Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto

This Time Around

By Crimson Skies

Chapter Ten – Time Trial

Kakashi was rather impressed. The little brats were better than he'd anticipated. After finishing the current volume of Icha Icha Paradise, he'd begun to get bored. He was only aware of their general location. The jounin hadn't actually laid eyes on them and they hadn't attacked him. It was putting him on his guard. After a moment's contemplation he'd decided against hunting them down. It looked like he was going to have to take this a bit more seriously.

As such, it was better for him to stay put. In a situation such as this, he had a distinct advantage, besides the difference in skill. After all, in theory a team of three genin could take down a jounin. No, the advantage lay in his position. As things stood, he held their objective. They would be forced to come to him to get the bells. This meant that he chose the battleground. Not only that, but it forced them to walk through the traps he set, rather than him falling into theirs.

They had to be aware that they had to come to him, and they also must be aware of the time they'd already used up. There could only be one conclusion. They were planning an all or nothing assault. There wasn't any time left for anything else. As it was they'd be cutting it close. That put him even more on his guard. Desperate enemies were the worst kind.

Still, they'd earned plenty of points by his reasoning. They'd been working together so far, or so it seemed. The question was whether or not they would be able to hold it together when they actually attacked. And there was no doubt that they would attack. When didn't really factor in, as they only had about fifteen minutes left. Rather, it was how. The time passed slowly, in his hyper aware state. Ten minutes left, and then only five. Where were they?

His alarm went off.

They hadn't shown. They simply hadn't come for the bells. Did they want to fail? With a sigh, he walked over to turn off the alarm. He supposed that he'd have to go collect them. Just as he was about to walk towards the trees he paused. Go to get them? Time was up, but he'd didn't hold much value in being on time anyway. They were making him come to them, completely disregarding the time limit.

Kakashi couldn't help it. He laughed aloud. What a team! Look beneath the underneath. That was one of the things he wanted to teach them. And certainly they had even without a lesson. A jounin who showed up so late, surely wouldn't place so much emphasis on time. To think that he'd almost walked right into their trap. And there was teamwork there too. He was certain now that they'd discovered the purpose of the bell test. If they could disregard the rule concerning the time limit, certainly they would have realized the pair of bells was a farce. Not that he didn't want to test their actually abilities as well.

It was then that he realized he'd been thinking of team seven as 'they', as a unit. Normally when he tested genin teams he ended up referring to them individually, even in his own mind. They had all acted separately and not as a group. It was interesting. Well, he'd just have to humor them. Certainly he wanted to see what they'd come up with. Grinning beneath his mask, he continued on his original path into the undergrowth.

Before he'd gotten five yards in he saw them, a multitude of traps. There were so many he wondered if they'd had to completely use all their equipment. It also caused him to doubt that he'd be able to spot all of them. Several traps were merely there to disguise more subtle ones. It was a clever, if predictable, trick. He carefully picked his way through the undergrowth, deliberately maintaining his air of nonchalance. He suspected that Naruto at the very least would be infuriated by it. Whistling cheerfully Kakashi continued on his quest to collect his errant team.

The moment he had reached the center of the mass of traps, chaos erupted all around him. Three Naruto clones appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The original was probably nearby. It took about a half second more to realize he hadn't avoided the network of traps at all. There had only been one trap all along and he'd walked right into it. He launched half a dozen kunai at the duplicates but only managed to dispel one. That one disappeared in a puff of smoke, but still managed to make a face at him before it was gone. He watched in veiled horror as the other two deliberately triggered one of the traps.

Kakashi's mind abruptly made the switch into high speed, a speed only achieved in life and death situations. Certainly he had more than enough skill to get out of this mess. That did not mean however that this attack was not potentially deadly. Despite the fact that he'd decided to take the three genin a bit more seriously, he now realized that he'd still sorely underestimated them.

Dodging the flurry of shuriken aimed in his general direction, he quickly sorted his options. The shuriken, as predicted, set off another trap which sent a decomposing log falling from treetops. The most obvious solution at the moment was kawarimi no jutsu. It was also a complete gamble in this specific situation. The fact that the forest was saturated with traps meant that if he reappeared somewhere else he might simply wind up in the middle of another trap. Normally he'd be able to decide the exact location he would end up in, but being forced to dodge as well as look out for the genin it would be impossible to achieve the necessary focus. Had he realized their intent in time he could have been ready. However it was no use getting upset over it now. And under everything he found himself inordinately pleased.

Perhaps their purpose was to tire him out? There was little chance of that. Dodging a kunai, he instinctively felt danger from his blind side. A telltale whoosh of air accompanied the feeling. He pivoted aside on one foot, to see a windmill shuriken fly past. That had definitely not been a trap. Windmill shuriken were tricky to control and were not the type of weapon one could use in a trap. Sasuke's handiwork, he was sure. He made a note of the direction the attack had come from. Lifting his feet higher than normal, he danced over the tripwires while avoided more deadly projectiles. Some of which, he was amused to note, were rocks. Apparently the genin had found themselves short of regular ammunition for their rather intricate mousetrap.

There were a few advantages to his current predicament. For one, the genin would not be able to attack him directly at the moment, seeing as they were extremely likely to get caught in their own traps. Perhaps one of them would be able to at a time, but there was no way they'd all assault him at once. Also, he suspected that they had rather few projectiles left, and thus would not be attacking him from afar. Naruto's kage bunshin would be a worry, however. He found himself wondering how many of the damn clones the blond could produce before he ran out of chakra.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught Sasuke charging him from the opposite direction the shuriken had been thrown from. It was his first clue that something about the attack was off. He braced himself, catching the wrist of his attacker and sending him flying to intercept of flurry of shuriken. Sure enough the boy disappeared with a pop and a cloud of smoke. After which came several more Sasuke clones as well as Sakura and Naruto clones. The assault from the traps had begun to slow as the attacks from the clones intensified. Not all were even kage bunshin. There were many regular bunshin in the mix and it was difficult to separate the real threats from the illusion. Now though, that the traps had mostly been triggered, it was easier to take his chance at kawarimi, which he did.

Somehow he half thought that they'd anticipated such a move. Sure enough, he hadn't been away from the main battlefield for more than fifteen seconds when a group of Naruto clones attacked him. Their attacks, while solid, were rather odd. There was a flaw buried in there. At the oddest times they react in a strange way that left them completely open to attack. He didn't hesitate to use this to his advantage. He found out shortly thereafter that the real Naruto was among this group. One of the clones he threw into a tree hadn't dissipated on contact. Rather, Naruto got to his feet, with a disappointed look on his face.

"Damn it sensei! We'll get you yet!" he yelled, gesturing wildly. Kakashi eyed him with amusement. It didn't escape his notice that Sasuke and Sakura had arrived then as well. He went out on a limb and assumed that these were the real things. Naruto hardly looked winded. Sparing a sideways glance at Sasuke revealed him to be in a similar state. Sakura, however, was breathing hard and looked worse for wear. It seemed she was having a difficult time keeping up with the boys, but that was not unexpected. Usually kunoichi had to work twice as hard to build up their stamina as their talents often lay in other areas, such as chakra control and stealth.

"You're a little late, don't you think? It's already past the time limit," Kakashi said, amusement lacing his voice. His once visible eyes curved up as he smiled under the mask. Sakura seemed to deflate a little, but seeing the confidence of the boys pulled herself together. "Well, I guess since you're so enthusiastic about the whole thing I could give you another chance. But if you don't get the bells this time, you're all going back to the academy."

Sasuke smirked at the statement while Naruto grinned and Sakura nodded grimly.

"And by the way, since you're so late, I'm only giving you two minutes. Begin," Kakshi added. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a watch and fiddled with a dial. It beeped cooperatively. He awaited the outburst.

"What the hell! That's not fair!" Naruto yelled, voice rising to a new level of volume.

"Who cares dobe! We just have to get the bells," Sasuke snapped. He, realizing they were already on the clock, launched himself at Kakashi. The jounin dodged the seemingly wild punch, stuffing the stopwatch back into his pocket. And then Naruto was there with a kick launched at his face. He bent back, avoiding the blow only to find Sasuke aiming a slide tackle toward his legs. Kakashi was forced to flip completely over, but managed to nail Naruto beneath the chin with one foot as he somersaulted backwards. The blond was sent flying up and away, only to be caught by Sakura. The girl barely managed to keep herself from being bowled over by digging her feet into the ground stubbornly. Displaying a surprising amount of strength, which the jounin would have to look into later, she reversed Naruto's momentum completely. This sent Naruto speeding back into the battle and Sakura spinning to the ground.

After that it was a whirl of flying fists and feet as Sasuke and Naruto pressed him. Whenever he'd knock one aside the other immediately filled the gap. The teamwork was flawless. At the same time, he was able to stay ahead of them. Both of them displayed that odd flaw that he'd noticed in Naruto earlier. And on top of everything he was still far more skilled than they. He threw Sasuke into a thorn bush off to the side and turned his attention to Naruto. The blond attempted to tackle him from behind. He side stepped the grab and was subsequently attacked by Sasuke who threw a surprisingly clumsy punch and stumbled past when he dodged.

To his surprise he was attacked by a second Sasuke who dropped down from a branch above, forcing him to step back in the direction the first Sasuke had stumbled. That was when a pair of orange clad arms and legs latched onto him from behind. Simultaneously, he heard a clink and glanced down to see the first Sasuke's hand close around the bells. Reflexively, his left leg snapped out in a kick, perhaps harder than necessary. His foot planted itself in the first Sasuke's midriff, completely knocking the wind from the genin and sending him skidding several feet away. The bells were dropped as a result, but in the process had been tugged free. They fell to the ground, softly chiming.

The jarring beep of the stopwatch echoed them.

With a poof, the first Sasuke was revealed to be Sakura. She promptly sat on the ground, trying to breath properly again. The rest of them, meanwhile, stared at the two bells in something like disbelief. Kakashi absently plucked Naruto from his back as the blond's grip had loosened. Finally, Sakura began breathing normally again. Kakashi reached into his pocket to stop the alarm. While he did so Naruto found his voice.

"So…um…was that a pass or a fail?"

I have just decided that writing action scenes is extremely difficult and should only be attempted after at least two cans of coke and a piece of homemade cheesecake. Really. That was the first in depth fight I've ever put to words, so I'd appreciate feedback. I just hope I'm not a total lost cause. On another note I doubt that was what anyone was expecting. Hope it was at least a little enjoyable.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Sorry I wasn't able to respond to everyone, but I'll continue to try.

'til next time.