Chapter 10

"Speaking/SHOUTING"

'Thinking'

"Summon/bijuu"

"Hashirama"

"Madara"

"Minato"

"Jutsu"

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor will I ever. But if I listen to public opinion, I and pretty much anyone can run it better than Kishimoto. Public opinion, not necessarily mine.

Naruto looked at the clock. He looked at it again. He groaned. He had overslept! He jumped out of bed, and looked at his closet. He thought for a moment, then he opened it. The jumpsuit had served its purpose, upping the ante for his stealth-training, read pranks, and making people underestimate him, but now it was time for a costume-change.

He grabbed the clothes he had prepared for exactly this occasion and changed. On his way to the academy, he had a idea.

Sasuke sat on his chair, patiently waiting. He knew Naruto had become a genin, anything else would have made no sense, and rumors were going that Mizuki had not come to school today, which further strengthened Sasuke's belief that Naruto had found out something and beat the man to a pulp. But why hadn't Naruto arrived yet?

'He probably overslept. Typical.' He thought, glancing at the empty seat next to him. Normally a fangirl, namely Sakura or Ino, would have claimed the place by now, but fortunately for Sasuke's mood, Naruto had developed the habit of grabbing anyone on that seat by the back of the neck and unceremoniously tossing him aside to take the spot. Also, Shino had taken seat on Sasuke's right, meaning the place was blocked for all fangirls, who were too freaked by Shino to try and make the silent boy leave the spot.

At that point, Iruka stepped into the room, and the glances together with the short frown strengthened Sasuke's belief that Iruka was looking for Naruto as well, seeing that there was no student other than said blonde missing. And did Sasuke imagine things, or did Iruka look a little roughed up?

Iruka cleared his throat. "First of all, I want to congratulate you all for making it this far. You are about to become shinobi, genin, the lowest rank of shinobi, but nonetheless, the first step has been made. In the future, you will face harsh trials, difficult situations, and I will not lie, there will be defeat. But I know that you will pull through it all, growing from the difficulties and in hindsight, when you have become true shinobi of Konoha, you will see them as stepping-stones to where you will be, as the hammer that forged those protectors of Konoha and proud men and women that I know you'll be. And as your teacher, I can say that I'm proud of you all." Iruka felt a slight twinge of guilt, knowing full well that he would see many of these currently proud faces again in next year's class, but he had spoken the truth; he was proud of them.

When the mutters died, Iruka smiled. "Now, onto what I know you're all impatiently waiting for, the teams. Team 1 will be..."

But Iruka never finished, as something that rendered him speechless happened.

Suddenly all windows and the door slammed open, hurricane-like winds raging through them. Students screamed and grabbed hold of the tables and benches to not be blown away, though most girls used one hand to keep their ridiculously short skirts that they had picked for Sasuke down, while a select few used chakra to anchor themselves to the ground and watched in a mixture of shock and amusement. Pencils, books and a few stacks of paper that Iruka had spent hours putting into order flew through the air, causing a number of heads to duck even through there was little chance of getting hit. Right in-between the teacher's desk and the student's benches, a tornado-like twister formed, the objects now circling in its outer winds. Then a silhouette appeared in the center of the twister, and as sudden as it had started, it was over. The windows and doors closed, and the last breezes carried the objects back to where they came from, amazingly putting the papers back into neat stacks without a single page out of order. Where the twister had been a person stood, grinning widely. Naruto Uzumaki.

Silence reigned, then Sasuke spoke. "Hm, I'll give it a 8.7"

Naruto's smile faltered. "What?! Come on, that was at least a 9!"

Iruka sighed. "Since you couldn't be the first one here, you just had to have the best entrance, didn't you?"

Naruto smiled, but had the decency to quietly move to his seat next to Sasuke. "And it was a 9!" He hissed to the smirking Uchiha.

Shino spoke up. "It was most impressive, especially replacing everything correctly, although I would also take points off for being so late."

Naruto frowned. "Sorry, I had to change, and I overslept. But Shino, what would you have given?"

Shino seemed to think about it. "9.1" he then answered.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "I told you it was a 9!" he hissed.

Sasuke shrugged. "Different judges judge things differently. Although you get a 10 for the improvement to your outfit, that jumpsuit was an eyesore."

It was not exaggerated that Naruto's outfit had made a turn for the better, as the boy was now wearing a silver flippable trench-coat, the inside being pitch-black, with the sword he had taken from the secret room below the Uchiha-clan's secret room hanging at his left hip. Below the coat, Naruto was wearing a gray shirt that while not skintight, was enough to give an idea of the muscles that were beneath it. He was also wearing black pants that were designed to maximize movement, with small, multi-segmented knee-caps made from some dull metal that would doubtlessly increase the pain anyone unfortunate enough to make contact with it would feel, and it was more than likely that his elbows had similar protection beneath the coat. Black fingerless gloves adorned Naruto's hands. The only thing that hadn't changed were the sandals he was still wearing, as Naruto had yet to find a shoe that looked good and would neither limit mobility nor ruin any attempt of stealth. All in all, it was a major improvement from the jumpsuit.

Naruto shrugged and turned his attention to Iruka, who had already declared six teams, ending many girl's hopes of being in a team with Sasuke.

"Team 7 will be Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha," The two boys smiled at each other and bumped their fists together "and Sakura Haruno." The fists opened as two palms slammed into their respective foreheads.

"YES! TAKE THAT INO-PIG, TRUE LOVE WINS!!!" Sakura shouted, while Ino and may other girls were complaining about while one girl simply looked disappointed.

Iruka continued. "Team 8 will be Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame and Hinata Hyuuga." The three looked at each other, giving a short nod while Kiba, who was sitting next to Hinata, gave the girl a pat on the back.

"Look on the bright side, it could be worse. We all could have been paired up with some of the earsores that refuse to get the hint that their target of affection wants nothing to do with them. I don't think I could handle listening to one of them yelling how great Sasuke is every day without punching them in the face."

Hinata smiled and nodded.

Iruka looked around, then he spoke again. "Since Team 9 is still in circulation, the last team is Team 10, which will consist of Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka."

"WHAT?! I'M PAIRED WITH LAZY-ASS AND FATTY?! NO FAIR IRUKA-SENSEI!" Ino shouted.

Chouji jumped up. "I'M NOT FAT, I'M BIG-BONED, YOU UNDERWEIGHTED WITCH WITH A B!" He still remembered Ino smacking the chips out of his hand, right into a puddle, causing them to soak. To this day, the girl hadn't apologized.

Iruka's brow twitched as Ino yelled more insults. "SHUT UP!" He shouted.

Within a split-second, there was absolute silence.

'How interesting. And amusingly, the man probably doesn't even realize what he's using.' Madara spoke.

'What is he using?' Naruto asked.

Madara chuckled. 'I won't go into too much detail, but I'll tell you this much. While I worked with Killing Intent, waking the instinctual feeling of a nearby predator, as an outsider being the source of fear, my brother Izuna played around with something he called Authority, which is the feeling of facing an alpha, as a insider being the cause of fear. While KI raises fear and panic, with visions of death when sufficiently advanced, authority gives an instinctual urge to obey, much quicker than conscious thought. Izuna had developed it to a point where he could order his enemy to cut his own throat and the enemy would have so before consciously realizing what was going on. Not that the man is even close to that level, but still. And the only way to resist is to have not pride or arrogance, but honest confidence that you are strong, which surprisingly few people have, even amongst the powerful. I and Hashirama were the only people who could resist Izuna, just to give you an idea of the willpower needed to resist a master of Authority.'

'Can I learn that?' Naruto wondered.

'Maybe,' Madara replied 'but Authority only comes with experience. All you have right now would be cockyness, if not arrogance, and that will not be enough. This is one of those things you can't learn until you're older.'

Naruto shrugged, and decided to wait for his official sensei while discussing a few ideas with Sasuke.

115 minutes later, they were still waiting. Naruto had grown annoyed, even though he was absolutely certain he knew who their sensei was, as only one man had the balls to leave the 'last' Uchiha waiting for two hours, the time being the second clue. Naruto decided that instead of a normal prank, he'd do something that tested Kakashi-niisan's reflexes. A evil smirk spread across his face. Kakashi wouldn't know what hit him, or he'd at least be very surprised.

Sakura ruffled her hair. "Where is our sensei!?"

Naruto stretched. "He'll either be here in exactly twenty seconds, or we have to wait another hour." He calmly stated.

Sasuke raised a brow. "How do you know?"

Naruto shrugged. "Our sensei is Kakashi Hatake, he is always late, and exactly x hours, so either he enters now or in sixty minutes."

The door opened and a man stepped in. the first thing they noticed was that there wasn't much they could notice, seeing that the man was wearing a mask over the lower part of his face, and his forehead-protector was covering the left eye, which only left the right eye, a bit of skin and the gravity-defying hair visible. The man looked around. "My first impression is, you're boring."

Kakashi had expected a prank, or at least something to drop on his head when he opened the door, but nothing.

Naruto slowly raised a hand and pointed his index-finger at the man. "And you're... late."

Kakashi raised a brow, but before he could answer anything, four kunai shot out of shady corners in the room, all flying at high speed aimed at Kakashi's chest. Kakashi's eye widened, but he drew a kunai of his own and repelled all four in a single swing. He gave a eye-smile. "Now that wasn't very... what the hell?!" Sakura gasped, while Sasuke's brow moved up slightly.

The kunai had stopped mid-air, their tips correcting their aim and shooting at Kakashi's chest again. Kakashi jumped back, but the kunai increased their speed again and shot towards his chest. Then Kakashi caught all four, feeling the invisible force that had directed it towards him pulling on the blades, then it was over.

Kakashi looked at Naruto. "I know that your Lightning-training is progressing well, but as far as I know, Sasuke's better with that element, so when did you master magnetism, something which only few ever managed, and only one has truly mastered?" He asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know magnetism. It's one of the things that I'm not yet able to do, though I'd like to learn it one day."

Kakashi's eye narrowed. Naruto was not a liar, so if it wasn't magnetism, and since Kakashi had been told the about both the Forces and that Naruto didn't have Gravity by the Hokage, it made him wonder what else he didn't know about Naruto. Kakashi shrugged. "Well, you're not as boring as I thought, although I'm starting to hate you all. Anyways, meet me on the roof."

With that, he shunshined away, leaving the three students behind. Naruto considered following Kakashi's example or simply scaling up the wall, but he decided that he showed enough skill for now. That little trick that he pulled on Kakashi didn't seem like such a good idea when looking back, not because of any consequences, but simply because it made Kakashi wary of him, and that would not be good in the real genin-exam.

Once they had all taken seat, Kakashi looked at them. "Now, since we'll be a team," 'or not' he mentally added before continuing "we should introduce ourselves."

Sakura tilted her head. "You should go first Kakashi, so that we'll know what to do."

Kakashi shrugged. "Why not. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I won't tell you my likes or dislikes. My hobby, hm, I have some. My dream? Well, you're a little young for that." He giggled.

All three genin-hopefuls shared a single thought 'All he gave was his name.'

Kakashi looked at them. "Pinky, you go first."

Sakura frowned at the naming, but spoke nonetheless. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like..." She looked at Sasuke and squealed. "I hate Ino-pig! My hobby is..." Another squeal. "And my dream for the future..." The loudest squeal so far.

'A fangirl, oh joy.' Kakashi fought the urge to slam his head into the wall in frustration, as that type of woman was always the hardest to deal with. He liked to put fangirls into two categories.

One type was useful, either because they went the only way that gave them any respect and trained like crazy to gain skill to impress their crush, or they had useful connections, although Kakashi preferred the ones with skill.

The other type, seemingly the one Sakura belonged to, was the generally useless type. They cared about their looks more than about their training, spending money on make-up instead of shuriken, giving their hair more attention that their muscles, using perfume instead of scentkillers, and did the worst possible thing a ninja could do, diet. Any idiot knew that you lost weight from training, and that even gave the advantage of muscles in return. Honestly, all such girls were good for was cannon-fodder, and Konoha had a policy that forbade the shinobi of using them as such.

Personally, Kakashi never understood why women liked to simulate interrogation by starvation, giving anyone who dared eat a healthy meal in their presence dirty looks to hateful stares. He usually failed all teams the council had yet grown tired of shoving onto him, but if they had fangirls, he made sure that they realized just how outclassed they were. A normal bandit could beat them, and unsurprisingly they were extremely popular with the rapists amongst the enemies since they had good looks, little bark and no bite. You could tell that to the girls, heck you could show them video's that explained it, but even if they watched those, they'd loose all motivation it might have given them after a few days of work. It was frustrating!

Kakashi noticed that the boys seemed just as unhappy with their comrade as he was. He looked at Sasuke. "Okay, the broody one next."

Sasuke's brow twitched. He wasn't brooding, he was being an asshole, there was a difference! "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like few things, like my friends, getting stronger, onigiri and tomatoes. I hate many things, including but not limited to fangirls. My hobby is training. I'm no dreamer, but my goals are reviving my clan and finding two people."

Kakashi was intrigued. He had expected something darker, and the mention of a planned murder. It seemed Naruto was doing the boy good. "And what will you do when you find these people?"

Sasuke's head tilted. "One I will question, and depending on the answers, I will kill him. The other one, I will thank for saving my life."

Kakashi nodded. He had heard the story about the mysterious ANBU that saved Sasuke and who, according to records, didn't exist. The whole affair had been, how Shikaku had accurately summed it up, 'troublesome'. All searches for any clue had been for naught, there had not even been a scent or chakra-residue to prove that anybody but Sasuke, Itachi and his victims had been present.

He looked at Naruto. "And finally your turn. And while your outfit makes an impression, it's not that great for stealth. Silver so shining it reflects light?"

Naruto shrugged. "I have more of these, most of them in stealth-coloring. I just chose this one for today since I see little need in hiding. Anyways, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like the people I cherish, making friends and ramen. I dislike arrogance, my own included, people who judge others without knowing them. I hate if people cling to their ignorance, hypocrisy, those who abuse others, and rapists. My hobbies would be training, learning new things and hanging out with my friends. My dream would be to surpass all Hokage."

Kakashi nodded. "Very well, tomorrow at seven you'll meet me at training-ground 7, for a little survival-exercise against me. That will also be your genin-exam."

The boys nodded, having expected something of the sort, but Sakura was confused. "Sensei, we already passed our genin-exam."

Naruto sighed. "Do you really think that that test was all there was to becoming a shinobi? Three low-class jutsu, one of which is likely to never see combat because of its utter uselessness? A measly spar against an opponent who has to hold back so much he's barely allowed to move? Throwing a few projectiles at stationary targets? A written test? Get serious, that was only to weed out the complete idiots."

"Like yourself!" Sakura hissed, insulted.

Naruto shrugged. "I flunked on purpose, since I thought something was fishy, and as a reward I got to beat Mizuki to a pulp when he turned traitor. I think that speaks for my skill."

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto's right, to be a genin is not that easy. In fact, the test I and the other potential senseis will be admitting has a 66% failure rate. You understand what that means, right?"

Sakura paled. "Only a third of the graduates will become genin."

Kakashi nodded. "Out of the 27 graduates, only 9 will become genin, the rest will be sent back to the academy. I already told you when to meet me, so there's really nothing else to do, so you're all dismissed for the day. Oh, and you shouldn't eat breakfast, it's not like you'll be able to keep it in if you do." Then he was gone.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. Sasuke spoke first. "So, till tomorrow at 9?"

Naruto nodded. "After a nice long breakfast."

Sakura seemed shocked. "Sensei said we weren't supposed to eat! And the test is at 7!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "No, the time Kakashi gave was 7, and he's always at least two hours late. And his remark about breakfast was advice, not an order."

Sakura huffed. "Don't blame me if you fail." She turned away. "Sasuke, do you want to... Where is he?"

Sasuke had used the chance Naruto had provided him with to make his escape. Sakura turned to Naruto.

"Baka, where did you hide him?! Huh?" Naruto was also gone. Sakura huffed, and decided to go home. She had to go to bed early if she wanted to make herself pretty tomorrow before going to the training-ground.

Naruto and Sasuke entered Training-ground 7, having met at the entrance, only to see a dejected-looking Sakura leaning on a tree. As soon as she saw Sasuke, her face brightened. "Sasuke! Good morning, how are you doing?"

Sasuke, who had taken a precautionary step back, looked at her. "How long have you been here?"

Sakura shrugged. "Since 7, as ordered. Why are you so late?"

Naruto chuckled. "We're not late, you're early. One thing I learned in the academy, not the one who isn't in class when the bell rings is late, but the one who isn't in class when the teacher arrives is, and since I don't see our sensei anywhere, I'd say we're right one time."

Sakura was about to open her mouth, when... GRUMBLE

Naruto sweat-dropped. "Sakura, did you eat breakfast?"

Sakura looked offended. "Of course not! Sensei said not to!" GRUMBLE

Naruto's brow shot up. "Did you eat dinner?"

Sakura blushed. "I'm on a diet, so..."

Naruto and Sasuke face-palmed. Naruto looked at her. "Your body needs nutrients to supply itself with energy. How the hell do you plan on finishing a survival-exercise, read fight, against a JONIN if you're not at full strength?!"

Sakura looked embarrassed. Sasuke sighed, and grabbed into his backpack, pulling out an apple. He tossed it to Sakura. "It's not much, but you're no help if you faint on us."

Sakura blushed. She considered keeping the apple, to eternally remember the first gift the Uchiha had given her, but her stomach quickly vetoed and she ate it up. Keeping the rest would have been silly, not to mention that it would ruin her clothes if she put it in her pocket, so she threw it away.

With a poof, Kakashi appeared. "Well you all seem to get along nicely, so lets start. As you can see, I have these bells. The task is simple, get them from me. You have until noon."

Sakura blinked. "Wait, there are only two bells, so one of us has to fail!"

Kakashi nodded. "Of course. One of you will be sent back to the academy, after he has been tied to this post and watched while the others eat their lunches in front of him."

A collective sweat-drop followed the explanation, although Kakashi could read from the expressions the three were making that only Sakura had followed his 'advice'. He didn't know if he should commend her for obedience or scold her for stupidity.

Naruto shrugged. "So when do we start?"

Kakashi eye-smiled. "Right now. One advice, come at me with the intent to kill, or you won't succeed. And I see you weren't lying about your coat."

True to the statement, Naruto's coat was now sporting a camouflage-pattern designed for forests, consisting of patches of green, brown and black. The boy shrugged. "Reflective silver is not a good color for hiding, is it?"

Kakashi nodded. "True. The test starts NOW!" The genin-hopefuls jumped and vanished into the foliage, with one exception. Kakashi sweat-dropped. "Naruto, why aren't you hiding?"

Naruto looked at him. "Why should I? Our objective is those bells, if I hide, how am I supposed to get them? And your a former ANBU Kakashi-niisan, or do you prefer Inu? There's no way you won't be able to find freshly graduated academy-students in a terrain you have called them to."

Kakashi shrugged, the boy had a point. "So what now?"

Naruto grinned. "Now... I attack!"

With that, he dashed at Kakashi, fist raised. An instinct told Kakashi not to directly block, so instead he grabbed the fist, pulled it towards him and flipped Naruto over his shoulder.

The boy would have landed on his back, but instead he stretched arms and legs, landing on his soles and palms. For one moment, he seemed to make a bridge, giving Kakashi a wide grin, then his legs flipped forward, intending to give Kakashi a bone-shattering kick. But Kakashi effortlessly sidestepped the attack, ducking when Naruto's hand shot outwards, holding a kunai to slice Kakashi open. Once Naruto saw that the one-eyed man was out of range, he tossed the kunai with all the strength he could currently muster from his awkward position, only to curse when Kakashi replaced himself with a log.

Kakashi on the other hand stared at the kunai, that had pierced so far into the log that a section of the blade was sticking out the other side. 'If that hit a human body, it'd leave a hole you could see through. Better not get hit by those.' He told himself. Loud he said "Well aren't you just full of surprises?"

Naruto grinned. "You have no idea." He charged Kakashi, but the man vanished again. Naruto's eyes darted around, when he heard something that made him pale.

"Sennen Goroshi!"

Naruto jumped to the side. "No way in hell I'm suffering through that!" Kakashi missed him by a hair's width, Naruto staring at him. "Now that was just awful. That clearly went below the belt."

Kakashi looked at him. "You realize it would have been your own fault if you had been unable to dodge."

Naruto's brow twitched. "You realize that if it would have hit me, your books might have had an unfortunate accident." He ducked beneath a kunai-swipe.

Kakashi glared at him, murder in his eyes. "NOBODY THREATHENS THE ICHA-ICHA NARUTO, NOBODY!" He shouted, before peppering Naruto with blows that the boy was hard-pressed to dodge.

After blocking a kick that sent him skidding away, Naruto sighed. "This is getting me nowhere, so I'll retreat and regroup for now." With that, he jumped into the treeline, and Kakashi would have sworn the boy had just faded away into nothingness. Kakashi knew best that Naruto was the only one below jonin in Konoha who could successfully hide from ANBU, and while he could have located him, it would take too much effort, especially since he had two more students to test.

Sakura was baffled. She had just seen Naruto fight with Kakashi, and she didn't know what to say. While she would begrudgingly admit, if under pain of death or threat of eternal Sasuke-withdrawal, that Naruto was better in taijutsu than Sasuke, she had had no idea the blond boy could move like that. And while that ability tended to leave her when Sasuke was involved, Sakura could read most people easily, and from what she saw from Naruto's behavior, the boy hadn't gone all-out against their sensei! Granted, it was obvious sensei had been holding back, at least up to the point where he had shouted something and proceeded to pummel Naruto, the boy making an exit to save strength.

"Sakura." A voice behind her spoke. She turned around, only to see her sensei staring at her. Next she knew, she was standing in a whirlpool of leaves, which quickly subsided.

Then she heard a gurgle and turned around. She stared at the mutilated body of a blood-covered Sasuke, countless kunai and shuriken sticking out of him, his left arm, right leg and left eye missing. She did the only thing she could, she screamed and fainted.

"!"

Sasuke looked up. That had been Sakura's voice. Then he reminded himself that Kakashi was not allowed to kill or seriously injure them, and looked at the jonin, who was scratching his head. "Maybe I went a little overboard? Although her record claimed she was the best in the topic of genjutsu." He mumbled, before turning his attention to Sasuke. "Honestly, I'm amazed that you didn't attack me when I was fighting Naruto."

Sasuke snorted. "That was his fight, and he would have been beyond pissed had I intervened. Just as I would beif he popped up right now." He jumped to attack, Kakashi blocking two strikes, only to find that after blocking the third one, Sasuke was going for the bells.

"Oh no you don't!" With that, he tossed Sasuke away, just as the boy had touched one of the bells.

"Rats, almost had it." He started a series of handsigns which left Kakashi surprised.

'There's no way he can already do that! Then again, he trains with Naruto... Fuck!'

Sasuke grinned. "Katon: Goukakyo no Jutsu!" A giant fireball engulfed the place that Kakashi occupied, effectively reducing visibility in the specific area to zero. When the flames died down, Sasuke's eyes widened. Nothing! He hadn't expected to see a charred corpse, but Kakashi had vanished. And that could only mean one thing: Sasuke was about to be attacked.

His eyes darted around. 'Up? Behind? To the sides? Where is he?'

A voice rang out. "Below."

Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt someone grab his ankle. "Shit!"

Kakashi's voice sounded smug. "Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"

As Sasuke felt the ground give way beneath him, he shouted. "NOW!" There was a poof, and suddenly was dragging Naruto into the depth until only his head stuck out. Kakashi appeared before him.

"I'll give you points for guts, exchanging yourself with Sasuke, but what good did it do you?"

Naruto grinned. "That jutsu of yours is not meant to allow real travel underground, I'd say ten to fifteen feet is as far as you can go with it, so I have the home-advantage fighting below the ground. Doton: Dochuu Senkou!"

Now Kakashi felt a hand on his ankle as he was dragged into the earth and unlike his jutsu, he felt that he was going down deep and fast. Where the hell had Naruto learned a jutsu like this one? He felt the hand let go of his ankle and calculated his depth. The result was not good. He was at least fifty feet down, surrounded by earth on all sides. His air would soon be running out, as he hadn't inhaled very deeply, not assuming he'd be dragged to the bowels of the earth, and moving became harder with each second. He had been smart enough to keep his hands together, and now he used them to dig a small cave for them that would allow him to form handsigns. Kakashi knew that he only reason he succeeded was that Naruto's descend had softened the ground, otherwise the tons of earth pushing down on the ground beneath them would have pressed it way too hard to move. Once he had managed, he started to wonder which jutsu to use. After short consideration, he realized that he didn't have much choice. He started his chain of handsigns, mouthing "Raikiri" instead of saying it to conserve oxygen.

It worked, as the Lightning-chakra-covered arm moved through the earth like a normal arm through water, and Kakashi raised it directly above his head before focusing all the chakra he could currently spare into the soles of his feet. As he had hoped, the rejection pushed him upwards, the Raikiri parting the earth above him.

Naruto silently cursed. The original plan had been along the line of 'grab the bells when Kakashi can't move, get them up to Sasuke, go back down and get Kakashi.' However, Kakashi had decided to change the script, using a Raiton, considering he was buried in earth a wise choice, and digging himself out. Naruto had lost a bit of finger when his hand had been caught by Kakashi's swipe, not that it hadn't healed yet, and was forced to retreat empty-handed. Then he remembered that Sasuke, or more likely Sakura if she was awake since Sasuke usually wasn't that dumb, might be standing where Kakashi would pop up from, and that could get ugly real fast. He dug up at top-speed, catching up to Kakashi's ascend after ten seconds before speeding past him, before popping out of the ground like a whack-a-mole, making him grateful nobody hammered him back down, before assessing the situation. Yep, Sakura was awake and standing right where Kakashi would pop up any second, Sasuke a few feet back. Naruto inhaled deeply. "SASUKE, GET SAKURA AWAY FROM THERE! KAKASHI IS GETTING OUT WITH A JUTSU THAT WILL GUT HER IF SHE STAYS!" He knew there'd be no point in telling Sakura to move, as A: she wouldn't believe him, B: in the unlikely case that she did, she'd freeze up, and C: She never did as she was told, unless you were a teacher. Even Sasuke couldn't do it. He had tried, but somehow, the girl had mixed 'Go away' up with 'Hug me', which taught him to keep his distance.

Sasuke reacted instantly, lunging at Sakura and pulling her away from where she stood before, and not a moment too soon, as Kakashi broke out of the earth, his visible eye wide. He hadn't thought anybody would be so stupid as to stand above the place where a jonin had sunk into the ground, but apparently, he'd underestimated Sakura again. Really, what was wrong with the girl?!

But Kakashi didn't have time to ponder the words, as Naruto charged him again. Kakashi attempted a kick, only for Naruto to duck beneath it. What happened next shocked Kakashi, as it was the last thing he had expected. Sasuke rolled over Naruto's back, using the rotation to give additional strength to the heal-drop, which nearly connected to Kakashi's shoulder when he dodged, only to see a familiar sight, as Naruto, one hand on Sasuke's shoulder, jumped over the currently crouched Uchiha and delivered a two-legged stamping-kick at Kakashi's chest, who winced as the feet impacted on his crossed arms and skidded back. He looked at the two, dodging a number of perfectly synchronized attacks. "I thought both of you would get pissed if the other one intervened."

Naruto smirked while delivering a swipe to the feet, forcing Kakashi into the air. "True, but that was when we fought alone. Both of us wanted to test our strength one-on-one, and we did."

Sasuke appeared in front of Kakashi, using the jonin's inability to dodge mid-air to send a U-punch to Kakashi's face and guts. "It didn't work, so now comes Plan B: Work together."

Kakashi pulled his head to his right to dodge the upper blow, while wiping away the hand that had once again went for the bells, as a ringing noise told him. He threw a punch, only for Naruto to lean forward and block it, giving Kakashi the impression of having hit against a piece of rock, while Sasuke regained his wits and charged from below while Naruto kept Kakashi's arms busy.

Kakashi wasn't believing his senses, these kids were working together on a level that was only achieved by those who blindly trusted each other, and their attacks would have given the average jonin a fair bit of trouble, he was a former ANBU, and able to handle it. Still, he was curious what would happen if these two were pushed. He was about to find out.

He smirked as he jumped back. "Bunshin no Jutsu!" A literal army of clones appeared. While they couldn't interact with the world, they were a great cover.

Sasuke cursed as his eyes darted around the the approaching clones, trying to spot the real one. "Naruto, despite all our work, I haven't unlocked my Sharingan yet, where is he?"

Naruto closed his eyes, much to the approaching Kakashi's confusion. Closing your eyes in such a situation was not that dumb, as it gave the possibility of hearing footsteps more clearly, but while Kakashi was not a master of the silent killing, he knew how to move without making a sound, so that wouldn't work. He pulled out a kunai. He'd only use the blunt side, but it would be enough to knock one out for a few minutes.

Naruto's eyes suddenly snapped open as he drew a kunai and charged at Sasuke while making a swipe that looked like it would end in Sasuke's throat. There was a sharp CLANG, and Naruto's kunai was blocking Kakashi's, Sasuke still remaining in the same spot, before dropping to all fours and kicking both legs backwards like a bucking bull. Kakashi couldn't block in time, still shocked by the amazing display of trust Sasuke had just shown, and was hit square in the chest. He flew a few feet, landing on the surface of the lake. He landed on the surface, and formed another short series of handsings. "Mizu Bunshin" He declared as a copy of him rose out of the waters, charging the two of them before vanishing.

Sasuke and Naruto immediately took a back-to-back position, looking for the enemy. Suddenly Sasuke dropped to the floor, the clone flying over his head with a kunai, before vanishing into water. Naruto, who wasn't even facing Sasuke or the clone, had just by the small foot-tap Sasuke had given him known what was going on and reacted by thrusting the still sheathed sword backwards, slamming the end into the clone's skull.

But it had served its purpose, as Kakashi had erected another wall of normal clones. Naruto closed his eyes before frowning. "He mixed Mizu Bunshin with the normal ones, fifteen of them."

Sasuke frowned. "So what now? Do we smoke him out?"

Naruto nodded. "Seems to be the best course of action." With that, he intertwined his fingers, Sasuke jumping on it with one foot, allowing Naruto to give him a boost. And what a boost it was, as Sasuke shot into the air like a fired bullet, ascending easily a hundred feet. Naruto focused his Qi and jumped, catching up with Sasuke as Kakashi stared in disbelief. In what had to have been trained for a long time, the two genin-hopefuls floated next to each other, descending with the same speed as they flashed through handsigns. Sasuke finished first.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" Multiple fireballs shot out of Sasuke's mouth, aiming for the army of Kakashi-clones.

Now Naruto spoke. "Fuuton: Reppuushou!" A gale of wind shot out, strengthening the fireballs so that they were glowing in a pale orange bordering on yellow, but Naruto wasn't done. He focused on the wind he had created and laced with chakra, and ordered it into a different shape. Suddenly, instead of orange fireballs, numerous spinning spears of somewhat whitish fire was shooting down at the clones, each wiping dozens from existence and creating a large pillar of steam as it hit. Kakashi cursed. Whoever had written those genin-reports had to be the biggest idiot of all times. Suddenly he noticed that while he had dodged, Naruto and Sasuke had flashed through a second set of seals.

Both inhaled deeply. "Katon: Goukakyo no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, as a fireball that was a fair bit bigger than the one he had spat out before, although the Uchiha looked completely winded.

Naruto was fairing better. His cheeks bulged as he gathered more chakra in his mouth, before hitting himself on the stomach. "Fuuton: Renkuudan!" A ball of compressed air shot out of his mouth, and Kakashi wondered how Naruto's lungs had handled the strain without ripping, although he suspected Kyuubi had something to do with it.

But right now he had bigger worries, literally. The air bullet smashed into the fireball, and Kakashi couldn't shake the impression that someone was dropping the moon on him. A giant, white fireball three times the size of the original one, and four times the speed, was descending rapidly. Kakashi did what any man in his situation would do, he ran like hell.

The ball of Kakashi was certain couldn't be simple fire, but a piece of hell's finest inferno, impacted with the lake. Once he was a safe distance away, he stared bug-eyed at what happened to the lake. The falling star, Kakashi refused to refer to it as a fireball, had evaporated all water in the lake with a deafening hiss and dug at least ten feet into the ground, while heating all rocks that hadn't been outright annihilated to an angry red. Kakashi couldn't help but be impressed, both by the sheer feet of the action and its tactical value, as they had robbed Kakashi of any water-source, as all water flowing into the now empty lake-bed evaporated instantly from the heat-residue. Then he noticed that Sasuke and Naruto were about to hit the floor, only to slow down on the last dozen feet to softly land on the ground. Even Naruto now looked completely winded, while Sasuke was laying on his back, gasping for air. Kakashi was about to comment, when a voice rang out behind him.

"I GOT THE BELLS!"

RIIING! The time was over.

Kakashi spun around. Sakura was standing behind him, holding both bells. He looked at his belt, only to see that the strings had been cut, and judging from the small tear in his pants, it had been done by a thrown kunai or shuriken. Kakashi's eyes widened as he realized that the steam and the sheer spectacle had taken his attention off the bells, and the hissing of the evaporating water had drowned the noise of the projectile. Brilliant.

Naruto and Sasuke changed a baffled look, before Naruto whispered. "Unwritten law of shinobi-combat number five."

Sasuke nodded and both replaced their confused expressions with satisfied grins just in time to present them to Kakashi when the man's gaze fell back to them. The rule Naruto had stated happened to be: Whatever the hell happens, that's what you planned.

Kakashi scratched his head. "Well, I'm impressed. Not only did you do something I would have sworn all oaths was impossible, but you also saw through the true meaning of the test, teamwork. Naruto and Sasuke made me focus all my attention on them, while using their attacks to herd me to Sakura, who used an opening to get them."

Sasuke sent Sakura a glare, which she for a change understood and wiped the surprised expression off her face before Kakashi could notice it and realize that it had merely been a giant coincident.

He looked at Naruto. "Your control over wind is amazing, you not only used it to break your fall, but you also located me and the solid clones with it through the illusionary ones, didn't you?"

Naruto was too weak to do anything but nod.

Kakashi looked at him. "And what was that display of strength, throwing Sasuke that high into the air and jumping after it? And while we're at it, how did you make the kunai shoot at me if you have no control of magnetism?"

Naruto grinned. "No shinobi worth his salt would ever give away his tricks if they're not figured out yet."

Kakashi scratched his head. " True. Well, you all passed. Tomorrow we'll meet..." He looked around and knew he needed to call in a few favors from Tenzo if he wanted to use the training-ground, which he really did, considering that not only was it close to the memorial-stone, it had also been the place where he had been taught by the Yondaime, where the Yondaime had been taught by Jiraya, where Jiraya had been taught by the Sandaime, and where the Sandaime had been taught by the Shodaime and the Nidaime. "...here, to do our first mission as team. And who gets the lunches, as I only packed two. Truth be told, I expected you to fail the first test, and use them to see if you had any comradeship, but since that's not needed, who wants them?"

Sakura's stomach growled, but somehow, it didn't feel right to claim the meals when she had done so little to support Sasuke. All three looked at each other, before Naruto spoke. "I think it's best we share them." The other two nodded and Kakashi gave a proud smile. This seemed to be going well. And he had something to brag about at the meeting!

Sarutobi sighed. Teams 1 to 6 had already failed, and Kakashi was late, what a surprise. Not only that, but some people had reported some kind of meteor impacting close to the village, which had yet to be solved. He looked at Kurenai.

"Since Kakashi isn't here, what of Team 8?" He asked.

Kurenai smiled. "They pass. They show great teamwork and show the talent to become a great tracker-team."

Sarutobi nodded. He had expected as much. He looked at his son. "Team 10?"

Asuma shrugged. "They pass. Their teamwork needs some work, as Ino bosses everyone around, but once she realized the seriousness of the situation, she worked with the team, earning them a pass."

Sasrutobi nodded, when Kakashi shunshined into the room. "Ah Kakashi, how good of you to join us. Save the excuse and tell us about Team 7."

Kakashi shrugged. "A pass with flying colors."

Multiple jonin started protesting, not really having listened to his reply. "Kakashi think it over once more, you can't fail the last... Wait, THEY PASSED?!"

Kakashi nodded. "They pass, although I'm starting to have some doubts if the entire team will work without hitches."

He heard mumbles of "The monster is holding the Uchiha back." And shook his head.

"Actually, Naruto and Sasuke work together on an amazing level, it's Sakura I'm worried about. That reminds me, who wrote the genin-reports?"

One of the academy-instructors raised his hand, and Kakashi broke his nose.

Sarutobi frowned. "Kakashi, what was that for?"

Kakashi looked at him. "Aside from the fact that those wastes of paper nearly got me butchered? According to those reports, Sakura is a 'focused young woman with great potential, a talent for genjutsu and a keen eye for what's going on', while Naruto is 'a waste of time with minor skills in taijutsu'. I go in, expecting just that, and it almost cost me my head! Naruto is a damned juggernaut, Sasuke is only a few steps behind, and Sakura is currently a useless fangirl that fainted when confronted with a D-class genjutsu."

Sarutobi raised a brow. "So they fought together?"

Kakashi looked at them. "At first no. Naruto attacked and retreated after... after he realized there'd be no point in dragging it out, Sakura was out cold, then Sasuke attacked, also using ninjutsu. I hide beneath the ground to pull him down to give a lecture, when he and Naruto switch places. Not only that, but Naruto knows a jutsu that gives him high mobility underground, dragging me at least sixty feet down. I had to use my Raikiri to get out! Then the two start working together."

Sarutobi nodded. "How did they do?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I wasn't fighting two talented genin who worked together for a common goal, I fought a well-oiled machine that worked flawlessly together and in perfect synchronization. When I pulled out clones, both illusionary and ones of water, they pulled out the big guns. Naruto flinged Sasuke high into the air, jumped after him, and then they peppered me with Fuuton-Katon-collaboration-jutsu. You've probably seen their finisher, a giant ball of white flames impacting the lake at high speeds. While I was distracted, Sakura cut the strings and grabbed the bells."

Silence reigned over the meeting. Then Sarutobi spoke. "How would you judge them?"

Kakashi snorted. "Honestly? If Sakura was half as good as those two, I'd nominate my team for the jonin-exams."

Baffled stares. Then Sarutobi nodded. "I see, you're all dismissed."

Once the room was empty, Sarutobi looked at the picture of the Yondaime. "I bet you're pretty proud of your son right now, Minato."

Chapter 10 is complete. It's longer than usual, but just take it as part of my Christmas-present to you.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY! I hope you like your presents, both the ones you get and mine, these updates. I'll tell you this much, I was really pressured to get them all done, and I fear that some parts may have suffered under that strain, though I hope the results are still readable. Enjoy these chapters I updated, for I'm afraid they'll be the last for the next few years. I have been given a difficult and dangerous task that will take me to places I didn't know existed, far away from any internet-access or any other comfort of civilization. Wish me luck, there is a chance that I don't return, for I have been ordered to clean my room.

All jokes aside, I haven't cleaned the place in like a year, and there's no internet for me until it's done, so don't expect anything else from me this year. If you don't hear from me in the next few months, I have probably passed away, buried by an avalanche of stuff I had forgotten existed. So to all my readers I give you this now: HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Not much to say this chapter, Naruto showed a fraction of what he was capable of, and it looks pretty good. And the way he made the kunai fly at Kakashi was the same way he made the giant-shuriken lodge itself into Mizuki's back, a cookie to those who can figure out how he did it. And there's one question I really have to ask. How did you like the battle between the genin and Kakashi? I worked on that one like crazy, and changed it many times before I was happy with it.

I'm working on a tight schedule, as this is most likely the last time I get to go on the computer for the rest of the year, so I'll go strait to the reviews.

To crazymexican: As you just read, there are no changes to the teams, I have certain plans that require that setup, not to mention that any other sensei for Sasuke but Kakashi would be vetoed, unless the Sandaime volunteered, which he can't. And I'm definitely not skipping Wave, I have plans for that, revelations that need to be made, evil schemes that need to be prepared.

To Raidentensho: Thanks for the advice, I'll contact him once I get anywhere near a part that could hold a lemon.

To lightning blade49: Yeah, but they can't exactly go and teach a eight-year-old A-S-rank jutsu now can they?

To zerohour20xx: I'll consider it, though no promises. As for your jutsu, sure, I can't promise I'll use it, but I always look at what people send me. If I use it, you'll get your credit, if not, then nobody knows what it was, so as I tell everyone who asks if I'm interested in something, I'M ALWAYS INTERESTED.

To OmegaRanger: You might have found it confusing, but it's not surprising, seeing that I'm actually using both. Killing Intent, which has mental effects, is being taught by Madara, while Qi, which is boosting physical abilities, is part of the Juggernaut-style that Hashirama is teaching Naruto.

To shiro-wolfman-k: I know what you mean, honestly, I wasn't really happy with how it turned out myself. As for the harem, should I decide to make one, it would not have more than five members, and not all of them would be Konoha-shinobi. Those Narutoxeverygirl can be entertaining (NILF, need I say more?), but those usually go downhill pretty fast. So no, if I make a harem, it won't be a massive one like that. Also, the Guardians are finding the whole situation amusing and are waiting for Naruto to get the hint by himself. Hell, there are bets going, both inside and outside of Naruto's head, whether he will notice before Hinata snaps and just kisses him or not. Again, not necessarily the pairing, just what's happening. As for political power, he is friends with the heirs of most clans, best friends with the 'last' Uchiha, whose clan was equal to the Hyuuga, how much more political power do you want? It's not like Naruto is trying to take the hat with a political plot. And Naruto has plenty of mental and to a certain degree political skill, he's just incredibly dense when it comes to women. Okay, I haven't had much opportunity to show it yet, but Naruto is very intelligent, if he's not talking to a woman or plotting a silly prank. And I think I read the H-manga your referring to, second part out of three, right? First part Temari, second Hinata and Kurenai, third part everyone. Not my favorite story-type, but I was bored. And yes, that is just wrong. Again, don't worry about the harem-thing, and I really don't mind rambling, I love long reviews.

For this year, that's all folks, so

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