Disclaimer- I do not own Naruto or any characters.

Sorry for the late update. I just haven't had the time to write anything. Enjoy and thanks to all those stuck by.

Chapter 6

The Real Test!

Last time…

"Where is he?" Sakura complained after many failed attempt at wooing Sasuke. Naruto was deep in meditation. However his prankster side was getting bored. He decided to do what he did last time. Sasuke just shook his head, Sakura scolded him.

The door opened and in walked the copy ninja Kakashi Hatake.

The famous copy ninja Kakashi Hatake stood at the door with an irritated look under his mask. Naruto snickered and Sasuke tried to hide his smirk behind his hand.

"Sensei, I told him not to do it, he wouldn't listen to me!" Sakura screeched pointing at Naruto. I love this stuff inner Sakura screamed.

"I can't believe he fell for that"

"It worked the first time, so there was no doubt that it would work the second time around"

"Hnn"

"And this time round there is a surprise" Sasuke raised one fine brow. Naruto's grin became wider if that was even possible. Kakashi looked at the bored.

"Well, my first impressions of you guys are that I hate you. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes", with that Kakashi disappeared with a swirl of leaves. Naruto couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing, Sasuke shook his head disapprovingly Sakura did not what to do, whether she should be mad at Naruto or laugh with him but the sight of it was so funny.

"Well I think that we should head to the roof now" Naruto got up and stretched, walking out towards the door, Sasuke and Sakura following. They reached the roof door but as Naruto was going to open the door Sakura pushed him out of the way.

"Move idiot, we are going to be late!" she snapped at him and opened the door. She walked through the door waiting on the other side for Sasuke to join her, however he offered his hand to Naruto to help him up. He walked past her without sparing a glance her way, Naruto in tow.

"I just remembered why I hated her at this point in life"

"Aww don't be too hard on her teme" Sasuke glared at his friend.

"You might be a saint dobe, but I am not, and I won't pretend to be one as well" Sakura walked up beside Sasuke, his glare re directed towards her. She shrank back in fear. The aura he was emitting would make anyone cower in fear. Naruto walked past, deliberately bumping Sasuke's shoulder, breaking the tension, he sat down on the stairs with the other two waiting for Kakashi, who was leaning against the railing with known orange book in hand. He put the book away as soon as the three sat down and pointed a look towards Naruto.

"Let's start by introductions shall we?" Kakashi droned out in a bored tone. The kids looked up at him and Naruto burst out laughing again. Sakura could only gape at the jonin while Sasuke wasn't paying attention to any of them.

"Sensei, why haven't you removed the eraser from you hair?" Sakura asked as Naruto was having a coughing fit. Kakashi chose to ignore the question.

"Pinky you're up first" Kakashi said glaring at Naruto.

"What do you want to know sensei?" Sakura asked confused. Kakashi shot her a look. He sighed, I can't believe that I signed up for this. Those bastards on the council better watch their backs, when I get my hand on them, I will make sure that they regret letting me babysit these brats.

"Your name, age, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and dreams"

"Why don't you go first sensei?" Sakura asked, Kakashi was seriously starting to dislike her. She asked too many useless questions.

"My name is Kakashi Hatake, I am 26 years old, I like many things and I don't dislike anything in particular, my hobbies, I don't feel like sharing with you and I haven't really thought of my dreams" Kakashi finished. He looked towards Sakura to start. What we only learned his name thought Sakura. However that was only true for Sakura, the other two knew Kakashi rather well.

"My name is Sakura Haruno, I am thirteen, my likes..well the person that I like.." She looked towards Sasuke and stated to giggle.

"My hobbies.." She looked towards Sasuke again.

"My dreams.." she looked at Sasuke and started to blush while giggling.

"Your dislikes?" Kakashi asked

"Naruto and Ino pig" She stated glaring at Naruto, who inched slowly away from her.

"You, blondie, your next"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I am thirteen, I like training, eating cup ramen but hate that I have to wait for three minutes until it cooks, I especially like the Ichiraku ramen Iruka sensei or the old man treat me too. I hate unnecessary fighting, when there is an alternate solution to everything you just have to look underneath the underneath. My dream is to become the best Hokage and protect all my precious people and this time I will believe it!" Naruto finished. Kakashi stood there with a blank look.

"Way to go dobe, throwing Kakashi's words at him"

"Shut it teme, it's better than your introduction"

"As if you don't even know what I am going to say"

"You do know that this is our second introduction"

"Hnn"

"Blackie you're up"

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha, I am thirteen, I don't have many things that I like, I don't like people who turn a blind eye to the diamond in the rough, who fail to notice the real heroes for superficial and material things like family name and status. I don't have a dream more like a promise to someone that I will always protect them no matter what." Sasuke finished, flickered a sidewards glance towards Naruto who was gaping like a fish out of water. Sakura became all dreamy, I knew it Sasuke loves me he even promised to protect me. Take that Ino pig. Inner Sakura happily danced.

"Wow teme that was an awesome introduction" Sasuke smirked.

"Well can't take all the credit, you did have some hand in it"

"Aww, Sasuke is that your way of thanking me from getting your ass possessed by a snake paedophile"

"You wish dobe, I killed him"

"Yeah after he gave you nice big, loving hickey" Naruto snickered, Sasuke snorted but quickly covered it up with a cough.

Flashback

Sasuke had finally agreed to come back to the village after the fourth ninja had been won. He was put on trial by the elders and Tsunade for treason and starting the war. Naruto had to fight tooth and nail for them nit to execute Sasuke, his reasoning being that they could have never won the war without the help of Sasuke. He even managed to rope in Gaara to give a statement regarding this as a witness statement. All his efforts worked out in the end, Sasuke was sentenced to 12 months in house arrest, Naruto was tasked to seal his chakra for this time period.

It was awkward at first to speak to Sasuke, Naruto didn't know how to act around him. would he even think me as a friend? After all I was the one to seal off his chakra and confine him to 12 months in confine. Naruto had doubts running through his head whenever he saw Sasuke. He avoided him at all cost, but their paths tend to cross almost all the time.

Naruto was trying to meditate in one if the training fields when he felt another chakra approaching him and stopped in front of. He didn't need to open his eyes to know who the person was. He sat there waiting for the other person to talk. Sasuke knew that Naruto had been avoiding him. if was to take a guess he would say that Naruto was feeling guilty about rendering him powerless and he knew that he would be right. He knew the dobe well enough. He looked at Naruto, who looked as if he was meditating, but Sasuke knew that Naruto was aware he was there. He kicked him, not with force but just to get a reaction out of him.

"Oww teme, why the hell did you do that? Naruto asked rubbing his side where he had been kicked.

"Dobe" Sasuke crossed is hands in front of his chest.

"Don't call me that teme" Naruto pouted, Sasuke smirked. Naruto looked away. Sasuke sighed.

"why have been avoiding me?"

"Wah, what? I have not" Naruto stuttered. Sasuke pointed a look to him that said do I look stupid.

"I want to know why" Sasuke asked. If he was honest with himself, he missed his best friend.

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Naruto made to move away but Sasuke blocked his way.

"I just remembered I have something important to do" Naruto stated and turned in the opposite direction, however Sasuke was faster and blocked the blond again. After many fruitless tries Naruto decided to get this over and done with. He sat down crossed legged on the ground.

"Fine teme, you win what do you want?" Naruto asked him. Sasuke sat down next to him in similar manner but with more grace.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Sasuke asked again. He wanted so much to mend the rift that he himself had caused.

"I know that it is hard for you to forgive me or trust me in fact but I didn't think you would stop talking to me or start avoiding me" Sasuke said saddened by the thought that the one person that cared for him like his brother was the one person he hurt the most.

"There's nothing to forgive, even now I trust you with my life" Naruto replied, he could see the pain in Sasuke's eyes.

"It just I .." Naruto stopped, he didn't know what to tell him. yes he had been angry at Sasuke for betraying the village and killing him but then again the village had betrayed him in a way that was irredeemable.

"What?"

"I just don't know what to say to you, I don't know how to act around you?" Sasuke looked at him, confusion written all over his.

"Since we were small, all you did was obsess over power, I took that away from you Sasuke" Naruto looked at him gauging his reaction, looking for the hate. Sasuke sighed.

"Are you feeling guilty?" Naruto looked away nodding his head. He knew that given a choice Sasuke would have preferred execution over the seal. Sasuke tapped Naruto on his shoulder to make him look at him.

"Don't be" for the first time since he had returned Sasuke smiled, not a smirk but a genuine smile, Naruto was speechless.

"You gave me life, you are the reason that I have second chance at living, as for the power I can live without and it's not like permanent, so thank you, and I am sorry for everything Naruto" Sasuke said. Naruto blinked but said nothing. Is this for real he thought to himself, or am I dreaming. After Naruto had convinced himself that this was all real he decided to let Sasuke know what was bothering him.

"I was angry at you in the beginning for leaving the village and trying to kill me but there was never anything to forgive. I trusted you back then like I do now, you know teme?" Naruto picked at some grass. He needed something to do or he couldn't talk about it.

"You said at the valley of the end that I didn't understand what it felt like to lose someone, I guess that was true, I lost my parents before I even knew them, I guess you can't miss something you never had to begin with." Naruto looked distant as the memories of the battle flooded his mind. He unconsciously rubbed the healed wound. Sasuke winced seeing this, he had been so stupid back then.

"I know how it feels like to lose someone precious, the anger and hate you feel. The need to avenge to, to make others feel and suffer the same thing that you are going through, I felt like that when pain killed pervy-sensei and then again when I thought that he had killed Hinata, but I didn't let it take over me" Naruto took a deep breath.

"I wanted to stop you, because of my own selfish reason, you were my first friend, I thought of you as a brother, a family, the bond that we had was stronger than anything that I had previously and you were severing it like it meant nothing at all" Naruto looked up. Sasuke could see all the emotions dancing in his eyes. The hurt, anger, frustration and loneliness.

"I couldn't break the bond even if I wanted to, I could never have killed you, not for power not for anything in this world" Sasuke admitted.

"I was stupid back then, I didn't know what I wanted, I was so consumed within the hate that I forgot who I was. You were the only thing standing between me and my revenge I had to distance myself from you no matter what it took".

"Every time that we fought I made sure that I was the one you were facing, because I knew that if the opportunity presented then the snake bastard or one of his other cronies would not hesitate to kill you" Naruto was speechless at that. He didn't know that. Now he understood why Sasuke always exhausted himself with flashy jutsu, so that the other members of the team would take him away and not fight him. Sasuke had been keeping him safe even though he had said he hated him.

"And this", He gestured vaguely towards where the seal was concealed underneath his shirt, "Is nothing that I want you to be guilty about, and there is nothing selfish about it" Sasuke stated.

"But Sasuke it is, I sealed your chakra, your power just so that i could have you beside me", Naruto tried to make him understand his point.

"Dobe, you were ready to give up your dream for me, in return could I not give 12 months of confinement for you?" Naruto stared at him blankly.

"Don't even try to deny it. I know what you had to do in order for me not to get executed"

"Wah, what, how do you even know this?" Naruto started to squirm under the intense gaze of Sasuke. What the hell, he is not supposed to know this, who in the world told him, there was only a select few people there when granny and I had the argument.

"Never mind that, the point is that, you were willing to give up the Hokage position for a traitor like me and you still call yourself selfish" Sasuke shook his head, he didn't know what Naruto was made of, the blind faith that he placed upon people was astounding.

"You aren't a traitor anymore Sasuke," he looked squarely at Sasuke, determined to make him believe that he was not a traitor. Sasuke looked away. Naruto gripped his shoulder, Sasuke winced at the force and looked at Naruto. There was determination, faith, loyalty and belief shining brightly like a flame in his eyes.

"We may not be blood brothers, but I consider you my brother, I promise that I will do anything to keep you safe, my dream of becoming hokage is nothing compared to what I will do for you",

"Same here" Sasuke said shrugging. If that was anyone one else they would have thought that Sasuke didn't care but Naruto knew how to see past the mask that he put on. He didn't need Sasuke to give big speech of reassurance to him those simple words enough for him.

"Teme, you're getting lazy" And just like that the tension seemed to dissipate and it was like the two ninja's could breathe easy, a burden lifted from their chest.

End of flashback

Kakashi was watching them closely, the girl was a hopeless fangirl, however his two male graduates intrigued him. They acted as if they know each other from before. But what he had read from the academy reports told him otherwise. He knew that Naruto was the container for the nine tailed demon fox, all the villagers hated him and the report said that he didn't have many friends. The other one was supposed to be a tortured child, mentally unstable, brooding about revenge, however this does not seem to be the case. Hmm better investigate further.

"Well the real test begins tomorrow" Kakashi started but was cut off by Sakura's screech. Naruto and Sasuke visibly flinched.

"What, what real test?"

"You're real genin test"

"But we already passed the academy test" Sakura counter argued. She was not made aware that there was going to be another test. And by the looks of it only she was left out of the loop judging from her team mate's reaction. Interesting they do not seem to be worried at all. I was definitely sure that I would get a reaction from Naruto but nothing. Something does not add up here.

"Correct, you have all passed the academy test, but that was just to weed out the ones that didn't have a shot at becoming a ninja. I decide whether or not you become a genin or return to the academy. You have about 66% chance of failing" Kakashi eye smiled, because his face couldn't be seen behind his mask any way.

"All right meet me in training ground 7 at five o'clock and make sure you don't eat any breakfast" Kakashi waved and disappeared leaving the three students on the roof.

"Well, see you tomorrow guys" with that Naruto left. Sakura looked at Sasuke, she had been hoping to get some time alone with the raven.

"Umm.. Sasuke now that we are a team do you want to get something to eat and get to know each other" Sakura looked at him hopeful.

"No" He shot her a look and walked towards the door. Sakura stood up disappointed, but hey she will get many chances now that they will be one the same team.

Next day training ground seven…

The sun had barely risen when Sakura entered the training ground. She was the first one there. She rubbed her eyes tiredly trying to get rid of the sleep from them. Honestly she didn't know why they had to start so early. She looked around in the hope of finding Sasuke but she was surprised when she noticed that she was the only one there. it was understandable that Naruto the idiot would be late, but Sasuke was very punctual and he was not here yet. Well there was not much to do, so she would wait.

It around after two hours of waiting that Sakura noticed Sasuke walking towards the training ground. She perked up. He reached her and walked passed her to lean against the railing of the bridge.

"Good morning, Sasuke" She greeted him sweetly,

"Hnn" He barely glanced at her as he replied. He was annoyed at for yesterday, the way that she had treated Naruto. True he used to treat him like that as well but he had changed and re deemed himself. He vowed to himself that he would turn back into his old self. Sakura tried numerous times to strike up a conversation but it was useless, it was as if she did not exist in his eyes. She sighed and remained quiet. Sasuke was thankful for that.

"Hey guys, sorry for being late" Naruto screamed as he entered the training ground happily. Sasuke cringed, no matter how experienced the dobe was he was never going to get rid of the shouting habit.

"Hnn" Sasuke greeted moodily.

"Good morning Sakura-chan" Naruto greeted and went to stand by her. She greeted back and smiled at him. Well that was different. Usually Sakura would scream and shout at him but this morning she was quiet. If anyone bothered to ask they would have realised that she was too tired. In all her young life she had never woke up this early, coming from a civilian family there was no clan training and having parents no chores to attend to. Also she was really hungry. Sasuke remained quiet and Naruto decided that he would catch up on some sleep, he sat down and leaned against the railing of the bridge. Closing his eyes he drifted off, he didn't need to worry about being on guard when Sasuke was there. Sakura stared at him.

"How can he just fall asleep like that" she voiced out her thoughts to no one in particular.

After three hours of waiting around Kakashi finally managed to make an appearance. He looked at the brats, the pink haired girl was sat on the ground lost in her own little fantasy world. No doubt thinking about the Uchiha. Said boy was stood in a lazy posture, conveying that he did not care for much about his surrounding or anything for that matter. It looked like that but then again he wasn't called a genius for nothing. The copy ninja noticed the small things like how one of the boy's hands were resting against his weapons pouch. Or the fact that his posture was lax but ready to spring into action at a seconds notice. However the one that intrigued him most was the blond haired kid, his sensei's son. He was sat eyes closed, like he was sleeping, but his breathing told Kakashi otherwise.

"Sorry I am late everyone, but I got lost on the road of life" Kakashi eye smiled at them. One grunted and the other one screamed.

"Liar" Sakura screamed the three males scowled as the screech hurt their ears.

"Only you can get lost in a one way road" Naruto muttered as he got up and looked at the ninja. His face split into a grin.

"Kakashi sensei what happened to your hair?" the other two of the student noticed his hair, whereas before it was long and gravity defying, now it was slightly shorter looking like he had been electrocuted.

Flashback

Kakashi had reached the roof before the brats and tried to take the damn eraser out of his hair. He tried to pull it off but to no avail, the damn thing was not coming off. The more he pulled at it the more it became stuck. He even used chakra to enhance his hand to pull but that only embedded it more into his hair. He gave up when he sensed the brat. What the hell did the brat put in it to make it stick so hard thought Kakashi to himself. He was starting to hate them more. however this little problem could wait until later, when he was alone.

When he was in the confines of his own house he tried everything to take the eraser off but of course nothing worked. In the end out of frustration he decided to cut his hair to get rid of it. He cut the part where the eraser was stuck and looked in the mirror. Great now it looks as though I have alopecia so to make it even he cut the other side. He looked in the mirror horrified. In the end he trimmed his hair so much that it wasn't defying gravity anymore. Oh he would make the little brat pay for this.

End of flashback

He glared at the blond who was rolling around on the floor laughing. There was a rumbling noise and he looked towards Sakura as did the other two. This surprised Kakashi greatly, Naruto stood up.

"Seems like only one of you followed my instruction?" he looked towards the other two students. One was grinning like an idiot and the other one smirking. Punks.

"Care to explain?" Kakashi asked. Indeed he wanted to know. There was something about these two, he just couldn't put a finger on it.

"Yeah Naruto, you idiot?" Sakura decided to add her two cents in. Sasuke glared at her and she shrank back. Kakashi watched, hmm.

"Well, the way that Kakashi sensei worded it, it was a suggestion to not eat breakfast because he thought we might throw up, it wasn't a direct order" Naruto stated looking Kakashi in the eye.

"A shinobi must be able to decipher the order in an appropriate manner in order to complete the given objective" Sasuke concluded. The way that his male students had spoken it was as if they had years of experience of being a shinobi, but how could this, Kakashi knew that they had just passed their academy test yesterday, yet the manner they speak in, it was like seasoned ninja's.

"What would you have done, if i had given you a direct order then?" Kakashi inquired.

"I would have brought something to eat with me once I get here, preferably ramen" Naruto beamed thinking about the mouth-watering and delicious noodles.

"If there was a time constraint then a nutrition bar or soldier pill would have sufficed" Sasuke replied. Interesting, looks certainly can be deceiving.

"And what would you have done Sakura?" she blinked owlishly, she wasn't really paying attention, all she was seeing was how cool Sasuke looked. Which was a mistake on her part and Kakashi would make sure to break that habit, if he decided to pass this team.

"Okay now that everything's settled let's get on with the test" he got a clock out and walked to the three stumps at the middle of the training field. Memories flooded Naruto and Sasuke's mind but they decided not to dwell on them.

"You have until noon to get these bells from me" he gestured where two bells were secured on his belt.

"But sensei there is only two bells?" Sakura questioned. Honestly this girl was so clueless, it was a wonder that she passed at all. What have the academy been teaching in peace time. The other two looked on with confidence.

"Correct Sakura, good observation the one who is not able to retrieve a bell from will be tied to the post while I eat their lunch. They will be sent back to the academy for retraining" Kakashi stated. He needed to instil some fear in them specially the cocky two little brats. He whipped out his books and flipped to the page that he was reading. He was sure that these brats were no match for him. why should he waste time when he could be reading his precious book.

"Now ready, begin!" he shouted and off they went.

"Hey!" Kakashi looked up. Naruto stood there arms crossed at his chest, stood defiantly and a smirk gracing his face.

"Let's fight fair and square!" Naruto stated and got into a fighting stance. Who does this kid think he is? Kakashi thought to himself. He grinned evilly under his mask, he just presented me with the perfect opportunity to torture him. Now, he will pay for what he did to me.

Naruto dashed forward aiming a kick, however Kakashi blocked with his hand, Naruto did a flip and aimed a punch at him. Kakashi raised his right hand to block when Naruto changed course and kicked him on the left side. Kakashi skidded a few paces on impact, he was not expecting this from Naruto. He looked at him. Naruto stood there face expressionless. He slowly put his book away and stood up straight.

"Ready to take me seriously now?" Naruto cocked his head to one side, amused. At least this time managed to make Kakashi put his smut away. Naruto dashed forward again but this time Kakashi was ready. He blocked all the punches and kicks that were aimed at him. Naruto raised his leg to kick Kakashi but was blocked, Kakashi grabbed his leg and flung him, just as he was about to make impact with the ground, Kakashi body flickered and grabbed his collar. Naruto raised his hand but Kakashi twisted it so it was pinned behind his back with Kakashi pointing a kunai at his throat.

"It's over" Kakashi stated. Naruto grinned. He stamped on Kakashi's foot momentarily stunning the ninja hence loosening his hold, he did a back flip and sent Kakashi sprawling few feet from the impact of his kick. Kakashi was stunned, he felt the pain in his face and no doubt there would be bruise lucky that he had a mask on. But that was one hell of a kick, he had to admit that the kid was strong.

"Sakura" she whirled around to see Sasuke standing there. She looked to her left and right just to make sure that he was talking to her. Sasuke sighed, he was already pissed off at doing this again and on top of that the dobe was making him to Sakura which was way more annoying.

"Do you know the real meaning of this test?" Sakura shook her, unable to talk at the moment. He motioned for her to follow him. They hid behind a bush which was conveniently placed where Naruto and Kakashi were fighting. They were just in time to see Naruto deliver a kick to Kakashi which sent him sprawling a few feet.

"What is that idiot doing?" Sakura asked regaining the ability to talk.

"Stop"

"Wah what?" Sakura asked confused, looking from the fight to Sasuke, his face contorted in anger.

"Stop, calling him names" Sasuke spat out, Sakura looked at him.

"Tell me Sakura, has he ever done anything to you?" She shook her head, apart from being annoying and pulling pranks Naruto had never done anything to her.

"Then why do hate him?" Sakura thought for a moment. Why did she hate him? She recalled from memory a time when they were all little and they were playing in the park, all the parents glared at him and told their children to stay away from Naruto, because he was a monster. Later when she asked her parents about it they didn't answer her instead told her to stay away from that kid.

"My parents told me to stay away from him, that he was a monster" Sakura's chest clenched and she stood paralysed where she stood. As quickly as it had come the feeling dissipated and she looked to Sasuke. The hate that she saw in his eyes was the same that was directed at Naruto.

"Never, I mean never say that about him, or I will personally make sure that your death will be slow and painful making you regret the day you were born" Sakura could do nothing but stare at him.

"Sorry" she managed to whisper. What was going on, when did Sasuke care about Naruto this much. He was willing to go so far as to kill her. For the first time in her life she felt fear like no other.

"Your parents don't know Naruto and neither do the villagers, they are blinded by what they want to see rather than what is in front of them," Sasuke walked away from the bush Sakura following behind.

"And you do?" Sakura questioned. She might not have acted intelligent in front of Sasuke all this time but she was not clueless. Obviously there was some connection between the two and she wanted to find out.

"That is none of your business", he blew out a breath calming himself, Naruto would not be happy if he ended up hurting Sakura. He didn't care what he had to sacrifice for Naruto as long as the blond was safe physically and emotionally.

"I'll ask you again, do you know the real meaning of the test?" Sasuke reiterated changing the topic. The real meaning thought Sakura.

"Think Sakura, we are put in a three man team why?" Sasuke asked, he didn't want to give her the answer but wanted her to figure it. She was not stupid by a long shot but her fan girl tendencies got in the way of her progress sometimes. Sakura pushed aside everything that was cramming her mind at the moment and decided to follow what Sasuke was trying to say. They were put in a three man team with one jonin sensei who was elite. Obviously this served some purpose as she had seen Naruto's performance she could identify that he was having a hard time getting the bells from Kakashi but wouldn't it be better if all three of them attacked at the same time. Sure they were no match for him but at least his attention would be divided rather than focused solely on one and that way they would have a better chance to get one or maybe both the bells. It all made sense now, the real meaning of the test, teamwork.

"Team work" she stated, Sasuke smirked at her and she knew she was right.

"Well done teme, not much blood and gore I see" Sakura was startled, but relaxed when she saw Naruto. Her first instinct was to shout at him for startling her but then she remembered Sasuke's warning. She would figure that out later now they needed to pass this test. Sasuke's brows rose questioningly.

"Well you know..with earlier and stuff" Naruto gestured but dropped the subject as Sasuke shrugged his shoulders.

"So what's the plan?" Sasuke asked Naruto who grinned like a maniac. Sasuke had a bad feeling that Naruto was up to something, poor Kakashi. Sakura watched this exchange with rapt attention filing everything for later. She didn't think that Sasuke would be one to follow others but she had her share of surprises already today.

"How good are you with hand to hand combat?" Naruto directed his question towards Sakura, already a plan forming in his head.

"Better than you, idiot" Sakura retorted but immediately regretted saying this as Naruto's brows rose questioningly. Somehow he had changed, the aura that he emitted was not of an idiot in the academy but a cool level headed person who was capable of taking command.

"I..I mean, not that bad, well I hope so" Sakura stuttered. She had neglected her training, apart from the academy's physical conditioning she had done nothing outside of it opting to instead stalking her love interest the last Uchiha. Naruto nodded his head, knowing what she meant.

"Frontal attack, with Sakura providing a distraction" Naruto commanded. Sasuke and Sakura nodded in understanding. They started to move but Naruto was not following. They stopped and looked around as to what was holding the blond up.

"Sakura, when you punch or kick, I want you to concentrate your chakra to that part of your body" Naruto said. Sakura looked at him confused.

"Dobe, I don't think she can do that" Sasuke intoned, he knew what Naruto was trying to do, he had seen it first-hand the monster strength that Sakura could possess but at this moment in time she isn't that strong.

"She will be" Naruto countered and looked towards Sakura. He punched a nearby tree, when he removed his hand there was a deep indent. Sakura looked on it with awe.

"Now you try" Naruto instructed. Sakura gulped, she didn't know if she could do this and wouldn't her hand hurt. She shook those thoughts out of her head, Naruto had said that she could do it, and she wanted to prove Sasuke wrong. She aimed a punch at the tree, she directed her chakra to her hand. Her hand made contact with the tree, she was surprised that her hand didn't hurt and when she removed her hand there was a small dent, not a deep as Naruto's but a dent none the less. She beamed in happiness and Naruto congratulated her. Sasuke's just hnned.

"It won't work, you have the same result as before," Sasuke stated, Sakura deflated at that. What did she have to do to make him notice her, in a good way that is.

"We're not aiming for the same result, but just something similar, like I said a distraction. With that all three of them started to move towards the clearing where Kakashi was. The clearing came into view and Sakura's jaw dropped. Naruto was there. She looked the Naruto next to her. She whipped her head back and forth between the two Naruto's.

"Shadow clone" Sasuke informed her, although she didn't have a clue what that was.

"How much are we showing?" Naruto asked Sasuke through the telepathic link.

"Don't go overboard, yet don't let him think that we are weak" Sasuke replied using the same link. Naruto looked a bit lost.

"Mid genin power, that way he won't suspect anything" Sasuke clarified, that way he knew the dobe won't reveal his more dangerous skills. Naruto nodded. Back at the clearing the fight was still in full throttle when the hidden three jumped out of the bush and joined the attack. Sasuke switched places with the Naruto clone and aimed a punch at the shocked Kakashi but was blocked , he brought his leg up and delivered kick to his stomach. The kick connected and Kakashi staggered a bit but remained on his feet. He had not been expecting them to jump out at him like that. What surprised and shocked him more was that he was fighting a clone and he hadn't even known it. The blond kid was good and where the hell did he learn that technique. He was bought out of his thought when he felt a presence behind him, he whirled around and dodged the blow of the kunai, but no time to rest as Sakura kicked his knees, he felt them buckle underneath him and he fell. He quickly did a substitution jutsu and replaced himself with a log as Sakura aimed a punch. That girl used chakra on her feet to strength her kick and I saw it on her hand when she was aiming for the punch he thought to himself as he crouched on a tree panting. This group was getting interesting. Before he could ponder anything the three launched into their next barrage of assault. Lucky for Kakashi retreated to a dense part of the surrounding area where there were trees and foliage. Surely they would have a hard time fighting him here. He barely dodged the kunai that was thrown his way from Naruto when he saw Sasuke perform hand signs.

Rat, tiger, dog, ox, rabbit, tiger Kakashi's eyes widened in surprise. How? Sasuke smirked he didn't need to intone the name of the jutsu out aloud it was like second nature to him now. Fire style phoenix flower justsu. Kakashi maneuvered his body so that the flames did not come into contact with him however he did not anticipate the shuriken which were throwing stars concealed in them. He couldn't deflect all of them and ended up with some cuts.

Naruto sped through the hands in flash. Earth style earth military movement jutsu, this technique allowed the user to move enter the ground and 'swim' per say in it for a limited period, which was what he wanted.

There was a whoosing sound and narrowly missed the log that was headed his way which was suspended from a branch using ninja wire. He treated even further into the forest always making sure that he kept his eyes on the three students. He tripped on a ninja wire triggering god knows what. He didn't have seconds of notice when the net pulled up trapping him. However before he was hoisted up he saw a hand shoot out of the ground and swipe the bells from him. Inside the net there was a shower of something thick and sticky coating his body, the next thing he knew was that his body was covered in feathers, all different kind. He grunted and disappeared and reappeared at the clearing only to turn off the alarm that had started to sound. The three ninja ran out into the clearing and stood in front of the jonin.

"Yes we did!" Naruto exclaimed ecstatically, he had to keep up appearance, high fiving Sakura who had stars in her eyes. There was a feeling in her that she could not name, the feeling of achieving something using your own strength and aiding your teammate was awesome. Sasuke stood next to his team mate silent but there was satisfaction in his eyes. Kakashi eyed his team, now that they had passed he could call them that. Although there were some questions that he needed to ask. For some reason he had pictured this test to ended differently. He thought he would beat up Naruto, then put Sakura in a simple genjutsu and defeat Sasuke. How did it end up him being defeated by these brats? He would figure out the mysteries of Naruto and Sasuke at a more leisurely time.

"Congratulations, you all passed" He happily informed them. Indeed he was happy.

"So do you all know the real meaning of the test then?" All three of his students nodded. Sakura spoke up first.

"The real meaning was team work, alone we had no chance at laying a finger on you let alone get the bells,"

"But together we had a better chance, with our strength combined we had a shot," Sasuke explained

"To put aside our differences, personal agenda and collaborate our skills in order to attain the common goal thereby completing the mission" Naruto concluded. Kakashi chuckled. These kids were something else. He could see the potential in them.

"Correct, but that was only part of the exercise" Kakashi started to explain with a distant look.

"This exercise was to see if you would work as a team, to put your squad before yourselves" Kakashi continued.

"Ninja missions are dangerous and it isn't child's play, yes individual skills are important however if you lack team work that leads to failure and death" He walked towards the memorial stone and looked at it.

"This is the memorial stone, the names of the village heroes and some of my closest friends names are on it." Kakashi said, he wanted to make sure that his team understood clearly what he wanted to say.

"In the ninja world those who disobey the rule are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum" he eye smiled at them.

"Well this concludes the exercise, team seven will report for duty tomorrow". He disappeared in a swirl of leaves to report back to the Hokage. One by one the three ninja's left.

At the Hokage's office

All the jonin sensei's stood in a line to report to the Hokage regarding their genin team status. Kakashi suddenly appeared in a swirl of leaves. All head turned to look at him, their eyes widened comically and they tried hard to hide their laughter. The Hokage however took one look at Kakashi and burst out laughing. Kakashi stood there with multicolour feathers stuck to resembling something like a big chicken. Iruka came into the carrying some papers and immediately dropped them seeing Kakashi in this state. He had been invited to this meeting to get an update on the new genins and to process their application into active duty.

"Oh my Kakashi-san what happened to you?" Kakashi looked at him bored and didn't care to explain. He wanted to go home, have a relaxing bath to take of all this crap and to soothe his aching muscle. He must be getting old if the fight had caused him muscle ache or he had just been lazy and didn't keep up with his physical condition training. He preferred the latter excuse. The only reason that he did not go home was that the Hokage had threatened him to be on time or he would burn all his precious books.

"Seems like Kakashi had a run in with Naruto's prank" the ageing Hokage chuckled. Kakashi ignored the comment. The Hokage cleared his throat after a good laugh at Kakashi's expense and commenced the meeting.

"Report of all genins status" the Hokage ordered.

"Team 1 failed"

"Team 2 failed"

"Team 3 failed"

"Team 4 failed"

"Team 5 failed"

"Team 6 failed"

"Team 7" Kakashi paused, everyone looked at him with abating breath. It was widely known that Kakashi had never passed a team, apparently they didn't meet his standards, others thought Kakashi did it on purpose so he didn't have to babysit them.

"Passed" there were collected gasp and some jonin even shouted out a 'what'. The Hokage nodded and resumed the meeting.

"Team 8 passed" Kurenai stated proudly.

Asuma took a long drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke out. Someone was having a coughing fit and Asuma looked at. If he recalled it was a sick looking jonin by the name of Gekko Hayate. He really needs some medical attention thought Asuma to himself amused.

"Team 10 passed" Asuma droned lazily.

"Out of the possible 27 candidates only 9 have passed, making three teams of genin" the Hokage announced.

"You are all dismissed, those whose teams have passed report for duty tomorrow" All the jonins bowed to the Hokage and exited the room. Iruka had been dismissed as well as he had a class to prepare for. The Hokage took a puff from his pipe, when a white haired man with markings on his face appeared through the window.

"Boar!" called the Hokage. The ANBU guard appeared instantly and waited for the orders from the Hokage.

"Call for Fox and Hawk!"

AN-That's all for this chapter stick around for the next one. Thank Hopey1. Review appreciated.