Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter VII: Kakashi's Conclusion
When Naruto woke up the next morning, he was greeted by the tantalizing smell of a ready made breakfast once again. He stared at the food on the table in excitement before remembering with dread that he wasn't supposed to eat breakfast. He miserably relayed the advice that they shouldn't eat lest they puke during the exam to Kurano, who hummed.
"That," he began, "is one of the stupidest orders I've ever heard. Now eat up if you want to stand any chance in what your jounin sensei has planned at all." Naruto was unsure of disregarding his new sensei's suggestion, but decided to abide by Kurano's advice instead. Kakashi-sensei had yet to really do anything to earn his respect, other than being reasonably neutral towards him, so he had no reason to value his words over aniki's. With a shrug, he sat down and started eating. During the meal they discussed general strategies that he could use during the test, despite not knowing what it would entail. With his stomach full, Naruto headed out the door towards the training grounds.
When he arrived, he noticed that their sensei wasn't there yet. He remembered the man's absence the previous day and briefly wondered if it would be a common occurrence, but disregarded the notion.
The idea treasonously popped back into his head again after 10 minutes passed, twice more after 20, several times over after 30, and more times than he could keep track of by the one hour mark. After the first half hour, he gave up on waiting altogether and got up to practice some Uzuken katas.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Sakura asked in an annoyed tone as he stood. She was evidently just as peeved by their sensei's absence as he was, if not more.
"What? Sensei's not showing up any time soon, and I don't want to waste time doing nothing," Naruto argued, before beginning one of his forms. Sasuke looked up for a few seconds as he did so. Although his face betrayed almost nothing of it, if one looked closely they might find that he seemed partial to the idea of getting some training in. After a moment's decision, he too got up and started practicing his own taijutsu style, the Binshoken. He preferred the style over any other, but it was still incomplete without his sharingan, much to his constant aggravation.
Now that they were both practicing taijutsu, Sakura felt oddly out of place, as if she should be doing something as well. The only taijutsu style she knew was the one from the academy. With that in mind, where did Naruto of all people learn a unique style? Unbeknownst to her, Sasuke was idly wondering the same thing. He was subtly observing Naruto's movements out of the corner of his eye as he trained, and what he saw caught his interest, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"Hey dobe," he spoke up. Naruto twitched at the sound of the nickname that had stuck with him throughout his years at the academy. He turned to Sasuke.
"What is it, teme?" he asked briskly. Sakura bristled, but he didn't notice, and Sasuke didn't seem to care.
"What taijutsu style is that?" the Uchiha asked curtly. Naruto stared at him in suspicion, wondering why he wanted to know.
"It's called the Uzuken," he nevertheless answered.
"Never heard of it," Sasuke commented. Naruto scoffed.
"Well, that's fine with me, since I've never heard of yours either!"
Sasuke could have responded that he hadn't even told him what his was called, or alternatively that it was a style unique to the Uchiha clan, but instead he predictably chose to turn away without saying another word. Sakura on the other hand, did not show such restraint.
"Naruto! Stop bothering Sasuke-kun! He's trying to train and you're distracting him!" Naruto turned to the girl with his jaw dropped.
"You've got to be kidding Sakura-chan! He's the one who called me!" Sasuke knew this to be true, and unlike Sakura wasn't blinded by bias, but he still didn't say anything, preferring to keep working on his katas as his two teammates continued arguing.
Another half hour passed, and Naruto and Sakura were getting restless. It was at this point where Naruto groaned melodramatically.
"Well he's officially over an hour late now. I really need to vent my frustration on something. Hey teme, how about a spar?"
Sasuke looked at him slightly condescendingly. "Didn't you learn your lesson in the academy?" he asked.
"I didn't learn jack in the academy. Especially not the lessons," Naruto answered with an unapologetic grin.
He was slightly disheartened to hear the quiet snort of "You got that right," from Sakura.
Sasuke contemplated the benefits of sparring with the dobe for a moment. He normally wouldn't consider it, but his interest had admittedly been piqued by the unfamiliar fighting style the blonde had demonstrated. He decided that he had nothing to lose by fighting him. Practice always improved after all, and he needed to get stronger. Besides, there was nothing better to do before their so called sensei showed up. He shrugged and got into a ready position, and Naruto did the same. He ignored the squeal of "Kick his butt, Sasuke-kun!" that came from Sakura, although Naruto twitched again.
Naruto initiated the spar; whether because he was agitated or because Sasuke wasn't moving was unclear. Sasuke blocked a fluid kick with his forearm, and noted while withholding a grunt that the dobe had not hit nearly this hard the last time they sparred. Naruto followed through, and the clash of two distinct taijutsu styles began. Sasuke was instantly caught off guard. Naruto was showing a grace and finesse in his moves that he had never seen from the blonde before. It took him a moment to realize that he was actually being pushed back, albeit gradually. This realization spurred him to pick up the pace, and the speed of Naruto's counters and parries increased in tandem with his own.
Once he got passed his shock that Naruto was actually keeping up with him, and dare he say forcing him slightly onto the defensive, Sasuke began analyzing the spar thus far. He wasn't going all out yet, but he could tell from the dead last's easy and steady breathing that the same was true for his opponent. He seemed to have more experience with his own style than Naruto did with whichever one he was using, but a few times he was reminded of the fact that his style was meant to be used in conjunction with the sharingan as he was knocked off balance by the circular blows that he failed to predict in time. The style didn't seem to follow a set pattern of movements, but rather randomized the user's next move to fit the circumstances, which meant the only way Sasuke could predict the dobe's next move without his clan's dojutsu was by assuming that his own next attack would be thwarted. Hardly practical for a style that revolved around predicting attacks for the most part. His taijutsu skills themselves were sharp enough that he was still able to counter effectively, but he was coming to the realization - one which he was loathe to acknowledge - that he was at a disadvantage against Naruto. The thought left a sour taste in his mouth. If he could barely keep up with the class clown, however much he had improved, how would he ever manage to kill his brother?
Upon seeing that his opponent was evidently having fun fighting him, he prepared to step up his game again, when a familiar voice interrupted him.
"Well, you two seem to have found a productive way to spend your time," Kakashi said, breaking them out of their rhythm of attacks and counterattacks as they turned to the direction of the three stumps at which Sakura was sitting. Kakashi eyed them speculatively as he continued. "But as much as I encourage a friendly spar among teammates, I must insist that we begin the test now." The "friendly spar" part was spoken in a mildly sardonic tone.
Sakura was now breaking out of her shock at seeing Naruto fight Sasuke on even grounds, though she grounded herself by asserting in her mind that the rookie of the year had been holding back to give him a sporting chance. She turned toward their sensei in outrage.
"You're late!" she screeched. He let out a mock sheepish laugh.
"Well, I was on my way here, but I saw a black cat cross my path, and had to take the long way around.
"Is this black cat going to be a problem again?" Naruto asked in an annoyed but surprisingly controlled tone. "Because you were late yesterday too." It took Kakashi a full second to recognize that Naruto was mocking him. He'd expected him to be just as outraged as his teammate, if not more, if what he'd heard about the blonde was any indication, but he was shockingly calm about it.
"You could say this particular cat has been a recurring problem in my life," he answered, smiling under his mask. Naruto scowled as he got the hint. The words "recurring problem" seemed to stand out in that sentence.
"Then I'll start training from the start next time," he said, thinking about the wasted half hour. To others this may not seem like a long time, but for Naruto it could productively be anywhere from that amount of time to 25 times that. How long was that? Oh yea, math. Whatever.
"12 and a half hours," a voice in his head chastised. The voice sounded suspiciously like Kurano-nii did when encouraging him to think more and not just stumble his way through life. He was getting better at it, he supposed.
He was broken out of his musings when Kakashi set an alarm on top of one of the stumps. "It's set for noon," he stated, before taking out two bells. "Your task is to take one of the bells from me before the time is up. Those who don't have a bell by noon get no lunch. I will proceed to tie you to those stumps and eat right in front of you."
Sakura looked horrified, and Sasuke simply seemed aggravated. Naruto was surprised, but not particularly dismayed, which did not escape the jounin's notice.
'I heard he has a weakness towards not eating. Could he have had breakfast?'
Ignoring the possibility, Kakashi continued. "Those who do not get a bell also do not pass. Which means at least one of you will get sent back to the academy." At least that got a reaction out of him. Although Sakura just looked nervous and Sasuke looked focused, Naruto had a conflicted look on his face. He could tell the other two had already taken the test at face value; they were at least somewhat prepared to leave one of their teammates behind. He was curious to know what decision Naruto would come to if he was more reluctant to do so.
"You're free to use whatever methods you wish. Kunai, shuriken, whatever. You won't get a bell unless you come at me with intent to kill," he said. Sakura objected to this rule, claiming he'd be in danger. "Hmm, we'll just have to see about that," he said nonchalantly. "Alright, start when I tell you." The genin predictably tensed up, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. He closed his eyes for a moment. "And…" he opened them again. "Start!"
Sasuke and Sakura immediately leapt into the trees. While that was expected, the frontal assault that Naruto launched without hesitation was not. Kakashi almost felt inclined to mock him by taking out his book...but that thought was banished when the kid formed a handsign and 20 clones popped into existence. The shadows that they cast confirmed what Kakashi already knew from the familiar handsign: they were corporeal. All 20 of them charged him and initiated the strange style that he had seen the boy use against his teammate earlier. Since he already saw it, he was prepared for the formidable assault that the dead last was able to mount. But with 20 of them attacking him like this, he knew he wouldn't be able to read any time soon. He began systematically popping each clone one by one, using every opening to his advantage. The boy's taijutsu was good, but not at his own level, and his speed and strength weren't quite high enough to make him nervous. He also appeared to know the body flicker technique, but it was nowhere as fast as Kakashi's own. Still, this was a remarkable improvement if what Iruka had told him of the boy's skills was to be believed. His thoughts briefly wandered to the boy's new relative before a rather jarring roundhouse kick impacted with his arm and he snapped back into focus, dispelling the last of the clones.
"A little tip," Kakashi said to the remaining Naruto. "If you hang back and let your clones do all the fighting, your opponent will know immediately which one is the real you." He smiled before starting to walk forward. "And that can get you killed."
Naruto scowled. "Thanks for the advice," he said while fingering a kunai. Kakashi was already running toward him, but he jumped back and threw the projectile. Kakashi got ready to bat it aside as he fingered his own weapon, but his eyes widened slightly as Naruto began making hand seals. The single kunai multiplied into 10, and Kakashi abandoned his previous plan in favor of jumping over the swarm of projectiles. But the blonde had already thrown another kunai to intercept him in midair, and he was forced to switch out with a log via substitution. Well, at least the kid had forced him to use chakra.
"Not bad," he commented as walked out of the underbrush. Naruto's eyes were immediately on him again, although to be fair he kind of revealed his position. The distance between them gave him time to make 20 more shadow clones, each of which threw a shuriken at Kakashi. They proceeded to go through a series of handsigns that Kakashi wasn't expecting but nevertheless recognized.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!" he shouted as he clapped his hands together. A large current of air blew out in front of him, increasing the velocity of the projectiles he had thrown. Kakashi got ready to perform another substitution, but he was able to dodge the hail shuriken by a few inches. Kakashi was surprised by the fact that Naruto knew wind manipulation, but didn't show it.
"Well, this is getting tiresome," he drawled, before gathering some lightning chakra into his raised hand. A widespread current of electricity tore through the air and dispelled most of the clones, and Kakashi went in and dispatched the rest with a few simple jabs before turning to Naruto. Before he could make any more, Kakashi was behind him, holding his hand behind his head.
"Did you even consider hiding?" the jounin asked curiously. Naruto's response was to smirk, which put him slightly on guard.
"Yeah, I did actually." He then vanished in a puff of smoke. Kakashi was moderately impressed now. He'd been fighting a clone who he'd assumed was the original. But when had he done it…? Kakashi thought back and realized it was when he had closed his eyes briefly. Perhaps he wasn't taking this quite as seriously as he should be. He searched for the real Naruto's chakra signature and locked into it, along with those of Sasuke and Sakura. He was about to go after them when his brow furrowed at a rather large spike of chakra. He suppressed a smile when he realized the blonde was stalling. It was an admirable tactic, and his use of clones was effective provided he didn't exhaust himself, but Kakashi could only wonder what he was stalling for. He discreetly made 2 shadow clones himself. They both disappeared into the trees right before 50 Naruto clones flooded the clearing. Kakashi rolled his shoulder and was rewarded with a satisfying pop. Alright, time to get this over with.
Sakura watched in awe at the army of Naruto's continued to combat their sensei. Granted they weren't winning, but those were all solid clones! When on earth had Naruto learned to do this? She tried to reconcile this Naruto with the one from the academy, with little success.
"Sakura, pay attention to your surroundings," came a voice from behind her. Startled, she spun around to face the smiling face of Kakashi-sensei. Before she could so much as scream, her world grew fuzzy and she sank to the ground, unconscious.
"Well, that was easy," the Kakashi clone muttered, before beginning to walk away. He almost stopped when he felt a familiar presence in a nearby tree, but merely smirked and kept walking.
Maybe he does get it.
After Kakashi had put a rather large distance between them, Naruto jumped down from the tree, frowning. So Kakashi-sensei could make shadow clones as well. He wondered why the jounin hadn't sensed him; he wasn't that good at hiding his chakra after all. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, he walked up to Sakura and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Release," he muttered, before stepping backwards as she bolted upright in confusion. She looked around wearily for a moment before her eyes landed on Naruto.
"Naruto! I thought you were...what are you doing here?" she asked.
Naruto grinned. "Oh, just breaking you out of a genjutsu. I'd ask what you were doing, but I'm guessing the answer would be 'getting caught in a genjutsu.' But putting that aside, do you know where Sasuke is? Kakashi will probably go for him next, so we'll want to meet up with him before-"
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura gasped, ignoring the rest of what he had to say as she dashed off towards the distant sounds of a skirmish.
"Hey, wait for me!" Naruto yelled, but the girl paid him no heed. Mildly offended, he grunted in slight annoyance and rushed after her.
"You know, there's a saying for times like these," Kakashi said as he stared down at the glaring eyes of Sasuke Uchiha, who was buried up to his neck in the ground. "The highest nails tend to get hammered down first. Although it's debatable whether or not you're the highest nail, your insistence that you're on a different level than the others does nevertheless draw unnecessary attention to you. Part of a shinobi's job is to deceive the enemy. Think about that before you start boasting next time." With that said, the shadow clone burst into a puff of smoke.
Sasuke struggled a bit as he slowly started to dig himself out of the ground. He'd never been in a situation like this before, but simply thought of it as another type of escape jutsu to be learned. Of course, it was quite distracting when Sakura came out of the trees, saw his position, and started freaking out. Naruto was walking behind her, seemingly in a depressed mood, but once he caught sight of Sasuke's predicament, he burst out laughing. Sasuke thought he might need to learn the shadow clone jutsu just so he could glare at them both simultaneously.
After their initial reactions, they calmed down and helped dig his body out of the ground. "So," Naruto began as Sasuke dusted himself off. "I think it's safe to say that we need to work together. None of us were able to get the bells, and we're running out of time." He grinned. "Although I think it's fair to say that I did better than you guys."
The tides turned now as they both turned to glare at him, causing him to sweat a bit. "So...anyway...anyone got a plan?"
"I've had one from the beginning," Sasuke grunted. "And it doesn't involve either of you two. I was able to touch the bell. Next time I'll get it."
Naruto was getting increasingly annoyed by the Uchiha's pompous attitude, but persisted. "Well, a few of my clones managed to get pretty close too, but sensei still dispelled them all. And he doesn't even seem to be trying that hard to be honest. At least if we go at him together we can catch him off guard," he grudgingly reasoned. Sakura narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why are you so adamant about working together? You know that only two of us can pass right? It hardly makes sense for all three of us to cooperate," she said. Naruto gave her a hurt look.
"So in other words, you want to pass along with Sasuke and leave me behind right?" he inferred. Sakura's eyes widened.
"What? No-I mean-I just think-"
"I just think we should work as a team because we are one!" Naruto interrupted. "No matter what the rules of this stupid test are, that doesn't change the fact that we're supposed to be a three man cell!" he came close to shouting. "Maybe I don't get this damn test, but I won't just abandon people because I'm told to! Even if not all of us can pass in the end, that's better than none of us even getting a bell right?" Sakura was now looking at the ground in guilt, but his words didn't seem to move Sasuke much.
"Hn. You should save your concern for yourself. I've never needed a team, and I don't need one now." With that said, he began walking towards the clearing. Sakura wanted to follow after him, but hesitated as she looked back at Naruto, who just looked disheartened. He started grumbling as he reluctantly followed behind the Uchiha, and Sakura in turn followed behind him. Little did they know that their little argument had an audience.
From the branch of a nearby tree, the second Kakashi clone hummed in thought. "Well, that was enlightening," he said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Kakashi received the intel from his second clone and frowned. This was quite the difficult position he was in. Based off of what he had just seen and heard from Naruto, he was tempted to let the kid pass. But the others hadn't listened to him, and it wasn't as if he could really pass one of them and not the others. Contrary to what the rules of the test implied, there were no jounin senseis with one man genin teams, unless you counted apprenticeships. He regretted it, but if Sasuke and Sakura didn't shape up soon, he would most likely be forced to fail Naruto. The thought continued to bother him as the three genin came back into the clearing for another round.
For a fleeting moment he thought they may be working together after all, but what followed was not at all what he wanted to see. The three weren't in synch at all as they all scrambled for the bells. Naruto was doing what he'd been doing, namely flooding the area with clones, some of which attacked head on while others barraged him with multiplied kunai and shuriken. Sasuke was blowing successive fireball jutsu at him, dispelling Naruto's clones in the process. Sakura was attempting to distract him with academy level clones as she made a run for the bells. Needless to say, it wasn't that hard to evade them all with a few well timed substitutions and earth release tunneling. Most of the clones, at least the ones that weren't burnt to death by Sasuke, were dispelled by his lightning release and water release techniques, the latter of which suppressed any of Sasuke's fireballs that were difficult to dodge, and Sakura wasn't even a threat as he played a purely evasive game with her. It wasn't long before the alarm sounded, and Kakashi was left disappointed as the three genin deflated.
"Uuuuugghh!" Sakura yelled. "This makes no sense! Why am I the only one tied to the stump!" she complained as she writhed helplessly against the ropes.
"Who knows," Naruto replied. "Maybe it's because you were the only one who wasn't able to touch a bell?" he speculated. His initial reaction to the situation was to cut Sakura free and risk Kakashi's wrath, but he still harbored some resentment to her attitude earlier if he was to be honest with himself. And that confused him. He loved Sakura, so why was he mad at her? Every time he thought back to how she had repeatedly dismissed him, his stomach tightened in anger, and he couldn't explain it. He had never really found fault in her temperamental ways before, so why was now different? He thought back to the way Kurano-nii had accepted him so readily, so unconditionally when he had arrived, and found himself wondering if Sakura would ever do that. The answer he came up with was not reassuring. The more he compared Sakura's complete disregard for his existence to Kurano's continuous support, the more his interest in Sakura just seemed wrong. Of course, then he would chastise himself for comparing a brother to a love interest, but another part of him would continue to traitorously ask if this is what being in love was really supposed to feel like. Was he in love with Sakura at all, or was it just a shallow crush, a childhood infatuation?
He was broken out of his thoughts by the growling of said girl's stomach. After the alarm rang, Kakashi had scolded them about the importance of teamwork, and revealed that the entire point of the test was to see if they could work together despite the stifling odds as the rules of the test divided them. Naruto had felt like kicking himself. He should have known it was something like that. Once the lecture ended, he just felt miserable. He had been willing to work together, yes, but if he had ended up getting a bell in the process, would he really have given it up in the spirit of teamwork? Would he really have had the guts to go back to the academy and let his teammates move on? He just wasn't sure. Kakashi had decided to give them another chance, so long as they didn't give Sakura any food, but he already felt like he was failing again somehow just by listening to him in that regard. He stopped eating for a moment. Despite being more than a little annoyed at her, he couldn't help but sympathize with Sakura. He would hate to have to skip two meals in a row. He was all too familiar with the pangs of hunger, and it didn't bode well for him to watch someone suffer through that. Not only that, but she was still his teammate, and he had quite literally just learned this lesson a minute ago. With a sigh, he stood up and took out a kunai. Sakura looked startled.
"H-hey! W-what are you-?" she was interrupted as Naruto cut the ropes with one swift motion. They fell to the ground around her, and she looked at him in open confusion. Sasuke had stopped eating, and now looked on with a raised eyebrow as Naruto handed Sakura his lunch.
"Eat," he said simply. "I didn't listen to sensei and ate breakfast, so I'll be fine. You need this food more than I do." Sakura looked at the food in her hands hungrily, and mumbled a sincere thank you before digging in. Sasuke looked down at the nearly finished tray of food in his hands and grimaced before handing it to Naruto, who looked at him questioningly.
"You seem to eat more than I do, and I don't want you dragging us down because of hunger when we try this again," he said. "Besides, I was almost finished. You can have the rest."
Naruto grinned as he finished off the last of the food in the tray. "I think you're getting soft, Uchiha." The boy scoffed.
"Whatever. It turns out you were right about working together. This is just my way of getting even. I refuse to be a burden, dobe."
Before Naruto could come up with a clever response, lightning crackled before their eyes before Kakashi materialized in front of them in a shower of sparks. "YOU THREE!" he shouted, which actually seemed out of character for him but nonetheless terrifying, causing Naruto to gulp, Sakura to tremble, and Sasuke to get ready for a fight. "YOU...PASS!"
The statement hung on the air for a long while before Naruto worked up the nerve to speak. "Er...what?"
"You guys are the first team I've passed. Everyone else would just do whatever I told them. A bunch of idiots, really. A ninja must see underneath the underneath. In the shinobi world, those who disregard the rules are trash. But those who disregard their comrades are worse than trash."
The three new genin had mixed reactions. Sakura was relieved that they passed, and was starting to seriously rethink her attitude towards the boy who had just allowed them to do so. Sasuke was allowing a small smirk to manifest on his face. Naruto was staring at Kakashi in slight awe. 'He's...pretty damn cool,' the blonde decided. Kakashi gave them all a thumbs up. "That concludes our training for today. All of you pass! Starting tomorrow team 7 will begin it's official duties!"
With that, the four new squad members made their way out of the training grounds, Naruto babbling happily about ramen all the while.
A/N: Fun fact - Binshoken means Nimble Fist. At least I think it does.
