deceptiveness and taijutsu prowess was very impressive. And Naruto, your ability to make quick decisions and follow through with them is a trait you should be proud of. On your own each of you could become very promising ninja."

His words were kind and honest, but it was like the calm before the storm. His arms folded and his stare hardened, and each of the three were pretty sure of what they were about to hear. "But as Sasuke theorised, the purpose of the test wasn't to evaluate your individual skills, but your capability to work together as a team. In this sense, you are all failures in equal measure." Now his words were harsh, cutting, and not the least bit undeserved. "Reluctance to forgive old grudges," Sasuke winced. "a simple unwillingness to get along with others," Sakura. "and false notions of superiority."

Naruto could feel his ears burning hotter than even the sun could manage. His fingers curled into tight fists and anger welled up inside him again. But this wasn't the kind of anger that had set him upon Kakashi, that released the Kyuubi's chakra and fuelled his rage further. This was anger that was also shame. It was a feeling he shared with the two people on either side of him.

"There's a word for those who conduct themselves in such a manner." Kakashi turned his back on the lot of them, yet still maintained a stoic expression. "That word is "children". You may have the skills to make it as ninja, but Konoha does not nor will it ever accept children into our ranks. The fact that after all your training you can still act as such is indication enough that none of you has what it takes to meet the standard of Konoha ninja." He gave them one last icy look. "Perhaps you should apply to the police force, if you don't want your skills to go to waste."

That final statement came crashing down on the three of them like a ghostly landslide. As the man who would have been their sensei walked away from them, so too did they see that the future they had most of their young lives working towards depart from them, leaving them alone in the forest that was Training Field Seven.

Sakura was the first one to make any kind of motion. She turned herself away from the two boys, afraid that they would see that she could no longer keep up a strong guard. Her breaths were becoming ragged. She couldn't help it. She had failed to keep her promise to her mother and father. All those years, all that pain. All gone to waste. No matter how tough she was, even she wanted to cry at a time like this.

Even if her face couldn't be seen, her body betrayed her emotions. Naruto could see it in the corner of his eyes. He didn't intrude on it. He was too busy being overwhelmed by his own hopelessness to think about anyone else. All so strangely he could feel his heart beating in his chest. It felt slow, but hard. Like a hand pounding at a door, tired and lost. Everything seemed to fade around him.

Sasuke wasn't exempt from his team… from Naruto and Sakura's sadness. The thought of returning home to his family and telling them about his failure was too much to bear. All he could see was the disappointment on his mother's face and the embarrassment etched on his father's. And behind them, there was Itachi. Wearing an expression of…

All of a sudden Sasuke found himself clenching his fists, gritting his teeth and glaring at the earth. Blood pounded through his body and ignited something inside of him that he had so rarely touched upon. He couldn't define it. He could only envision it. A black flame, like that of a candle, had started to blaze furiously. He recognised it and feared it. The black flame of hatred. But with just a little willpower he could change it. The black became blue, and the fire became steady. But still it blazed with incredible strength.

"We're not done here." Sasuke raised his eyes and felt stronger. Adrenaline filled his body and his waned confidence came flooding back. He fixed his fierce gaze upon Kakashi, distant though he was. "Would a ninja return home from a mission empty handed? No. He wouldn't dare turn back without doing what he set out to do." He looked at his fist, at his knuckles whitened by his grip. "I'm not a child. I don't need anyone's permission to be a ninja. I'm not giving up."

Naruto caught himself staring at Sasuke, or more particularly, at the strength the Uchiha was displaying. It was that strength that backed up his words and made them even more powerful than they already were. Just in hearing them and looking at the one who said them, Naruto felt his despair ebbing away and his own yellow flame burning up inside. "I like the way you think!" he found himself grinning as he became energized. There was however one issue of concern. "What do you say Kega-chan?"

Surprised by the rude nickname, Sakura accidentally shot Naruto a dirty look before she'd been able to collect herself. Quickly hiding her face again, she took a moment to steady herself before turning to face the other two again. "We're not being tested anymore. If we attack him now, we're assaulting a member of the village's military personnel." In spite of her private wishes, she was stern. "I won't break the law."

Rather taken aback, Naruto had the uncomfortable thought that they were doomed if Sakura was going to be like that. It had to be all of them who attacked Kakashi. Even one less person and they were better off not trying at all. The only hope they had was to convince Sakura that going along with their plan was the right thing to do.

It was good then that Naruto was what one would call a devious bastard.

Earlier he had said that he was fond of magic tricks. To be specific, he was fond of performing them. He had never presented such a talent to an audience before, but he believed his skill with sleight of hand to be one of his better qualities. "What if I were to tell you that we are still being tested?" he asked with a dramatic waving of the hand. At the same time he reached into his breast pocket and pinched the stem of his fob watch. With the just the slightest pull and twist he delicately adjusted the time. Then with just a touch of flair he pulled the fob watch out and showed the face to Sakura. According to the watch, the time was eleven forty in the morning. Twenty minutes before noon.

It was a mean trick to play on the dutiful Sakura. If things went badly and they got in trouble, it would be Naruto who dragged her down with him. But if that were the case he'd openly confess to his deception to clear Sakura's name. He wasn't an asshole after all. For now though he had to at least give it a try. If they didn't, Sakura and Sasuke would just be ashamed. But him? The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki? He knew exactly what would happen to him if he didn't become a ninja.

"We still have time?!" Sakura's face lit up as if a heavenly choir descended upon her. It was a strange sight, considering she was as always unsmiling. She immediately firmed up and set a piercing glare upon her team mates. "Then what are we waiting for?!"

Grinning, Naruto closed his fob watch and slipped it back into his breast pocket. He glanced at Sasuke, expecting silent congratulation on his ploy. That was not what he received. Sasuke gave him a look like a wolf would give to one not of his pack. While he didn't like the idea of tricking Sakura, he knew it was necessary. For that reason and that reason alone he was willing to let it slide.

"Do you think you can still get us that opening?" he asked, watching Kakashi again.

"Everything's still in place." Naruto replied with a smirk. "You don't wanna be too close to him when I do it though."

"Fine. After Naruto makes the opening I'll take Kakashi on to keep him busy. Sakura, you're good at fighting in extreme close range, so you aim for the bells while he's dealing with me. If you can manage it Naruto, help me keep his attention off of Sakura. Any problems?"

Naruto and Sakura shook their heads. It was a simple plan they could carry out.

"Uzumaki."

Naruto did a double take at Sakura. That was the first time she'd ever used his name before. And the name she chose to identify him by was Uzumaki? Damn, that was cold. "What should we do?" she asked.

Kakashi was getting far away now, so Naruto spoke fast. "Flank him, keep at a safe distance. You'll know when it's about to happen. When it does, try to stay behind cover, but move the second you see your chance."

Sakura and Sasuke gave affirmed nods. They were ready to move. And so without a moment to spare the three of them took off in separate directions.

Perhaps Kakashi had been too rough with them all. He didn't seriously intend on telling his father that none of them should be allowed into the ranks of ninja. Even if he didn't believe it himself, he couldn't deny the foreboding thoughts of what may become of a Jinchuuriki forbidden from learning advanced ninja techniques as any non ninja was.

It wasn't just Naruto that had his concern though. Blacklisting the son of Fugaku Uchiha would without a doubt have some blowback. Relationships between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the village were still the least stable out of all the other clans. And then there was Sakura. He'd known her mother, if only as a formal acquaintance. A commendable Chunin and a welcoming woman until the day she died. What child of hers wouldn't want to walk in her footsteps?

But it couldn't be helped. They weren't ready. Not yet anyway.

The sound of footsteps running across the grass caught Kakashi's notice. He paused and turned back to see who it was that approached him. Naruto came to a length from Kakashi, wearing perhaps the most ambiguous of expressions the Jonin had ever seen. In his line of work, ambiguous expressions were much more worrisome than the inverse.

Sakura and Sasuke weren't with him. Had they gone home? "If you're still worried, don't be." He decided he could at least be reassuring. "Konoha is stronger than you think. The prosperity of the village isn't hinged on…"

His unfinished sentence concerned Naruto. Getting suspicious now was not what he wanted. Luckily Naruto had already prepared himself mentally and was capable of playing his part to its fullest.

"I'm not here about that." He said, brushing dirt from his clothes with a smooth hand. There was a change in air about him, a grace that did not come naturally, but was by no means poorly exhibited. "I wanted to apologise for my behaviour before. I let myself get carried away and showed a side of me that wasn't appropriate for public presentation." To that end he performed a deep bow with accompanied gesture of the arm. The sense of etiquette was almost perfect, but it was disrupted when Naruto lifted his head and gave Kakashi a wink, along with another accompanying gesture of the hand. "Peace!"

A little confused by the oddity of Naruto's display, Kakashi didn't know what to do. As a result the best he could come up with was to rather feebly raise his hand and return the same v-shaped gesture to Naruto. "Peace?" he replied, feeling thoroughly embarrassed.

It was to this response that Naruto broke out into a grin. He closed his fore and middle finger together, turning a simple and friendly gesture into a hand sign. "Nope!"

Kakashi's further confusion was interrupted by a loud and very local hissing. Startled, he whipped his head around to see a most troubling sight. A ninja tag protruded from a hole in the ground just inches away from his heel. Frightfully, the tag was not the smoke variety.

The coming explosion from the tag was ferocious, but localised. It engulfed him and incinerated the grass beneath his feet, leaving a blackened patch where he once stood. But he was not dead. Though only barely, he had managed to escape the flames unharmed.

"That was just like before!" thought Kakashi as he sailed through the air, shielding his face from the flames he had barely been able to avoid. "He's capable of breaking free from earth based traps and can lay his own through the ground! If that's not Dotonjutsu, I don't know what-"

The ninja's sixth sense kicked in as from the thickets of the trees a scythe lashed out at him. He managed to avoid it just before it made a nasty slice through his neck. The scythe flew past with the chain rattling behind Kakashi. His trajectory should have allowed him to get out of the weapon's range from then naturally, but the weapon's wielder didn't allow it. Sasuke burst out from the leaves ahead of Kakashi, pulling sharply on the chain. The scythe was halted from its throw, and came flying back, blade glinting with menace.

Kakashi landed on the ground and though he could have dodged, he didn't. Instead he reached out and grabbed the chain, yanking the scythe himself and to take hold of it. But to his shock he failed to catch the scythe. The reason was that the scythe was no longer there. In its place was the opposite end. The weighted end.

"He can switch the scythe and the weight around?!" was as far as Kakashi could think, before he saw the edge of the blade from the corner of his eye. Given a second more he would be feeling the steel across his throat. Sasuke had gotten the drop on him.

Or that would be the case, if Sasuke was dealing with anyone lesser than Kakashi.

A quick hand grabbed flicked out and stole the scythe from Sasuke's grip, taking it for Kakashi's own. The Jonin twisted around to do as Sasuke had intended on doing to him. The edge of the scythe was almost around Sasuke's neck when it suddenly changed again, the weight taking its place and the scythe finding its way back into Sasuke's hand. Just as the Uchiha was twisting himself to trap Kakashi again.

It was a vicious and near mesmerising dance to watch as the scythe incessantly switched wielders. Sasuke always gripped the chain with a hand forming a single seal and made sure Kakashi could never make a grab at that arm before being forced to defend. It was his skill with the kusarigama that allowed him to hold his own as such against Kakashi, who had only a typical understanding of the weapon.

Alas, as the battle waged on Kakashi inevitably took the advantage. Sasuke expended chakra every time he switched the scythe with the weight. Kakashi had no such drain on his considerably larger reserves of stamina. Eventually… no, before long Kakashi found an opening. He struck Sasuke on the head with the edge of one hand, stunning the Uchiha into dropping his weapon altogether.

The dance, while not exactly mesmerising to an outside spectator, had instilled quite an effect on Kakashi. The franticness of it all had taken him back to the battlefields of his younger days, trapped in combat with much more skilled opponents than he. The split second openings that presented themselves at those times, and the instinct to take advantage of them took over. And before Kakashi knew what he was doing, he was slicing the air with the scythe as it would to Sasuke's neck.

That was when the world itself stopped.

Nothing moved. Not the leaves, not the grass, not even the squirrels. Silence was broken only by one's own drumming heartbeat. No one dare breathed. Everything was still.

Sasuke stood paralysed, the edge of his own scythe mere centimetres from his throat. His whole life had flashed before his eyes in what he feared were his last moments. But now there was nothing but the sight of what was ahead of him and the feeling of Kakashi's body close to his. No, there was something else. A smell. A smell of blood.

Feeling his eyes moving of their own accord, Sasuke's vision was dragged from the trees along to the scythe that nearly took his life, settling on the hand that gripped the weapon so firmly. Or rather... no. He must have been seeing things. But no matter how long he stared, he couldn't help but know what he saw to be true. A second hand held onto the scythe by both the hilt and the blade. A familiar hand, now dripping in blood.

Barely between the two combatants, Sakura had stepped in. Halting the scythe with her own hand, trembling from the pain as her own blood trickled down her arm. Sasuke could do little more than gape at her. Little more, but he managed something else. Just the slightest of utterances.

"Sakura…"

Like Sasuke, Kakashi found himself unable to take his eye off the young girl. She had clearly leapt in to try and take the bells, but upon seeing Sasuke on the verge of decapitation, she had made a swift change of plan and risked losing her own hand to save him. She was lucky. If Kakashi's instincts had taken any more hold over reason, she would have had a bloody stump and Sasuke's throat would have been sliced open. That wasn't the case of course. Kakashi wasn't so out of control as to kill someone over a spar. But Sakura hadn't known that.

Letting the scythe drop from his hand, Kakashi stepped back from the two young ones. Sakura gasped in pain as the blade left her flesh and stained the grass with her blood. The wound wasn't deep, but it needed tending to. Luckily Sasuke was there, already hurrying to help his injured team mate.

His mind was a blur while he ran through the basic first aid all academy students had been taught. Sakura didn't look as Sasuke hastily wrapped a bandage around her hand to stop the flow of blood. All the while he was trying to bring coherence to his chaotic thoughts. "She got hurt trying to save me!" he was unable to maintain that train for long though and was soon on another. "Damn it Naruto, were where-"

Having looked up to send Naruto the most vicious glare he'd ever given anyone in his life, Sasuke found what it was that Sakura had opted to look at in place of her bloody hand. He too found himself thoroughly distracted by the sight that lay ahead. Kakashi made three.

Naruto wasn't alone back there. One other person stood behind him, holding a kunai to his neck. A masked Kunoichi of ANBU rank by the look of things. The porcelain depiction of a ferret masked whatever expression may have been on the woman's face, but her actions spoke volumes. Naruto was as white a ghost. He probably hadn't known she was there until it was too late.

"Oh, you're here?" Kakashi called out with a note of surprise. The familiarity in his tone made Sakura and Sasuke look his way for answers, but he had his mind elsewhere. Wearing a slightly nervous smile, he gestured out to the newcomer. "I think you can let him go now."

"What are you saying?" the ANBU Kunoichi demanded, as if the very thought of taking her knife away from Naruto's neck was utterly ridiculous. "I saw what happened. They were angry about being failed and so they decided to attack a Jonin. Civilians who attack military personnel must be arrested. You know that!"

Just as he was starting to recover from the shock of being caught as he was, Naruto flinched at the announcement the ANBU made. It was not uncalled for, as Sakura was quick to prove.

"But we were still within the time limit of our exam!" she cried out. "Hatake-sensei set the timer to go off early on purpose!"

The ANBU was having none of that. "The exam concluded at noon! It is past that time now!"

Sakura froze. As close as Sasuke was he could see how far she had stiffened up. Slowly she lowered her gaze from the ANBU to Naruto, who was pointedly looking out to the trees. Her jaw was clamped shut, but her eyes told the whole story of what she was thinking. If she was the type of girl to swear, Sasuke had no doubt they'd be hearing some very colourful and hateful language right about now.

And just like that everything came crashing back down again. The hope Sakura had built on thinking they still had time was shattered. Sasuke's resolution to carry on was kicked to the curb. And Naruto was left standing there, a bitter expression coming upon him. Kakashi could see all of this from where he stood. They'd all done their best to the very end, but it looked like it would come to nothing. Unless…

"It's noon?" Kakashi repeated, tilting his head to show his confusion. But then he brightened up and hit his palm with his fist. "Oh, that's right! I forgot about Daylight Savings!"

The knife to Naruto's neck dropped slightly as the ANBU Kunoichi gawped in disbelief. Well, that was what he assumed she was doing. Not that he had the attention to spare. All of that was being diverted to Kakashi, just as much as Sasuke and Sakura's were. "What?!" the ANBU demanded.

Kakashi shrugged. "I forgot the clock was supposed to go forward. I thought I set the timer to go off at eleven, but I guess it is noon now huh?" He left the question as a rhetorical one, but clearly by the expressions of present company that was not going to fly. So with a sigh, he explained. "I wanted to adapt the bell test. While it's primary function is still to test the students' capabilities to work together as a team, I thought I could also test how they coped with what seemed like a lost cause. In that regard I think they all did a wonderful job."

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all looked at Kakashi, none daring to show optimism for fear that it would be crushed again, but equally being unable to keep it completely away. "So you mean…?" Sasuke couldn't finish the question.

Kakashi smiled at him. "I'd be happy to have you three as my students."