Chapter 10: First Rodeo's
-The Next Day-
"Now then, as you know, today we'll be holding the true Genin exams..." Iruka was interrupted with a knock at the door. He answered to find the Hokage in front him.
"Hokage-sama!" Shouted a surprised Iruka.
"Iruka, I'm changing the exams into a practical test. I looked over your evaluation reports of your students, and formed them into balanced teams. Their tests will be decided by their Jonin Senseis," spoke the Hokage as he handed Iruka a list.
"Very well," Iruka said as he began to look over the sheet. "Okay, I will break you off into teams. Your Jonin will decide from there."
Iruka then began to read off the teams. Both Sasuke and Naruto listened for their names, as well as Goku. "Okay now, the new Team Seven will be led by... Hatake Kakashi, and shall consist of... Uchiha Sasuke..." Sasuke's expression remained blank, "Haruno Sakura..." a loud squeal of delight could be heard throughout the room. "And finally, Uzumaki Naruto." This caused the Uchiha and Uzumaki to have slight smirks and the Haruno to slump in defeat at gaining Naruto.
"Team Eight shall be led by...Uzuki Yugao, and consist of Son Goku..." Goku looked at Iruka with surprise, recognizing that name almost instantly. "Hyuga Hinata..." The two Genin then lightly smiled. "...And Nara Shikamaru." Iruka then stated that Team Nine was still in action, and nobody honestly cared.
However, Shikamaru appeared very surprised at this sudden turn of events, not knowing why he wasn't placed with Choji and Ino. 'I could have sworn they would have put me on a team with Chouji and Ino. Our parents' teamwork was legendary and our parents even mentioned talking to Hokage-Sama about purposely recreating the team through us! Not that I'm going to complain: I would work well with Goku and Hinata as well. They're very strong in their own rights, and that makes my job that much easier. Just wondering, what could have changed his mind...'
"Team Ten, which will be lead by Sarutobi Asuma is consisted of..." Naruto knew the name. 'He's that wind using Jonin Kakashi told me about. I wonder why Jiji didn't put me on his team.' Iruka continued. "... Akimichi Choji, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Yamanaka Ino."
"Well, now that you all know your teams, you are free to take a one hour break for lunch. You will then come back here to meet up with your Jonin Sensei. You are dismissed for now!" Iruka informed the students. Iruka then left the vicinity, leaving everyone to converse with one another. Goku, Sasuke and Naruto then walked over to each other.
"Well, I guess it makes sense we're all not on the same team. He did say that they were balanced. I guess having us three on one team would be overkill," spoke Naruto, then looking at Sasuke. "But at least two of us are, which still makes this thing unfair for the rest of y'all."
"Yeah... but why did I have to get stuck that useless fan-girl on my team?" replied Sasuke, annoyed as hell.
"Well, I dunno. I guess it's up to us to make her more useful then," The redhead replied, scratching his shaggy unkempt hair.
"Yeah, she's probably there to balance you guys out, which would mean she's a rather miserable shinobi," added Goku, snickering.
Goku then looked over at Naruto and Sasuke. "Looks like you both have your work cut out for you. Enjoy it, hehehe..." Goku walked off, laughing at their predicament.
"Okay, so does anyone wanna go over areas of weakness and strength so we can properly function as a team instead of being in shambles?" Naruto asked.
"Good point," Sasuke muttered with a low voice, "Go first since you asked then."
"Fine! My strengths are my Chakra reserves, Taijutsu, physical strength, speed, endurance and stamina. I'm decent when it comes to Ninjutsu, and I'm a novice on Fuuinjutsu. My weaknesses are Genjutsu, pinpoint accuracy, planning before something, and perception cuz' I can't seem to spot too many traps," Naruto admitted, "Oh, and I like to think on my feet in a fight."
"Hn. My strengths are Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, speed, physical strength, weapon accuracy and perception. I'm decent on my endurance and stamina, my Chakra reserves are good enough, second highest in the class. My weaknesses are Genjutsu, Fuuinjutsu, and the ability to improvise in a fight as I go," Uchiha Sasuke admitted. To think that Sasuke would admit his fallacies was astounding, well to Naruto at least.
"I'm decent at Taijutsu and great at thinking, but that's all. I don't have any particular strengths; I try to keep a balanced style," spoke Sakura, making her teammates sweat-drop, knowing that she couldn't really do anything to help them. She just wanted to impress her Sasuke-kun, that's all.
-Exactly One Hour Later With Team Eight-
"Hey guys! So, I guess we're going to be on a team together from now on," spoke Goku, scratching his unkempt hair with a sheepish smile. "So um, what should we do while we wait for Yugao-sensei?"
"Alright, we already know each other's names. So what do you guys specialize in?" Inquired Shikamaru, not really knowing either of his fellow teammates too well.
"I primarily specialize in my clans Jyuken Taijutsu," replied Hinata, "I guess I'm also decent on Ninjutsu, even though I only know one jutsu."
"Shikamaru is the smartest person in our class," added Hinata, putting the Nara in the spotlight, "And that would make him the teams strategist."
"Ah, that's good, because I've been told that I'm not the sharpest kunai of the bunch. Don't get me wrong, I'm not some ignorant dumbass, just not the best strategist to put it lightly," spoke Goku. "Anyways, my specialty is straight up Taijutsu, because that's all I can do."
"Oh yeah! I can do Ki techniques as well, I almost forgot," added the Saiyan, scratching his spiky for the second time. "What do you specialize in Shikamaru?"
"What a drag. Well, outside of clan jutsu's... I haven't really found my niche to be honest," The Nara said, shrugging his shoulders and yawning.
"So, already talking strategy eh?" It wasn't long until the classroom began filling up and their teacher walked in. She was a slender woman whose age they couldn't really tell. She looked around eighteen to twenty two years old, though she definitely could have been younger or older than that. She had beautiful, vibrant purple hair and wore red lipstick.
"Y-Yugao-sensei?" Stammered the Saiyan, whom recognized her right off the bat as she was the prime caretaker of him and Naruto when they were younger. Nostalgia found itself flashing through the boys mind, and he cracked a smile.
"Smart boy, yes, indeed I am," spoke Yugao, a smile on her face as well. "Damn Goku, you've grown so much taller since the last time I saw you that barely recognize you!"
It had been the truth, the Saiyan could nearly look his future sensei dead in the eye, which was a testament from how much he sprouted up from being a little squirt.
"Okay, as you all know, my name is Yugao and I'll be your sensei, assuming you pass the test I have set up for you," she reintroduced herself, but to her whole squad this time around and not just Goku.
"So, you must be Nara Shikamaru?" Asked Yugao for confirmation.
The Nara simply nodded in response.
"Which makes you Hyuga Hinata?" Spoke the Ex-anbu.
Hinata nodded in response just like Shikamaru did a few seconds prior.
"Very well. After we get to know each other more in a restaurant, I'll administer your test," spoke Yugao in finality, "Follow me, I'll treat you all to lunch."
-With Team Seven-
Team 7 was the last team in the room after all the other Teams had left, including Team Ten. "WHERE IS HE!?" Sakura screeched loudly, cracking her fists in anger. Sasuke and Naruto covered their ears before looking at Sakura with annoyance.
"I told you Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei is late for anything other than an A or S-rank mission by at least two hours," Naruto said, but Sakura just ignored him.
"Err; I'll kill him, HOW DARE HE BE LATE!"
Sasuke just groaned. She was overreacting but she was actually right, something they could agree on for once. How could a Jonin that was supposed to be the best of the best be two hours late to everything other than A or S-ranked missions. It made no sense. It made Sasuke wonder how his surrogate time-to-time sempai Kakashi even got his position as all around THE BEST Jonin in the village.
Their cries were answered soon after as a man walked into the room, that man, Kakashi Hatake. "Yo," the man said, however he was interrupted with a, "YOU'RE LATE!" by Sakura. Needless to say, Kakashi just looked at her and yawned, not really giving a damn about what she just said.
"Let's see, my first impression of you is…I really hate you."
Sasuke's eye twitched, Naruto smirked evilly, and Sakura face planted. She stood preparing to yell at Kakashi, but she saw him walking out the door. "Meet me on the roof of the academy ASAP, and by that I mean in no more than five minutes, also known as two minutes. Get moving." The Hatake then disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Same old bastard," Sasuke muttered under his breath as he stood and walked out the room, followed by Naruto and Sakura. As per Kakashi's promise, he was actually at the academy rooftop in two minutes, which rather surprised Naruto and Sasuke as they thought that he would be two hours late, again. It wasn't abnormal. As Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto sat down on the steps in front of Kakashi, he began to speak.
"Hey, I'm Kakashi Hatake as you all know. Now, let's get straight to the point shall we. Introduce yourselves, like hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, crap like that."
"Can you go first, as an example?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi looked at her strangely. 'I chose her because she was the top of the class in academics, even though I knew she lacked in the shinobi department. I wanted Hinata till I realized Sakura would be a better match for Sasuke and Naruto in a fight than Hinata, yet she needs an example to understand how to do something this simple?'
"Okay, I guess I'll go. I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…"
Naruto smiled as Sakura put her head down, realizing that all he did was tell them his name. However, Naruto was going to rain on Kakashi's parade.
"His name is Kakashi Hatake. He likes reading smut, and likes to eat miso soup. He dislikes anything fried or sweet, and people who say his smut is horrid. He went on 197 D-rank missions, 190-C-rank missions, 414 B-rank missions, 398 A-rank missions, and 82 S-rank missions. His favorite hobby is training, and reading his smut. He's a former Anbu captain as well, but I dunno about his dreams."
Kakashi growled at Naruto, "I shouldn't have let you go into my records, damnit." Naruto simply smiled with a prankster gleam in his eyes. Kakashi then sighed and pointed towards Sakura.
"You first."
"My name is Sakura Haruno. I like...," she giggled and looked at Sasuke, blushing at her. "I mean who I like is..." She giggled again. "And my dreams are...," she blushed absurdly and looked at Sasuke once again.
'Kami save me,' Sasuke prayed, placing his hands on his face in shame, 'This is absolutely pathetic.'
"As for your dislikes…" Kakashi trailed off, the answer being extremely loud. "INO-PIG AND NARUTO-BAKA!"
"I see," Kakashi said slowly, looking at her strangely, before pointing towards Sasuke. "You're next, broody."
This received a low scowl from the Uchiha, but he answered anyways. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream...because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan... and kill a certain... someone."
'So cool,' Sakura thought in her fantasies, gushing.
"Teme," Naruto mumbled. Sakura was about to hit him before Sasuke replied with a mutter, "Dobe," under his breath. The two butted heads, lightning shooting between their eyes as a sign of an intense rivalry.
"Say it again, and I'll kick your ass!" They both said, making it into a unified shout, a hair's length from resorting to attacks. Kakashi just sighed and pushed them apart with one-hand for each Genin.
"Break it up. Now, you're last, Naruto."
Naruto laughed. "Fine. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and my precious people. I hate the three minutes it takes to get ramen ready and arrogant pricks that think everyone else is beneath them. Finally I have my dream. The only one is to become the Greatest Hokage of all time, that way people will look at me like I'm somebody, somebody important and not just a worthless orphan..." Naruto trailed off at that, reminded of the fact that he had neither mother nor father.
Kakashi frowned. If it wasn't an S-rank secret he would have told Naruto who his parents were, and also told him about the Kyuubi.
"Well then, meet me at Training Ground 7 tomorrow morning at ten. Also, don't eat breakfast; it'll just make it worse." The Hatake then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto smiled. Tomorrow was the day, the day he would see if he was truly worthy of becoming a Genin.
-A Few Minutes Later-
Uzuki Yugao lead her fresh genin squad to Dangoya, a dango and sweets restaurant located near the academy. The four then walked into the restaurant, and a waiter escorted them to a table in the corner of the place. After he took the orders of Yugao and her squad, the four were left alone to mingle however they please.
'Mm...I've fell in love with this place too much; damn you Anko,' Yugao thought, taking in the fragrance of food within the restaurant.
"...Ummmmm...Sensei?" Hinata finally broke the silence.
"Yes, what do you want?" The woman asked her.
"Shouldn't you be going over the team protocol and crap now? I mean, that's what you said we'd be doing," Goku pointed out to her with a calm voice.
"I should be..." Yugao thought to herself with a sigh. "...Fine, let's begin."
The three Genin nodded at her words, still staring at their Sensei in curiosity.
"So, let's start with introducing ourselves to each other," Yugao stated with calm tone.
"What do you want to know Sensei?" Hinata inquired, already liking her new sensei's attitude.
She laughed. "How about this: tell me your name, things you like and dislike, hobbies, dreams...the basic kind of stuff. As a matter of fact, why don't you go first?"
"Sure, I'll gladly go first," Hinata replied back, sitting back in her seat next to Goku.
"Okay so... my name is Hyuga Hinata. I like spending time with my friends, training, and I also really like cinnamon rolls. I dislike people who are rude to others for no apparent reason and many of my clan's traditions. My hobbies are training, spending time with my friends, and depending on my mood flower pressing. My dream... I wouldn't mind having a family one day..."A small smile on Hinata's face came to be at the comment. A few seconds after, smile died down and her eyes gained more focus. "...But before that, I want to be a splendid shinobi independent of my clan name, and fix the many problems that're within my clan."
'Hmm... she wants to be a capable Kunoichi noticed from her own actions, not her clan's reputation.' Yugao silently praised. 'Hmm...but she is different than most Hyuga members though. She doesn't have as much cockiness, and that's pretty good all things considered.'
"Well that's pretty ambitious of you, Hinata," Yugao told her with a smile.
"I agree!" Goku voiced his own opinion, agreeing with his "future" sensei.
"Alright," Yugao shrugged, "Goku, it's your turn!"
Goku grinned, cracking his knuckles while speaking. "The name's Son Goku, and I like spending time with my friends, training, and training some more. I also like to eat plenty of food, at least four ten-course meals everyday. I hate heartless bastards that kill for no particular reason and douches that believe they're superior to everyone no matter what they do! My hobbies are training even more, having fun, and hanging out with my friends like Hinata here. My goal is to become the strongest I can be and then even more, never being satisfied. And my dream won't be a dream, because I'll make it a reality no matter what. I'm gonna kill a certain mercenary and destroy the infamous Red Ribbon Army at the same time for what they did, I swore upon it months ago!" The last part created a sense of anger within the Saiyan that was manifested for display on the unconscious summoning of his Ki aura, creating an abrupt force that shook the floor of the restaurant.
'Holy shit, what was that?! And why would he plan to destroy the RR army? Eh...' Yugao frowned as she remained in pensive thought. '...I'll probably have a one-on-one conversation with him at some point about some things if I end up becoming his Sensei... Because the Goku that I once knew would NEVER make something as diabolical as that become a goal he's determined on accomplishing.'
"...Thanks." Yugao replied after shaking herself from her thoughts. She then turned to the final kid. "Now you, Shikamaru."
Shikamaru sighed in complaint, giving no response for a few seconds.
"...Troublesome." The boy finally mumbled, giving another sigh. "Name's Nara Shikamaru. I like being with my friends and doing things that don't require much effort. I don't like doing most things and things I find really troublesome. Hobbies are cloud watching, stargazing, playing Shogi, and sleeping. My dream is to become a competent ninja and have a wife that's pretty and have two kids, a daughter and a son. I'll retire when my children become successful shinobi of their own and live the rest of my days playing Shogi and watching clouds until the day I die, hopefully before my wife."
Anko stared at the boy in shock. She stayed in silent thought for a few seconds before her eyes narrowed on him.
"You must be a lazy ass," She declared, a smirk on her face. "I'm going to have to fix that if you end up becoming my student."
Shikamaru, who had expected to get the same thanks that Hinata and Goku got, was shocked by her words. "What?"
"You hate doing things with effort and your dream is one of the most mediocre and average things I've ever heard. And you know what's the easiest way to get you killed in the shinobi? Being what you are at the current moment: a lazy ass."
Goku couldn't help himself from falling over in his seat in laughter. Hinata hardly stifled her giggles, on the verge of going into hysterics. Shikamaru only shrugged his shoulders in response, mumbling something about a 'troublesome sensei'.
"Well, since you all introduced yourselves, it's only fair I do the same. Listen well, because I won't repeat anything," Yugao started. "I'm Uzuki Yugao, an Anbu on hiatus for an unknown amount of time, and hopefully your Sensei. I like dango, tea, traveling, and training/sparring with my boyfriend Hayate. I dislike the 'fangirl' kunoichi who give kunoichi a bad memo. I also hate the cruel ways of the shinobi world. My hobbies include working on my Fuuinjutsu, spending time with my comrades, and once again training my ass off. And my dream... well, I have two actually. First is to make sure I can keep my friends safe and protected. Second is to contribute as much as possible to popular goal of changing the cruelty of the shinobi world.
All three of the genin stared at their Sensei, and they all seemed to have different reactions to the parts in her introduction.
"Well, now that we know each other, let's get straight to the business part." The purple-haired woman broke them out of their thoughts. All three started to pay attention to her again. "Now... in case you haven't payed attention to what I've been saying then know this: you aren't Genin yet."
"What the hell is that s'posed to mean!?" Goku shouted. "We passed the stupid test, so wouldn't that make us Genin already?"
"That test is truly bullshit," She laughed in response. "It's like a pre-test to make sure you guys are good enough to attempt to become Genin. Tomorrow you all have to take another test that has a thirty-three percent passing rate. Fail and get sent back to the academy to try again next year."
Two of the three members of Team Eight had wide eyes at these words. Shikamaru was groaning about the thought of another test, and Hinata was concerned about failing and proving her father and everyone else right about being a failure. Goku however, was confident he'd be able to rise up to the challenge and actually succeed for his team.
As soon as she informed them of the second test, the waiter came back with a plate full of dango. "Food's here, finally," She stated aloud as the plates were being placed onto the table. "After we finish lunch, go home and do whatever needs to be done, and meet me at 7 o'clock sharp!"
The purple-haired woman didn't wait for her students to respond. She immediately started to devour all of the delicious dango on her plate. All three of her genin wondered what could make their sensei so enamored by the food until they tried the dango themselves.
After that, nothing could stop them from chowing down the food on their plates.
-The Next Morning At The Training Ground-
Uzuki Yugao, having never had a Genin team assigned before, based most of her opinions on how they worked from the complaints she heard from her acquaintances. She heard many stories of the 'Genin teams from hell' that arrive ridiculously late to the training sessions and missions. Yugao had heard so many of these stories that she was legitimately surprised that her three students were at the training ground at exactly 7:00.
"Oh, look who's here. You all are on time," Yugao noted happily. "That's good. I was afraid that at least Shikamaru would be showing up late, cause he didn't want to get out of bed this morning, and yet he sure proved me wrong."
Goku stifled up once more before cracking up once more, laughing at the misfortune of his hopefully teammate. Hinata didn't even try and hide her giggles, letting them out on display. Shikamaru merely scowled in response.
"Sensei, are you going to let us know what the test is now?" Hinata asked when she stopped finally stopped giggling.
"Oh? And you all are focused too and don't waste time? I like that," The temporary Jonin declared with a focused look. "So, you all ready for this thing?"
All three kids nodded in response, with Goku being the first one to nod.
"Okay... so basically it's a survival training test. We are going to fight: the three of you against me," Yugao told them.
Goku, Hinata, and Shikamaru all looked at their Sensei with wide eyes for different reasons.
"Basically, I'm going to evaluate your skills and such through combat. We'll continue until I make a decision on whether you guys should pass or not," She told them, cutting off any questions. "To pass, there's only two things you guys have to do. The first thing is impress me, show me that you guys have potential as shinobi. Don't hold back anything and show me what you are capable of. And you all damn well better be coming at me with the intent to kill me, or else you'll be taking a trip back to the academy."
The three graduates nodded in understanding, the Saiyan smirking.
"What's the second requirement?" Shikamaru inquired.
"Great question, the answer is one word: Survive," The temporary Ex-Anbu deadpanned, the woman allowing some killer intent to be released with her words.
Two of the three Genin had wide eyes at the feeling of her killing intent. It felt like nothing they had ever experienced, barring Goku of course. Having experienced the might of Mercenary Tao, whom was classified as Jonin level, the intent didn't make him falter in the slightest. Yugao noticed their reaction and chuckled some.
"Oh come on, this is nothing! The amount of killer intent you feel right now is nowhere near the type you can feel on a battlefield," She said, trying to encourage the graduates to get ready. She took a few seconds trying to compose herself before she spoke again, this time with an even more serious tone. "So, are you all ready to start?"
The students started to focus once again as they each tried to calm themselves down. Goku, to Yugao's surprise, was actually grinning, throwing off his hoodie and wearing his skin tight navy blue T-shirt, showing his body-build, reminding her of a Maito Gai on steroids at his age. "Hell yeah! Let's do this, Anko-Sensei, we're ready."
Hinata and Shikamaru nodded in agreement with his words, having recovered themselves.
"Yeah, enough talking. Let's fight," The Hyuga claimed with a firm voice.
"Good, I'm tired of the suspense." Yugao grinned sadistically in response. She then started doing hand signs, and stopped at the cross seal. "Then let's get this over with. Your true graduation exam starts now, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Yugao immediately created a shadow clone, but it was obscured by the smoke. The normal Genin pulled out a kunai and stared attentively, waiting for their Sensei's first move. When the smoke cleared, to their surprise, there were two Yugao's instead of one. The second the clone saw the three genin, it grinned and went into attack mode.
The clone moved faster than Shikamaru could react. It kicked straight into the stomach the Genin, sending him backwards and knocking the breath out of him. "...Damn...that hurt like hell!" The Nara groaned as he pulled himself up.
"...Well what were you expecting? We're going up against an Anbu after all!" Goku said, having jumped backwards with Hinata. He kept his eyes on the approaching clone, wandering the plan of attack.
"We need to be more careful..." Hinata added, waiting in anticipation next to the Saiyan.
The clone, seeing that the kids were fine, unleashed a wave of Shuriken. This time, however, the Genin reacted. Shikamaru and Hinata activated the Kawarimi Jutsu in time, replacing themselves with nearby logs. Goku hopped up onto the tree where they were then moved further into the surrounding forest around the training ground, creating distance between them and Yugao. Hinata took the time to activate her Byakugan to keep her eyes on the clone.
"The clone is trying to find us at the moment. It'll probably be here in soon, probably in a minute at most..." Hinata noted, still focusing on the clone to see its movements.
"Knowing her, she probably already figured out where we were. Just enough time to set up a trap," Goku stated, unwilling to show his Ki yet before turning to Shikamaru. "Does any of you have some spare explosive tags?"
Shikamaru nodded in response as he pulled out a few tags. The Nara, after a conversation with his parents, realized that explosive tags would be the perfect weapon for him to increase his offense plans. Explosive tags were a strong offensive weapon, but also were a tactical weapon. They could be used in a variety methods as traps or to set enemies into a deeper trap. Shikamaru grew attached to such a weapon and offensive strategy.
Goku was about to speak again about a strategy, but was cut off by his lazy comrade. "I'll setup tags for when the clone comes after our asses. We just need to lead into the trap and then I'll activate the tags. After that, you destroy it with an energy attack."
"Hmph, It'll do." Goku grumbled, not wanting to unveil his capabilities.
"It'll work. Good thinking Shikamaru," Hinata informed her friend. "We should get them set up quickly. The clone seems to have found our current location. It's heading in our direction right now."
Hinata's words caused Shikamaru to become completely focused. He sprung up quickly and immediately started scanning the surrounding area for the most opportune places to place his tags. He was able to set up four tags up in trees before he was interrupted by Hinata.
"It's here. It'll be out in the open in a second," Hinata shouted to her friend as she readied a kunai.
Shikamaru immediately took out a kunai and waited in quiet as he waited for the first sign of movement from the clone. The clone soon pulled into the area, hissing. As soon as it arrived, Goku jumped down and prepared to beat the hell out of the Yugao doppelganger. Hinata jumped down from her place up in the trees to join Goku in their combined onslaught.
The clone didn't waste a second to attack the Saiyan and the Hyuga. It moved forward proceeded around all of the trees in it's wake, sword drawn. Goku rushed over to the clone and grabbed it, locking it into a full-nelson, gripping it tightly regardless of how tough it was making it out to be.
Hinata then started to toss kunai from their position, attacking from a distance. The shadow clone surprisingly took a few hits before it was able to squirm away from the Saiyan and start approaching the Genin, sword drawn once again, and Hinata jumped out of the way in time. The clone proceeded to turn around to find its enemies once again only to be assaulted by Goku. Receiving a harsh kick to the face, the clone relapsed in the air, still not being dispelled yet. Hinata then joined Goku, trying to push the clone further back towards the tree through her palm strikes while the Saiyan whom was piling on damage with his bare-hands, showcasing his sheer strength.
Yugao's clone was pushed back from the assault, very close to a marked tree. It growled angrily as it swung its sword forward, intent on hitting the attackers. The sudden action from the clone made them stagger back and the clone capitalized with two harsh kicks. Both of the attacks sent Goku and Hinata flying back into the air. And yet, despite the minor pain, they couldn't help but give off a smile.
"It's close enough, now Shikamaru!" She shouted, the adrenaline of the fight causing her to speak louder than usual.
Shikamaru didn't need the reminder, but followed it anyway. He activated the exploding tag that was on the tree where the clone was at. The explosion occurred, the strong force of it sending the clone flying into another tree. Shikamaru noticed where it landed and couldn't hide a smug smirk as he activated the exploding tag on that tree's branches. When activated, the explosion knocked off the branches, which hit the clone hard on its head. It hissed in pain as it tried to get up once more.
Goku, seeing a prime opportunity to end the fight, decided to show off and shoot an unstable, destructive cannon-sized Ki orb at the clone that was struggling to get up to keep fighting. The clone screamed in pain as the unruly sphere made direct contact with its body, and it exploded upon it, effectively killing the enhanced version of the Shadow Clone technique via the puff of smoke.
"Hell yeah, what's next?!" Goku said with a confident smirk.
Hinata couldn't help but smile, feeling a little accomplished from the fight. She pulled herself up from the ground and walked over to the grinning Goku. Shikamaru moved around to the other areas of the forest to collect the unused exploding tags before he jumped to meet his friends.
"Not bad gaki's. That clone was using nowhere near my full-power, though. Still, for a couple of academy graduates, that was something pretty impressive." The three turned over to the direction of the voice and saw Yugao sitting on a tree branch with her arms crossed. She seemed very relaxed and calm, as if she was just watching a show.
"How long have you been there Yugao-sensei? And shouldn't you be testing us yourself?!" Goku shouted to her.
"I've been here the whole time, and I am testing you! If you couldn't tell, that clone was simply the first part of it as you were meant to fight it as part of the test," Yugao fired back, jumping off of the branch and standing up, ready to continue the test.
"So do we pass then?" The boy asked in confusion, the truth was he hadn't done much.
"Not yet. You think that'd be enough to impress me?" The Anbu/Jonin scoffed.
A vein grew on his forehead as well as a grin as he pumped his Ki. "I'd expect nothing less from an Anbu, but you're about to be impressed, count on it."
Shikamaru, noticing the verbal bout between Goku and his Sensei, launched a kunai at the woman. He had expected his Sensei to block the kunai or dodge it. What he did not expect was her to take the hit. The kunai landed directly in her head and Yugao fell to the ground lifelessly... before disappearing in smoke and being replaced with a log.
"...Damnit, the Kawarimi Jutsu!" Shikamaru observed as he started to scan the nearby area.
"Guys," Hinata said in surprise, her Byakugan reactivated. "She's here!"
"Where?" Shikamaru asked frantically, getting even more prepared for an attack.
Hinata gave no verbal response. She only tossed a kunai in the direction opposite of where Goku was facing. Her kunai blocked a shuriken coming from that direction.
"Does that answer your question?" Yugao asked in a sarcastic tone as she started to appear into sight. She was charging at the kids, making hand signs. When she finished, she slammed her palms smack dab onto the ground. "Fuubaku Houjin!"
Explosions that came from underneath the ground were sent forward towards the academy graduates, startling all three of them. Before they had time to react, one of the explosions impacted Shikamaru and it sent him flying towards the Jonin-sensei.
"Shikamaru!" Hinata shouted in surprise as she immediately started to run after him, Goku following closely behind.
The Nara gasped in pain at the force of the explosion as he was being sent towards his Sensei. As he approached her, Yugao then roundhouse kicked him in the side, sending him straight into a nearby tree. She then charged at the boy with great speed, slamming her fist straight into his stomach. He groaned in pain and barely registered the fact that she pulled out a kunai. Yugao then made a small cut on his cheek to prove a point.
"Give any enemy shinobi worth their salt even the smallest of opportunities and they'll have you in their mercy," Yugao informed the boy as she released another wave of killing intent to show her point. "So, how do you face this situation, Shikamaru?"
"He won't be facing the situation alone," Hinata stated firmly.
Yugao turned around at the sound of the noise and was met with the Hyuga heiress's assault. The Anbu fended off the girl's attacks, making sure that the girl wasn't hitting any of her tenketsu. After awhile, the temporary Jonin turned the tables on the girl, focusing on attacking back. The girl struggled to block the older woman's stronger blows and received many direct hits from her Sensei.
"I admire the fact that you rushed into save your ally, but that doesn't always cut it in the real world. You need to see the bigger picture in a real life or death situation, depending on the circumstances and the severity of said mission," Yugao informed the girl sharply as she dealt a punch to the girl's face. Hinata fell down in pain and immediately got up, breathing faster than normal. "And if you are going charge in bluntly, make sure you have a plan in mind. If you don't be more careful, it's a great possibility that you'll end up KIA."
"I did come in...with a plan, Sensei." Hinata mumbled out in between her breaths. "You...you should be more careful yourself..."
Yugao was about to respond but was cut off when she lost all feeling in her body. She couldn't move any muscle. Suddenly, she felt her head turning and saw Shikamaru standing behind her.
"Hey Sensei," He replied lazily. Despite the fact that his head was turned so that she could see him, Yugao knew the boy had a smug grin on his face.
"A very clever tactic, I didn't expect that to happen. I wasn't really expecting you to actually try and trap me in your shadow while she was attacking me. Didn't know you would make the effort," Yugao admitted, slightly teasing the boy in her praise. "However, you do know that I have enough chakra that I can easily break from your control, right? Your chakra reserves aren't large enough to hold me back."
"I'm aware. However, I didn't really intend on trapping you for too long. Only to stall you," Shikamaru told her, his grin still on his face.
'Stall? For what?' Yugao thought in confusion.
"Stalling for this!" Hinata shouted, preparing to shoot her flame ball at their wide-eyed sensei. "Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"
She immediately broke the boy's hold on her through overpowering it with her chakra, and used the Shunshin to make it out of harms way just in time. She was about to start preparing for a counterattack, but she was too late. Goku immediately pounced on her. He slammed her body down hard to the ground and delivered a punch to the face before he held up his open palm, charging cerulean Ki within it.
"Give any enemy shinobi worth their salt even the smallest of opportunities and they'll have you in their mercy. Isn't that right Sensei?" Goku asked her, taunting her with the words she used on Shikamaru.
'So, the two others were really just distracting me so that Goku could recover and actually land a damn good hit on me. Not too shabby; they actually work well together and could do some serious damage if trained more.' Yugao noted, actually impressed.
"That's right Goku. However, I did ask Shikamaru how would he respond to that situation, didn't I? Well, this is how I would," She replied before disappearing in a poof of smoke, replaced by a log in her place.
"Heh, I figured as much," Goku said with a smirk. He then turned to Shikamaru, who was grinning in response back as he made a hand-sign.
Yugao was then sitting in a nearby tree branch after she used the Kawarimi Jutsu. She was watching the three gaki's, wondering exactly what they were doing.
'Why are they just standing still? Shouldn't they be trying to prepare for an attack or maybe hunting me down? Its like they've already planned something,' Yugao thought in confusion, still watching her student hopefuls.
She was finally about to give up wondering and just charge at them when she noticed Shikamaru make a hand sign. All of a sudden, she noticed a noise coming from her coat's pocket. She reached in and pulled a kunai out: a kunai with an explosive tag on it. The explosive tag was in the process of activating.
'Damn, they got me again. When Goku was recovering while Hinata attacked me, he must have gotten an explosive tag from the Lazy Ass. He then put it on a kunai and he slipped it into my pocket when he had me pinned onto the ground. A truly clever tactic and well thought out strategy...' Yugao thought, impressed.
The explosive tag went off, creating a large explosion in its place. Yugao managed to get away, but took some damage on the right side of her body whilst escaping.
'That's another 'hit' they inflicted upon me. I may not be giving anywhere near my full strength at all on them, but that's still impressive for a few graduates. Even when going casually easy, I should still be too much of a match for most graduates...' Yugao noted. '...I will pass them...but first, I'll wait until after I gauge Goku's true power. It's been an enigma to find out all of these years, and now I get the chance...'
The temporary Jonin soon reappeared in front of the three kids. Shikamaru and Hinata were the tired, having taken the most hits. Still, all three were notably happy and curious about their standing.
"So Sensei, did we impress you enough? Or do you want us to keep coming?!" Goku asked, a smirk still on his face.
"Is that a challenge? Believe me, I haven't even done a fraction of what I can do," Yugao replied uncharacteristically cocky, trying to rile up the graduate even more.
"Bring it on then!" The black-haired kid responded as he tried to provoke his Sensei too. "I wanna test myself on a person who can handle it."
"Brace yourself!" Goku stated, unleashing his Ki in a swift burst, surprising the Jonin in her wake. He ran towards her at a speed no one had yet seen from him, and then he vanished right in front of her face.
"What the hell?" Yugao thought aloud, not believing he was really an Academy student with that speed. She then heard his steps just seconds from contact. Turning swiftly and launching her foot as swiftly as possible, she hit him, or so she thought. That person turned out to be a transparent Afterimage, shocking the Anbu even more, yet bringing a smile to her face.
'Now afterimages too?! What kind of training did he go through all this time?' Yugao thought, tensing up in preparation for a surprise attack. What startled her next was the Saiyan coming up right behind her, ready to pounce.
Using her instincts, she lashed out, striking the Saiyan and actually connecting, "Gotcha." However, as soon as her blow hit the Saiyan, Goku immediately shrugged off the quick jab and blitzed his sensei, catching her off guard by the smooth recovery.
"Peekaboo!"Goku shouted from above her, kicking her straight in the breasts, knocking the wind out of her successfully. He then rolled multiple times in midair until he landed on the ground softly, turning to look at his Sensei.
"You okay?" He asked, wanting to know if she wanted to continue.
"Of course I am, I've been through much worse," said the smiling Jonin, shrugging off the pain and the shock that literally littered her face. "I was surprised by your capabilities, that's all. I won't make the same mistake twice."
"Great to hear!" The Saiyan responded, cupping his hands to the right side of his body, charging the infamous Turtle Destruction Wave. "Take this, KamehameHAAAA!" He launched both of his arms forward, the plume of cerulean ki heading towards his Sensei, whom had more surprise written on her face.
The two genin in the area looked at Goku in bewilderment, wondering what else he could do. He was probably, no definitely, the most powerful person they had ever seen from anyone at their age. His strength and speed were off the charts, his Taijutsu skills were amazing, and he had the tenacity and willpower to make them all even better. His Ki seemed to be doing wonders for him compared to Chakra for some of the others.
Knowing that the blast was coming at her much too fast for her to do anything, she weaved through hand-signs in an attempt to evade it. Seeing this, the Saiyan added a huge influx of energy into his attack, detonating it right before she had moved, creating a decent shock-wave. This threw the woman off-guard, not only catching her feet but also sending her reeling for a few dozen feet, tumbling along the ground. The blast area was left as a solid meter-sized crater, with nothing left in the area for quite a few dozen feet in diameter.
Smirking whilst breathing hard, the Saiyan stood up with his hands on the back of his head, tired from the usage of the Kamehameha Wave. When the smoke dissolved, he could see her down for the count. Running to check over her in concern, he shook her dead body, only for it to pop into smoke. Barely able to react in time, he was pressed down upon by his Sensei.
Seeing her with a kunai in hand, he tried to evade each strike but the pressure and tenacity of the woman halted him. He then grabbed the kunai, but once it was charged with Fuuinjutsu chakra, he released in a heartbeat from the voltage and backed away, having been cut in the arm by the kunai.
Shrieking in pain, he tried to shake off the electricity coursing through him, but it only hurt worse, even cauterizing the blood on his left arm. However, Goku didn't give into the circumstances. Ever. Charging his Ki from the inside, he unleashed it in one explosive Kiai wave, blowing everything back a good ten feet away from him and ridding himself of the electricity. His light blue aura stayed around him however, and he panted even more from the exertion of Ki.
"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Yugao shouted after weaving through hand-signs, sucking in air before exhaling a large flame going straight for the Saiyan. The heat didn't even bother his body due to his anatomy and Saiyan genetic structure, so he managed to push against the flame with Kiai wave, clashing against the very commonly know jutsu with pure force. He knew he wasn't powerful enough to completely snuff out that jutsu yet, so he making the flame roar more wildly while making it spread out, giving him enough time to escape the premises.
However, as soon as Goku ran away from the wake of the flame, he found himself bombarded with deadly projectiles. His instincts were heavily relied upon and he kept on grabbing them out of midair, flinging them away rapidly. He then threw one back at her, but she used the Kawarimi to not only escape but get a better position.
He turned to his left and saw two Yugao's coming towards her in a two-man weave pattern. Ultimately confusing Goku, he sent a Kiai wave at one of them. Though he initially hit the real one, she used Kawarimi on the other one so fast that Goku didn't even notice it. Then the Kage Bunshin exploded in smoke, blinding the Saiyan temporarily. Then came Yugao's fist crashing into his face, making him stagger back greatly.
Finally, the woman slammed Goku onto a boulder and held a kunai to his throat, ready to slice. "Look's like I win Goku, even though you have all of those incredible capabilities. What would you do in this situation?"
The Saiyan then smirked, confusing his Sensei. "Nothing...except this!" He added, elbowing the boulder behind him and turning it into millions of fragments, flipping out of the predicament unscathed. This also caused his Sensei to smile and unleash her semi-full killing intent, which made the other two Genin falter slightly. However, the Saiyan stood strong, having been in the presence of a stone-cold murderer, that heartless bastard. She then relented her killing intent, noting that the Saiyan had a firm resolve and it wouldn't work, meaning that something bad must have taken place in his endeavors.
"Not that I care if you two want to fight again, but can you tell us how we did now Sensei?" Shikamaru replied lazily with a yawn, after seeing the spectacle that was the fight between Goku and Yugao.
Yugao sighed, knowing she couldn't enjoy her fight with Goku any longer. "Fine. You all did impress me, especially Goku over there. Much more than I initially expected, which deems you all the official Team Eight."
"Hell yeah!" Goku shouted. He seemed to momentarily forget any exhaustion or injuries from his fight and started to bang his right arm against his thumping chest. "We're genin, and we're a team now, and that's all that matters."
"You better damn well believe that you are!" The purple-haired ninja stated. "You're my team now, so prepare yourselves. All three of you guys have a ludicrous amount of potential, and I'm going to take advantage of it. I aim to make you all into the greatest shinobi squad to ever come from this village."
'That also means I'll be training you guys to the brim, especially you Lazy Ass,' Yugao chuckled inwardly, starting to plan the arduous training already.
Yugao's words only made Goku even more in excited. Her words also added some mood to his two teammates. Shikamaru had a pleased, happy smile on his face whilst Hinata seemed just as excited as her Saiyan friend, only she wasn't outwardly acting on it.
'So it's official, and nothing can change it. We're all genin, and now it's time for me to prove to the world that I'm NOT a failure!' Hinata cheered inwardly, her 'inner-self' doing back-flips and jumping up and just as excited as Goku was at the current moment.
Yugao couldn't help but chuckle as she looked at the now Genin. "Just letting you guys know, you're dismissed for the day. We'll meet up here at 7:30 sharp tomorrow morning and we will do that everyday unless I say otherwise. So now, you guys are free to do as you please. Oh, and be prepared to work your ass off, this shall prove to be very grueling, especially to you, Shikamaru."
Goku clapped his hands, ready for anything. "I grind my ass off twenty-four/seven anyways, so I'm ready to get even more training in, let's go!"
-With Team Seven-
Naruto grumbled as he walked up to Sasuke, whom was stretching and seemed to be thinking, and Sakura, who was, as usual, fawning over said Uchiha.
"So, Sasuke-kun, wanna go out on a date, you know since Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-baka are real late?"
"Hn," Was the immediate response.
"Of course I'd be late, after all, Kakashi-sensei is two hours late to everything, which you two apparently forgot," Naruto said as he walked up to his teammates, making the Uchiha sigh in slight annoyance.
"Tch, I just had nothing better to with my life," Sasuke stated bluntly, stretching his legs.
"Sure teme, whatever helps you sleep at night," Naruto teased. The Uchiha didn't regard it in the slightest, ignoring him whilst cracking his knuckles. However, he didn't need to say anything because his fan-girl came to the rescue.
"Don't insult Sasuke-kun, Naruto-baka!"
Naruto looked at Sakura with sadness and nodded and just walked away towards another tree.
'Damn it Sakura. She doesn't realize the dobe and I do this all the damn time. Still, I need to plan on how to beat Kakashi,' Sasuke thought as he closed his eyes and continued to be in deep thought. His thoughts were interrupted however as Kakashi appeared in front of them all with an eye smile.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screeched.
"Sorry, but a black cat crossed my path so I decided to take the long way around. Anyways, you are all here, meaning we don't have to wait on anyone-" Kakashi paused, expecting an outburst. None came, surprisingly. "-So, we will begin your survival test now."
"Survival test," Sakura repeated. "We took those in the academy."
"Not to the same degree I will be giving you," Kakashi said, an edge in his voice. "You see, the academy was just to figure out which students had the potential to be ninja. However, this is the test to see those who actually deserve to be ninja. Each jonin has their own right to choose how they desire to test their potential genin and I have chosen the survival test. Basically all you have to do is get these two bells from me," Kakashi said, pointing to the bells attached to his waist.
"Doesn't seem too hard," Sakura said.
"He's an S-ranked jonin Sakura-chan, and arguably the strongest shinobi in village right under Jiji," Naruto stated.
"Okay Naruto-baka!"
Kakashi sighed. "Enough! The point is, I will be defending these bells, and your objective is to get them. You have my permission to do anything necessary to get the bells, including lethal force. You have six hours. I hope you make use of those hours. You must have a bell to pass this test. If you do not you will be tied to those wooden stumps and have failed the test. Oh, and you won't succeed if you don't come with intent to kill. Now, before we begin, any questions?"
"Wait, sensei, there are only two bells, which means at least one of us will fail." Sakura said.
Kakashi nodded. "Correct Sakura, anything else?"
Sakura looked surprised. "Did you forget one while leaving your house?"
"No."
"But-"
"Sakura, he means we're also enemies in this test," Sasuke said, quite annoyed with the entire explaining thing. He just wanted to start, to test his power against an S-class shinobi, to test himself and see how far he is from reaching Itachi's level. He knew that Kakashi was his ticket to power, and he would be damned if he didn't take advantage of it.
"What's the percentage of passing this test," Naruto asked, curious as it seemed as people had taken this test before.
"Thirty-three percent at the most, of passing."
'The odds are that highly stacked against our favor?' Sakura thought, worried about being separated from her 'Sasuke-kun'.
'Just like I thought,' Naruto thought. 'It won't stop me though, I'm gonna become Hokage one day, and it starts here!'
"Last question. Why did you tell us not to eat?" Sakura asked. Kakashi eye-smiled, one that made Naruto proud. After all, it was the prankster type gleam in his pupil. "So it would be more difficult for you, you won't always be in top condition during missions."
Everyone was then silent for a moment, officially ending the questioning session and letting wind pass over there heads, swaying there hair into the wind.
"Well then, if there are no more questions, begin!"
The three students disappeared.
-With Kakashi-
"Well, at least they've got the hiding part of a ninja down," Kakashi said as he walked around the training ground, a nonchalant emotion expressed through his eyes. While he knew where they were hiding, to your average genin they would be invisible. Kakashi sighed. He had to draw them out somehow. The question was how. He could just reveal that he knew where they were, but that would be no fun. After all it would basically be rubbing the fact that he was better than them in every way, shape, and form in their face. While he was unmerciful in the world outside of Konoha, he did not like to crush people's spirits, especially if they were from his village anyway.
His thoughts were interrupted as three shuriken sprang from Naruto's location.
'Ever the impatient one," Kakashi thought. 'I'll show off a bit of what I can do.' Kakashi dodged the kunai all while digging into his supply pouch. From it he drew…a book. It was one of his smut novels, the Icha-Icha series written by the 'Gallant Jiraiya'.
Naruto's eye twitched as he saw the book. 'Is he mocking me!? If so I'll kick his ass!' The Uzumaki growled as he formed the familiar cross handsign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" He roared.
Fifteen clones sprang to life around him. Naruto then pointed to three locations and told his clones to spread out in groups of five to those specific locations. Naruto himself however, went to a different location. He went towards Kakashi.
"Fooish Naruto," Kakashi said as Naruto charged him, kunai in hand.
The blonde just smiled and drew smoke pellets from his kunai pouch. He threw them at Kakashi who jumped away, although now there was a large purple cloud of smoke concealing the other from view. Naruto used this to wrap an explosive tag around his kunai. He then drew another kunai, without an explosive tag wrapped around it, and threw them both at Kakashi, or at least where he saw him land.
Kakashi was indeed in the same place, and when he saw the two kunai come flying through the smoke cloud he frowned. He would have expected something stealthier from Naruto. Then again, he still remembered somewhere Naruto's clones were around, plotting his demise.
Kakashi dodged the kunai, noticing the explosive tag on the first one almost too late. He barely finished the hand-seals for the Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu before the explosive tag lit and exploded.
As the smoke created by the explosion cleared Naruto saw no trace of Kakashi, just a small crater and rocks blown everywhere.
"Where is he," Naruto pondered as he looked around. However, his question was soon answered as his ankle was grabbed. Naruto looked down at the hand, to see part of Kakashi's arm and his hand sticking out of the ground, wrapped around Naruto's ankle.
"Damnit," Naruto mumbled.
"Language Naruto," he barely heard Kakashi say before he was dragged underground. As Kakashi popped out from underground he looked at Naruto, whose head was the only thing visible, as the rest of his body was trapped underground.
"One down," Kakashi said and walked away.
As Kakashi slipped into nearby bushes, Naruto smirked in a prankster like-manner and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
-With Sakura-
'Look at Naruto, thinking he's so cool. He got defeated by Kakashi-sensei like he was nothing. Sasuke-kun would obviously destroy Naruto in a real fight.' Sakura thought. She stood and began to search around for Sasuke, determined to find the so-called love of her life and partner up with him to take down Kakashi. However, what she found was not what she was expecting.
"S-Sakura, help m-me," said a wounded Sasuke. There were senbon, kunai, and shuriken sticking out of him at all angles, and he was bleeding profusely with one black eye that was swollen shut. Needless to say, it was a brutal sight to perceive.
"S-S-Sasuke-kun," Sakura stuttered out, horrified at the sight.
"S-S-Sakura."
Sakura screamed and fainted.
Kakashi canceled the genjutsu and walked over to Sakura, disappointment written all over his face. 'Maybe I should have chosen Ino or Hinata instead.' He thought, as he looked at her. 'That was one of the most basic of genjutsu. To be caught in something like that, even though she is just a genin, it's ridiculous. Her low reserves allow her to be a genjutsu mistress, but without being able to detect it she would just be a liability. I need to work with her on that, if they pass.'
As Kakashi took off into the trees to look for Sasuke he thought on it. 'These guys were called the ideal team by all, but they don't work together at all. They're horrid at it. The only two I think could work together are Sasuke and Naruto, and that's if you get rid of their intense rivalry. They're exactly like me and Obito were. This is gonna be troublesome indeed. I don't wanna have to fail sensei's kid, but I will if necessary.'
Kakashi landed on the ground as five shuriken flew by and into him, causing him to tip over. As Kakashi hit the ground he transformed into wooden logs revealing he had used the Kawarimi.
Sasuke cursed, sprinting away at full speed, sending chakra blasts into his feet to go faster. His attack had failed, Kakashi had avoided it and now knew where he was, and was no doubt chasing after him. Sasuke cursed as once he appeared through a clearing he was hit with a punch to his side, sending him sprawling away and into an even more visible area.
The Uchiha stood to see Kakashi rushing towards him, boredom in his eyes.
"I see you don't think I'll be a challenge. Don't you ever underestimate me!" Sasuke roared as he charged. He drew a kunai attempting to slash Kakashi, however the man jumped over the strike and lashed out with a dual kick to the head, slamming Sasuke's head onto the ground.
'Maybe that was a bit to rough.' Then the Uchiha rolled next to him and jumped away from his sensei, his Sharingan now being activated.
"That's it," The Uchiha stated, flowing through his rivals signature Jutsu. "Try this, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." This caught the Hatake off-guard a bit, not expecting Sasuke to be able to pull that off with his chakra reserves. Two Sasuke's were standing next to the original after the smoke cleared, and the Uchiha realized that the technique used up a decent amount of chakra already.
The three Sasuke's then charged their sensei, one of the Bunshin unleashing a Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu, a flurry of fire balls launching to the area surrounding Kakashi. He evaded them all of course, but this worked in the Uchiha's favor. The clone used the Kawarimi to transition to the area left of Kakashi by ten meters behind two trees.
The other two Uchiha launched a few shuriken, with the real one launching a kunai that had an explosive tag on it in the mix. The sensei, noticing it within the mix, used the Kawarimi again to the same spot of Sasuke's third clone.
This made Sasuke smirk again, as his Bunshin slapped the rest of his explosive tags on himself. He also used the Kawarimi to get to where Kakashi and the other clone happened to be, while the real one made a back-flip, his Sharingan alert. He made one simple hand sign, and a large explosion took place in the area of the two clones. Creating a large cloud of smoke in the process, he expected to see his Sensei at least somewhat hurt afterwards.
However, he caught from the corner of his eye his Sensei blazing towards his left side. Quickly raising a Kunai, he hardly parried Kakashi's head-on attack, the brute force making him stagger. Sparks flew as the two clashed, an incomplete pair of Sharingan meeting one eye of an experienced shinobi.
Knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere, he ducked, letting his sensei's momentum go over top of him. He quickly made one more Kage Bunshin and ran at his Sensei, jumping on him in less than two seconds. The Hatake parried the clones side-kick and then tossed him hard onto the ground, creating smoke. Distracting him for a split-second, the Uchiha nailed him in the face with a Raiton-fisted punch. It sent his Sensei back a few feet, but he wasn't expecting for him to recover so quickly and pile-drive him into the ground without mercy.
As Sasuke shakily stood Naruto appeared, flying through hand-seals and racing towards Kakashi. "Fuinjutsu: Mahi Shiru."
Kakashi smirked and dodged the jutsu, slamming his knee into Naruto's gut. As Naruto held his stomach Kakashi slammed his elbow into Naruto's head before kicking him in the chest. Naruto was sent sprawling as Sasuke stood and charged Kakashi. Kakashi jogged backwards, fending off Sasuke's attacks before Naruto quickly joined Sasuke in his barrage, although Kakashi still blocked both of their strikes with ease.
Naruto jumped in midair, making hand signs. "Take this, Futon: Daitoppa!"
Naruto belched out a large gust of wind; however the attack hit Sasuke instead, blowing the Uchiha back ten feet, as Kakashi swung him into the attack. Sasuke growled at Naruto who waved his hands in apology.
"Sorry."
"What the hell-"
"Um, this is pathetic," Kakashi said to himself, somewhat disappointed. Sasuke forgot all about Naruto at that moment, continuing his assault on Kakashi. However Naruto didn't join Sasuke at that point, preferring to make a plan that included out the box thinking.
'He's stronger, faster, and more experienced than we are, not to mention way smarter. We're all around beaten by him. There's no way we can win this fight. But we have to. I refuse to lose like this.'
Naruto threw some shuriken before making the cross hand-seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Four clones appeared next to Naruto, and they proceeded to charge. The original charged behind them in a zigzag pattern. Kakashi groaned as he was grabbed by a Naruto clone from behind. Sasuke smirked at that, and launched a swift punch at Kakashi; however Kakashi switched places with a clone that was charging, causing that clone to disappear. Kakashi than launched three shuriken at the other three clones that had changed trajectory, easily killing them before kicking Naruto in the chin, launching him back.
Kakashi then jumped over a sweeping kick from Sasuke and landed behind him, kicking him from behind into a tree. The two remaining clones charged Kakashi. However, he took them down quickly before turning around. As he did so he noticed Naruto had disappeared and Sasuke was charging him. Kakashi was about to charge back but decided to wait on Sasuke. Kakashi sweat-dropped as Sasuke came in with a direct punch in hand.
'Foolish, what a Naruto-like maneuver.'
However, as soon as Kakashi caught the punch Sasuke twisted trying to flip the man over to get the bells. It would have worked, had Kakashi not have as much experience as he did. As Sasuke flipped him he grabbed Sasuke's other arm and threw Sasuke, turning himself upright in midair, stopping him from completely grasping the bells. As Kakashi landed on his feet, Sasuke landed on his head, spinning around on the ground.
The Uchiha growled and stood preparing to reengage Kakashi. However, as fifteen shadow clones of Naruto, five from each location Naruto had sent them to earlier, appeared boxing Kakashi in a triangle shape, Naruto came swooped in and dragged Sasuke, sprinting away before the Uchiha did anything reckless.
"Let go of me dobe," Sasuke hissed. Naruto complied, putting the Uchiha down. However, Sasuke noticed that an unconscious Sakura was also here. They were at a large tree in the center of the training grounds.
"Why did you do that?" Sasuke asked, his two-tomoed Sharingan's spinning.
Naruto looked at Sasuke with an incredulous look. "You really thought you could take him?"
"No, but I had to try. Besides, I did better than you did."
"I wasn't going all out."
"Neither was I, so what's your point?"
Naruto just groaned and rubbed his forehead, a frown on his face. "Look teme, Kakashi-sensei is an S-ranked jonin; he won't be defeated by three genin, no matter how skilled they may be. Even if they were more skilled, his experience more than makes up for it, and he hasn't reached the age when even experience can't help you. Face it, Kakashi is waaaay to good for us to beat, even if we combined our efforts."
"What are you getting at then?" Sasuke asked, now a bit intrigued.
"While it may be true that we can't beat him, even if you, Sakura, and I worked together, we have a better chance of beating him if we do work together. Therefore, I request a truce, at least until we get the bells."
"Hmph. I see no point in this if what we were doing wasn't working earlier, Sakura can't do anything."
Naruto growled. "Sasuke, are you an idiot!? All teammates are a factor, even Sakura-chan!"
Sasuke growled and slammed his foot on the ground. "It doesn't matter if we can't win anyways, we just need to keep trying!"
"As much as I hate to say it, Naruto's right Sasuke-kun. Our best bet is to team up."
Sasuke growled and looked away, grumbling a begrudged, "Fine."
"Well that was entertaining."
The three candidates looked upwards to see Kakashi standing on a nearby tree. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Naruto said, and he threw three shuriken at Kakashi. Kakashi dodged the shuriken; however Sasuke jumped up towards him, engaging in a midair spar. Obviously Kakashi won, even if the Uchiha used his Dojutsu, throwing Sasuke to the ground. However, Naruto quickly made a clone that cushioned his fall before throwing even more weapons at Kakashi. The Hatake weaved through the hail of weapons, before he heard something whistling. He turned to see even more weapons coming at him, courtesy of Sakura. He groaned and jumped over them, avoiding the attack. Kakashi landed nearby.
"Now teme!"
"Right!"
Naruto and Sasuke weaved through hand-seals, preparing to unleash fury onto Kakashi.
'Impossible, they can't do a Jutsu in sync can they!?'
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
"Futon: Shinkugyoku no Jutsu!"
The Katon and Futon jutsu combined to create many literal inferno-bullets, capable of going straight through ten men with just one of them.
"A collaboration jutsu!" Kakashi roared, quickly making hand-seals.
Sakura smiled at Sasuke's and Naruto's work before throwing more weapons at Kakashi. She wouldn't let him get away, even if the heat was very harsh.
As the jutsu ended and Kakashi was nowhere to be seen for a minute, Sasuke and Naruto began to think that they had disintegrated him, only to be pinned to the ground a moment later with a kunai at each of their necks, both buzzing with Raiton chakra.
"Sakura, give me all the information you know on your parents or I will kill the Sasuke and Naruto."
Sakura stood their frozen. She had no idea what to do. How could she? She had the choice of either betraying her village or letting two people die. It was an impossible choice in her honest opinion. Kakashi got off of Naruto and Sasuke soon after seeing her facial expression, allowing them to stretch and prepare to attack again.
"Calm down, the test is over."
Naruto stood up, and looked at the sun, realizing that according to the sun the test was indeed over.
"We failed."
"No you didn't."
Naruto looked at Kakashi curiously. "But we didn't get the bells."
"You didn't have to get the bells to pass. Allow me to explain. This test is not meant to see if you can get the bells, in fact, none of you have the ability to get the bells as you are now. This test was meant to see if you had the potential to work together."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, confused.
"This test was to see if you three could work together to defeat an adversary. It was about teamwork. The core to any ninja squad is teamwork, meaning if you don't have that you will die, early on in your mission. However, if you do, an A-rank mission can be as easy as a B-rank or even C-rank mission. Teamwork is key to any shinobi squad. I wouldn't go as far to say as it's more important than your own individual skills, but it is very important. You all have individual skills. Naruto is decent at Fuuinjutsu and great at Ninjutsu, Sasuke is also great with Ninjutsu and is good at Taijutsu, while Sakura has amazing analytical skills, has potential in the genjutsu and medical fields, and is great at making up strategies. If you combined this you would be an ideal fearsome team, the best out of your genin class. However, if you have no teamwork, any A-ranked or up shinobi could easily dispatch of you."
"Okay, but what about the thing you just did to Sakura-chan," Naruto asked.
Kakashi smiled. "That was my final test. In the ninja world you may run into situations like that, when you either must betray your village or leave your allies to die. I realize that it's a tough decision and there is no right answer, but remember this: In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Naruto nodded, fully accepting the words. Sasuke just gave his usual, "Hn," and Sakura nodded.
"Good. Now that you get that, let's get going. Our first training session and mission is tomorrow, be here at 8 o'clock sharp."
A/N: I gave Yugao a few abilities that were never showcased in the canon, but I have a good reason for all of them. First off, Yugao was stated to not be a scrub when it came to Fuuinjutsu, and actually excel at it. Two, the enhanced Kage Bunshin thing may have been a bit of a stretch, but I felt she needed something else other than Kenjutsu and Fuuinjutsu up her sleeve. It's also proven to actually be possible courtesy of the Sandaime, in which his clones are capable of surviving through serious injury, which Yugao's clones are no where near that level. And Third, the Great Fireball technique is something customary and common to the Konoha shinobi forces, so it wouldn't be a stretch for an Anbu to know it. That's all I have to say, have a great day.