Seems I'm procrastinating as of late. My apologies for late updates again...

Here's the next update! Action's gonna start!

Chapter 9

In the outskirts of Konoha, there is wildlife that ceases to amaze few who walk by it. The walls that stretch tall over the evergreens and large oaks let their shadow linger in the beating sun, clouds cool the blaze of the day, the breeze brings life to every frozen moment.

As the buildings stand and villagers bustle about their usual day, it's hard to find a sore thumb in such a unique crowd. And yet, there was one walking. His attire was unusual. It was a white cloak with a black and intricate design that swirled to the bottom near his dark boots. He wore a loosely tied mask, somewhat like a scarf, and a white headband with no symbol. His clothing was light, but it flopped over his body in a way ninja never enjoyed, yet he walked like a shinobi. He held his weight like one.

He made his way past some bunches of crowds and forced his head downwards, not looking up. His hands held to his side, gloved and covered. He stopped glancing upward for a moment to find the Konoha academy standing there, right in front of him. His hands lifted as he preformed signs, fingers crossed, thumbs strait, palms firm, and then suddenly, gone. His figure disappeared as if he never walked the grounds, and the villagers moved on without seeming to realize his absence.

xXxXx

Iruka appeared in the doorway of his classroom, his face unreadable, but as soon as the click was heard when his hand turned the knob, he grew a smile and walked inside. "Okay class, as I'm sure you already know, today will be your last day at the academy," he smiled.

Cheers erupted in the classroom as he looked down at his paper. "Now, let me read off some team names…"

Naruto nudged Sasuke, "I bet we'll be on the same team," he whispered, earning a loos of curiosity from the Uchiha.

"Ha, like that would happen." Sakura leaned over in their conversation and gave a knowing look to Naruto who, in return, winked.

"I bet… uh… well you have to take me out to ramen if I'm right. Whaddya say, Sasuke?" the blond asked enthusiastically. His hands perched on the nape of his neck and his eyes burned in determination at his friend. He was really craving ramen today…

Sasuke sighed, "If it'll get you to stop fidgeting," he smirked, "You have to buy me my ninja gear if your wrong."

"Deal," Naruto replied almost instantly. Sasuke again, glanced at him in his side-ways view and gave a look of curiosity to Sakura, who normally could tell what the weirdo was thinking. However, he was disappointed to find her not paying attention to their bet and playing with the spare sheet of paper on her desk.

He looked back to Naruto and poked him in the arm. "Oi, what do you have planned, dobe?"

Naruto clicked his tongue, "Name calling isn't nice, Sasuke."

"Common, I know you have something up your-"

"Team seven; Naruto Namikaze-"

Their conversation stopped.

"Sakura Haruno,"

Sasuke gulped.

"And Sasuke Uchiha,"

And there goes his allowance.

Naruto fist pumped with Sakura and gave a foxy grin to Sasuke, "You heard that clearly, right Sasuke? Looks like your treating us!"

"What? 'Us' ? I do not remember agreeing to pay for Sakura," Sasuke said, pushing his eyebrows together.

Naruto gave an innocent look, "Oops, I must have forgotten. You don't mind, right Sasuke?" he played, batting his eyelashes in a quite gay-ish manner. In a moment, Sasuke had stood up, and moved to the desk in the back, trying to make a point. The laughing between Naruto and Sakura, however, didn't stop.

As Iruka continued to call teams and names, the class was slowly falling silent again as he announced the last team. "Class," he began, "go to the assigned spot I announced with your team, and you'll meet you're squad leader there."

Sasuke raised his hand, but quickly put it down again. Both Naruto and Sakura were relaxed in their chairs having a dull conversation. Maybe Sasuke missed the cue that they were waiting in the classroom, because Iruka too, left without another word.

Minutes past and teams could be seen leaving the academy though the classroom window they sat in. "Where the hell is he?" Sasuke muttered.

Naruto shrugged, turning around to face him, "Probably late?"

"No duh," Sasuke furrowed his brows, "But he's a Jounin. Jounin shouldn't be late," the Uchiha clasped his hands together and lowed his head to the desk. "Some ninja we get for a squad leader."

Sakura sighed, "You have no idea," she whispered, exchanging a look with Naruto before both gave a short laugh. "I'm sure he'll be here, Sasuke."

"Well he better come quickly-"

The door opened and their voices fell silent. Honestly, Naruto wasn't sure if Kakashi would be able to convince his father to assign them all together. Obito Uchiha was supposed to train Sasuke so that he could get training with the sharingan, but since they were waiting for a while, it was pretty obvious it'd be Kakashi. Hopefully. Not that there was anything wrong with Obito, but Kakashi had been their sensei for years…

"Yo," a dull voice rang through the silence that raged in the room. "Sorry I'm late,"

Kakashi entered the room, looking at the three students that sat down. Sasuke, who seemed to be the same, Sakura, who was no longer scolding Naruto, and Naruto, who no longer needed too much scolding.

They'd grown up.

Sasuke gave a tired sigh, "Hn."

"I'm a little bit surprised, sensei. You're a tad bit early," Sakura said as Kakashi signed them to get up and follow him. As serious as Sakura was, Sasuke took it as sarcasm.

"You guys know where the rooftop access is?" Kakashi asked, getting his hand signs ready. When they all nodded, Sasuke with a confused face, he poofed away leaving the Genin standing there.

"Rooftop access? What, are we meeting on the roof?" However, the only thing that responded was the clacking shoes of Sakura and Naruto running down the hall. "Hey- wait up!"

When they had reached the roof, Kakashi was already sitting down with a book pulled out. "Took you long enough…"

"We ran the whole way, Kakashi!" Naruto shook his fist in the air threateningly.

It went unnoticed, however, when Kakashi asked them to sit down. "Now you know the drill," Kakashi drawled.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "What drill?"

Sigh, "Name, dreams, hopes for the future, favorite things… and whatever you think we need to know."

"I'll start!" Naruto grinned. "I like Ramen and I enjoy training with my dad. My dream is to become a good Hokage that will protect the village. I guess my hopes for the future is to have a family of my own, settle down and all, and then that's about it."

Sasuke looked at him funny, "You don't know your own name?"

"What?" the blond asked dumbly.

"Your. Name. You didn't say your name, dobe."

With an eye roll, Naruto announced, "Naruto Namikaze's the name."

"Entusiasm, I like it," Kakashi said with a fake eye-smile.

"Note the sarcasm," Sakura said dryly. "I'm Sakura Haruno, and unlike Naruto, I actually know my name-"

"Ahg! You guys are mean-"

"I enjoy medical ninjutsu, my dream is to become the greatest medical kunoichi, and my hopes for the future is to have a calm peaceful life. I suppose a family could fit into that," she thought out loud. "My favorite thing is spending time with friends," she said after a few moments.

Kakashi nodded, "Seems good enough." He ignored the pestering glare from the pink headed genin and turned to Sasuke. "Your turn, Sasuke."

Sasuke nodded, "I train with my dad and my brother, my hope is to become a strong ninja and redeem my clan, my dream is…" he looked towards the Hokage monument. "Becoming Hokage, the strongest yet, and lead this village into a new era."

Kakashi's eyes widened and looked in awe at the Uchiha in front of him. Some dream… compared to the last.

"Jeez Sasuke," Naruto game him a dead look. "Way to ruin my dream." Of course, similar thoughts to Kakashi's were running through Naruto's mind. His friend had truly been redeemed.

Kakashi smiled, "Now… how about the test?" It was early, but since Kakashi knew they would pass anyway, he didn't want to waste much time.

"Test?" Sakura played along, trying to hide her amusement.

Kakashi, playing along, put a thoughtful finger to his chin. "Oh? You don't know? You guys aren't Genin yet."

"But," Sasuke looked at Kakashi with suspicion. "We graduated from the academy."

"Well you see, the academy is for sorting the hopeless students from the weaklings." He grinned, his eyes squinting an an unreadable manner. "This test will sort the weaklings from the okay ones," he explained, getting a book from his pouch. "Whenever you guys are ready."

Naruto, who was now standing up, and to Sasuke's amazement, taking this whole "not being Genin yet" pretty well, placed his hands in his pockets. "Rules, sensei?" the oh so "innocent" Naruto asked.

Kakashi knocked the side of his head, the fake smile still unnaturally plastered to his face. "Oh, it must've slipped my mind."

Sasuke face-faulted. 'Am I dreaming? This seems pretty… lame.' His thoughts were halted however, when he heard a ringing coming from Kakashi's waste. "These bells, each of you has to get one." There was silence as Kakashi watched his three students. He waited, and waited, and waited-

"There's only two bells." Sasuke said dumbly, not really wanting to be the one to speak up. However, his two idiot teammates must've not noticed.

"Then one of you will go back to the academy, no? And if you're not prepared to kill me… you won't get the bells." Kakashi looked up at them, both eyes flickering between each student. "Let's see who's got the skill here… Go."

All three flashed into the near-by brush and stayed quiet and low. Naruto, who had gotten into a tree to see the high ground, Sakura, who had found a cozy spot in between a fallen tree and some bushes, and Sasuke who was crouched close enough to the battle field to see, and far enough to be out of sight. Kakashi waited in the center for a moment, looking around, giving a satisfied nod he couldn't see them.

Naruto shuffled out of the tree and quietly made his way to Sasuke, his feet barely making a sound, however, the Uchiha turned around. "Naruto," he whispered expectantly.

"Look, I have an idea." The blond Namikaze squeezed under the bush and leaned down beside the proud raven.

"Oh no," Sasuke's eyes widened. "This could be dangerous."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "You know, just because I'm a little dense-" Sasuke snorted, "It doesn't mean I'm completely useless."

Sasuke just shrugged. "So what's the plan?" he asked. "What's your brilliant idea?"

Naruto grinned, "All three of us go at him at once. Teamwork, that's my plan." He grabbed a kunai from his pouch and nodded towards where Sakura was craftily hiding. "Sakura-chan's good with Chakra control, and with the moves she's been practicing lately, she should be able to get Kakashi off track, while he's off track, I'll use a basic wind jutsu to push him towards Sakura-chan's attack. That's where you come in," Naruto turned towards his friend. "You're the fastest here, you'll run towards him while he's flustered and grab the two bells."

Sasuke nodded, "He's Jounin, and trianed to not fall for distractions," Sasuke said expertly. "How can we know he won't just use a replacement jutsu?"

"We don't," Naruto sighed, "We just have to bank on the little hope that he thinks we're stupid."

Sasuke almost lost his balance in his crouched position. "How on earth would him thinking we're retards actually help us!?" he hissed, making sure not to yell.

"Cause retards wouldn't go for distraction," the blond responded.

Sasuke again shook his head, "There has to be a better way to get around him… that idea may work, we need one that will work. Plus, we've got time to think."

"Sasuke's right," a voice spoke behind them as they turned to see Sakura. "I've got a better plan, one that will work."

There was a brief silence. "Well, what is it?" Naruto pushed, obviously open for another plan.

Sakura scrunched beside them and hunched her back to make sure she wasn't visible to the Jounin. "I've set up a simple kunai trap on the other side. It's aiming right for Kakashi-sensei," she said. Both Uchiha and Namikaze still listening. "Naruto, can you disguise yourself as a kunai?" Sakura questioned, Naruto nodded and formed a hand sign without activating the jutsu, "You and your shadow clone need to go to the other side. You'll disguise yourself as a kunai and then let your clone throw it at Kakashi…" Sakura furrowed her brows, "If this trick works."

"What trick?" Naruto asked, turning back to Kakashi.

"Just another second…" Sakura pushed herself to the ground. "Duck!" she hissed, both boys ducking almost instantly as a snap was heard from the other side of the clearing. However, nothing flew overhead. "Just as I hoped," Sakura smirked. Kakashi had caught the kunai with his first finger, it now hung loosely from his hand as he continued to read the book.

Sasuke turned to look at her, "I get it… you want Naruto to turn into a kunai so Kakashi will catch it. He'll grab the bells easily that way," he said in a low tone. "But he'll be able to sense Naruto easily, the dobe doesn't know what lowering Chakra even means," Sasuke gave a frown.

"That's where distractions come into view. Sasuke, you'll through a fireball jutsu at him first, then I'll come in from behind," Sakura explained.

Naruto nodded, understanding why Sakura would want Sasuke to go first. Sasuke, the one who hadn't come back in time with them, would be the one who wouldn't know the true meaning behind this test, so Kakashi shouldn't suspect anything from the proud Uchiha… it was brilliant!

"Got it!" Naruto grinned, making signs and creating a shadow clone. "Come on, you know the drill," he said to the clone who nodded enthusiastically as they raced towards the other side of the clearing.

When Sakura saw the kunai fly though the air again and as Kakashi caught it again without lifting his eye, she nudged Sasuke to run out with his fire-ball jutsu. Sasuke stood, racing out and quickly making the signs, "Fireball jutsu!" he yelled, huffing air out an creating the intense flames of the Uchiha clan.

Sakura ran towards the other side and jumped out, pumping Chakra into her fists and letting it loose when she his ground right behind Kakashi. The Jounin, who followed Sasuke's movements easily, just caught Sakura's attack and jumped up in the air, swiftly landing back down on the ground with a satisfied smile.

"Not quick enough guys, but nice teamwork," he nodded, putting his book away, "I guess I'll save that for later…" he said.

"Actually," a voice chirped behind him, "You can start reading again, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi turned to see Naruto holding two bells in his hand. That foxy grin that he had almost all the time was plastered to his face as he jingled the bells in front of him. "Guess who got the bells," Naruto laughed, bring his arm up to throw the bells to Sasuke and Sakura.

However, in a small second, Kakashi poofed away and reappeared behind Naruto, a kunai held to his neck. "Not you," Kakashi said as the bells poofed away too. "Tsk tsk, you should have thought about that, Naruto…"

And to both Sakura and Sasuke's amusement, the blond poofed away… again. This time, a kunai held to Kakashi's neck, and Naruto snatching the bells. "I did, jeez Kakashi, have a little faith, eh?"

Tossing the bells to his teammates, Naruto dropped the kunai and gave a fist pump to the air above him. "Ha! Take that Kakashi-sensei! Looks like we beat you good!" he bragged, prancing over to Sasuke and Sakrua.

Kakashi just watched the scene play out before him. Sure, he had let them get the slip on him, and he was perfectly fine with it. This team… it would redeem their unlucky past. With another large and satisfied smile, Kakashi proudly announced, "You pass."

xXxXx

Honestly, I think this scene was weak, but for all you readers, I figured you didn't want to re-read the bell test, so I just made it simple and to the point. The next chapter will be a small time skip and another transition with more characters. As well as Emi! :D I haven't really included her… I'm planning too… just need to actually get her character in the works now. So next chapter, that'll hopefully happen.

Anyway, as usual, thanks for reading guys! I'll update when I can/want to! :D

-LovelySheree