DISCLAIMER: I do not own Negima, Naruto or any other universes used in this story.
Italics text = character thinking to themselves.
Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy
Bold text = shouting
Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability
Chapter Nine
Team 7
"Come on already, get your sorry ass here, Mizuki." Kaguya grumbled as she remained perfectly hidden in one of the trees overlooking the clearing in which Naruto Uzumaki was practicing the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, which he had learnt from the Scroll of Seals he had stolen from the Hokage Tower – all because Mizuki had told him it was part of the make-up Graduation Test.
Of course, it was a lie and everyone Chunin and above were searching for Naruto and the Scroll under every rock in the village, Kaguya only finding him first due to her past experience.
It had been some interesting couple years for her since she had gained a portion of each of the Biiju's Chakra as well as the various Fruits from other worlds. Her trips through the Lands of Iron, Earth and Wind had gone without any significant developments or results. In fact, the only things she had gained were a hundred tanto and a hundred katana forged in the Land of Iron by the best blacksmiths the Samurai had, using the Kirin Steel she had provided. It had been an expensive deal as she was entirely unwilling to part with any of the material for the blacksmith to forge other blades, but in the end, she had managed to talk him into accepting the wealth she was offering – a gold ingot per blade – without having to resort to using genjutsu on him. She did however bind him to secrecy using magic.
After that, the only remarkable thing that happened was meeting up with Tsunade and Shizune and sticking with her group until it was time to return to Konoha for her final Academy year.
And her time with the blonde Sannin was both profitable and pleasurable, not only ending up becoming Tsunade's apprentice and quickly surpassing all of the Sannin's expectations in both healing and chakra-enhanced strength, but also seducing both Tsunade and Shizune into becoming her lovers just as she had done with Anko, Yugao and Kurenai. Tsunade had been particularly enthusiastic after Kaguya had dosed her with both Elixirs of Life, curing her of the cellular degeneration she suffered due to her Yin Seal, as well as regressing her to her mid twenties – her prime.
Of course, that had remained a secret between the two of them in order to keep unwanted attention away, as well as Kaguya's modification of her Yin Seal into a Yin-Yang Seal that provided the same benefits, only cheaper and without the cellular damage.
Once she had returned to Konoha, however, the good mood she had accumulated during the trip had crashed and burned considering that the first thing she saw once she parted with Anko, Yugao and Kurenai at the Hokage Tower was a mob beating on Naruto Uzumaki.
The next half hour had been spent showing hell to the couple dozen civilians and few inebriated Genin and Chunin by beating the crap out of them and then tying them up and literaly dragging them over to the public HQ of the T&I Division of the ANBU where she cheerfully handed them over and told the two ANBU that intercepted her to hand the group over to Anko so that she can get rid of any rust accumulated during her trip.
Incidentally, it was from that day that she gained both the fear and awe of a certain blond Jinchuriki who had witnessed the beating.
Her final year in the Academy was also somewhat productive despite the mind-numbing boredom that accompanied every theory class during which she shamelessly pulled a Nara and slept through. At the beginning, both Iruka and Mizuki had tried waking her when it was clear she was not paying attention. However, after being subjected to the weight of some of her killing intent after waking her by hitting her in the forehead with chalk, they had promptly given up and resigned to punishing her through bad grades in her tests… or at least that was what they thought before they noticed her acing anything and everything she was tested in.
Still, she had become friends with Hinata and Ino and was on good terms with the other clan heirs as well, Naruto included despite his lack of knowledge of his position as the Uzumaki Clan Heir.
Naruto and Hinata had also, in a sense, become her protégées in the Academy, similarly to what Sakura was as while she practically owned the girl, her mother and her aunt, that did not mean she would allow any harm of bullying to come to them – quite the contrary.
The one time an older girl from a different class tried to pick on Sakura and make fun of her pink hair, the bully was later found suspended upside-down from the Nidaime's nose by her overly stretched underwear. No proof of her involvement was found though, so Kaguya suffered no punishment.
But her time in the Academy also had another consequence beside giving her a reputation of taking no shit from anyone – she had gotten attached of the brats: the very thing she had wanted to avoid.
Oh, she was not naïve enough to believe that she can go through this entire second life like it was an infiltration mission. She was well aware that for all her denials of being similar to this world's Naruto, and the glaring differences, the bottom line was that the very thing that made him Naruto was present in her as well: she could not help but care. For all of her Uchiha upbringing of not forming bonds that could be severed, she was at heart still and Uzumaki, a Fuhen at that, and that meant she thrived on such bonds. Even the three women she basically owned, Chizuru Nomura, Shizuka Haruno and Rei Chiba, had become close to her and not in the sense of her sharing a bed with one or more of them on a nightly basis.
Still, with the Academy days now over she could hopefully move on with her plans… as soon as Mizuki was dealt with of course, and Naruto graduated.
Minutes later, Iruka and Mizuki arrived, the former immediately confronting the blond Jinchuriki while the later hid in the trees, waiting for an opportunity. Soon enough, Iruka was downed by a large shuriken impaling his back courtesy of Mizuki while Naruto was still in shock from having his Jinchuriki status thrown in his face.
Seeing that neither Naruto nor Iruka were in any condition of acting and that Mizuki was preparing to use his second large shuriken, Kaguya swiftly sent a kunai with an explosive note flying towards Mizuki while landing next to Naruto.
"Oi, Naruto, you still in there?" she waved her hand before his eyes, snapping him out of it.
"Eh, Kaguya?" he blinked, his wide blue eyes focusing on her. "What are you doing here?"
"Heard you stole the Scroll of Seals and came to see what the hell were you thinking." Kaguya deadpanned. "So?"
"Mi-Mizuki-sensei said… that I can graduate if I can learn a jutsu from it." Naruto grimaced. "But…"
"So he's a traitor, huh?" Kaguya mussed as she eyed the silver haired Chunin in distaste.
"Uchiha-sama… quickly, get Naruto and the scroll out of here…!" Iruka struggled to get up.
"Chill out, Umino-san." Kaguya rolled her eyes. "I mean… It's Mizuki! What the fuck can he do to us?"
"Why you little…!" the traitor snarled as he began loudly threatening them.
"Hey, Naruto, did you learn any jutsu from the scroll?" Kaguya whispered to the blond.
"Just one." Naruto admitted. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu."
"Can you pull it off now?" Kaguya inquired, getting a nod from him.
"…Now that I think about it, you were always around the demon in the past year." Mizuki remarked.
"Demon?" Kaguya raised an eyebrow. "What demon?" she scoffed.
"Naruto of cour…" Mizuki began with glee.
"Ignorant fool." Kaguya chuckled. "If Naruto actually was the Kyubi sealed in his gut, do you think Konoha would still be standing?"
"You mean…?" Naruto asked weakly, a desperate hopefulness in his voice.
"You're not the Kyubi. Never had been and never will be regardless of what anyone may say. You're Naruto Uzumaki of Konohagakure. End of discussion." Kaguya declared firmly.
"That's right…" Iruka agreed as he managed to stand after extracting the shuriken "You are one of my excellent students."
"Well, I don't know about the excellent part…" Kaguya teased.
"Oi!" Naruto exclaimed indignantly, tears of relief streaming from his eyes at the acceptance he was finaly granted.
"Now why don't you demonstrate to Mizuki-sensei the uses of the jutsu he asked you to learn." Kaguya smirked.
"Don't mind if I do!" Naruto exclaimed as she formed as cross-shaped handsign. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" he roared as the forest was suddenly colored orange.
"Yes, he'll be alright." Kaguya smiled in satisfaction as she watched Mizuki get buried under the mass of Shadow Clones that pummeled him into the ground. "Let me take a look at that wound, Umino-san." She offered as she kneeled next to the wounded Iruka.
"How good are you at healing jutsu?" Iruka inquired as he eyed her green glowing hands.
"I doubt you'll need to visit the hospital for more then a quick check-up on my work." Kaguya smirked as she made quick work of the wound, healing it within seconds.
"W-Wow!" the Chunin whispered in shock.
"Say, Naruto only failed because he could not make a Bunshin, right?" Kaguya remarked as the fighting began to die down. "That no longer seems to be the case, don't you agree?"
"You're right." Iruka smiled as a sheepish but satisfied Naruto approached, dragging an unconscious Mizuki. "Naruto, close your eyes a bit."
Seconds later, a crying Naruto was hugging Iruka, a Konoha forehead protector replacing his goggles on his forehead.
"Umino-san, why don't you go treat Naruto to some ramen." Kaguya suggested as a purple haired ANBU landed next to her as she picked up the Scroll of Seals. "Neko and I can return the Scroll to Hokage-sama and explain what happened, as well as deliver Mizuki-teme."
"Is that alright?" Iruka inquired.
"Go ahead." The ANBU nodded as she picked up the traitor and tied him up in ninja wire after placing a chakra sealing tag on his back.
Minutes later, Kaguya and Neko were roof-hopping towards the Hokage office, entering through the open window to find the Sandaime waiting.
"Good job." The old man smiled. "And good acting on your part, Kaguya-chan." Sarutobi smiled as he took a deep breath from his pipe.
"No problem. It was not like I had anything important planned for tonight." Kaguya shrugged.
"At any rate, thank you for informing me of Mizuki's plot." The Sandaime smiled.
"Aaaand?" Kaguya smirked.
"Hmph, you were right." the old man grunted in irritation. "Naruto really did manage to get past the tightest security in the village without even relying on jutsu. It was only due to your warning that I was here at this hour in the first place."
"Not that it helped." Kaguya scoffed. "You'd think that with all the porn you read on a daily basis you would not be so affected by a naked girl."
"She… He… caught me by surprise!" the Hokage spluttered.
"Uh-huh." Kaguya gave him a disbelieving look. "Sure. Let's go with that." She shook her head. "At any rate, I know you were watching with your crystal ball, so I won't bore you with the report. However, there are a couple of things worth mentioning that I doubt you noticed."
"Go on." Sarutobi nodded with a slight frown.
"First of all, Naruto's Oiroke no Jutsu is not a Henge." Kaguya said. "It's a True Transformation rather then an Illusion. I was watching with my Sharingan active when he used it on you, so yes, I'm sure. The Sharingan can't see through it and I'm reasonably sure the Byakugan can't either. Therefore, Naruto accidentally created an S-rank jutsu before he was even an official Konoha ninja."
"…Incredible. I didn't even notice." The Sandaime whispered in shock. "What else can you tell me about it?"
"It's remarkably similar to a Kage Bunshin in that it will dispel once some damage it dealt to it, but I believe this is more dependent on Naruto then the jutsu itself. Perhaps once he gains some more pain endurance we will know for sure." Kaguya shrugged. "It also requires quite a bit of chakra, about as much as a near-Jonin like Mizuki has, so you could label it as a Kinjutsu. Whether it will be added to the Scroll of Seals is up to Naruto though, he might choose to keep it as a clan jutsu. With the chakra requirement, it would certainly fit among Uzumaki jutsu."
"Indeed." Sarutobi agreed. "And the other thing you wanted to mention?"
"Mizuki has been in contact with Orochimaru." Kaguya said darkly.
"What makes you say that?" the Sandaime asked, his eyes narrowed as the unconscious Chunin.
In response, Kaguya ripped off Mizuki's sleeve revealing a tattoo on his bicep.
"This is a Cursed Seal. Not quite like Anko's, this one gives a more… animalistic feel, but the base as definitely the same. I suggest we kill him after Ibiki and Inoichi are done with him. Also, we should keep Anko away from him until we no longer have any use of him… she's likely to take her frustrations on him." Kaguya explained.
"Hm, I must agree." Sarutobi nodded as he eyes the Cursed Seal in distaste. "We can thus assume that it was Orochimaru that Mizuki was planning on fleeing to with the Scroll of Seals then. Perhaps we can get his hiding spots out of him. Neko, please tell Ibiki to do whatever he and Inoichi feel it is necessary to get everything out of him." He ordered.
"Understood, Hokage-sama." Neko bowed before disappearing with the traitor.
"Well, with that done there is one last thing I wanted to talk with you about…" Kaguya began.
Timeskip – Team Assignment
"Come on, Iruka! Get your ass here already!" Kaguya mentally grumbled as she waited for the Chunin teacher to arrive and tell the graduating class whom they will be working – and possibly dying – alongside in the near future.
As if summoned by her thoughts, the scarred man entered and after a quick speech about how proud he was of them, he began to call out the teams, eventually reaching Team 7.
"Team 7, under Kakashi Hatake: Sasuke Uchiha, Kaguya Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka called out before several loud denials were hear, mostly from Sasuke's fangirls, but the loudest was Naruto.
"Iruka-sensei! Why does a great ninja like me have to be on a team with Sasuke-teme?" the blond Jinchuriki demanded.
"Naruto." Iruka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sasuke is the Rookie of the Year. You are the Dead Last. To keep the teams balanced, those who hold those two positions are always put on the same team."
"It's been the same since the time of the Shodaime Hokage." Kaguya added. "He personally oversaw the organization of the Academy."
"Really?" Naruto's attention was instantly caught, his near obsession with the Hokage coming to the fore.
"Yep. The Top Kunoichi is also placed in the same Team – and it's always been Team 7. It was like that for the Sandaime's Genin squad under the Nidaime, then for his students the Sannin, for Jiraiya of the Sannin's students amongst whom was the Yondaime Hokage, then for the Yondaime Hokage's students amongst whom was Kakashi Hatake. And now us." Kaguya continued after noticing she had the attention of the whole class.
"Hey, isn't that unfair?" a student from a civilian family whom Kaguya had never cared to find out the name of demanded.
"In a way." Kaguya shrugged. "On the other hand, due to the pressure and expectations, Team 7's also has the highest danger and mortality rates. I heard just being part of the team is enough to cut your lifespan in half."
"A-Anyway!" Iruka spoke up "Team 8 under Kurenai Yuhi: Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka." He paused for a second at Kiba's exclamation before continuing "And finally Team 10 under Asuma Sarutobi: Ino Yamanaka, Choji Akimichi and Shikamaru Nara."
"Sensei?" Sakura spoke up in confusion after Ino's groans of displeasure were silenced. "What about me?"
"Oh, right." Iruka nodded as he pulled an envelope from his paper and handed it to the pink haired girl. "Due to certain recommendations, it's been decided that with the talent you have for medical Ninjutsu it would be a waste to place you on a field team at this point in time. You're assigned to the Hospital where you can advance your studied further while simultaneously helping save lives." Iruka gave her a proud smile. "Congratulations, it's rare for specialist in any field to be scouted right out of the Academy."
"T-Thank you." Sakura accepted the envelope before glancing at Kaguya. "You were the one who made the recommendations, weren't you, Kaguya-sama?" she asked through the telepathic link the Uchiha Head had granted her.
"Indeed, though it was by having a professional medic-nin observe you while at work healing." Kaguya confirmed, a pleased smirk on her lips. "This way, you don't have to rely on your team in order to become a ninja. Like I said, teams pass or fail together their Jonin's Test. And with what options were for your teammates… well, you would have failed no matter how hard you struggled."
"Thank you, Kaguya-sama." Sakura smiled.
"Also, you are now free to move out of the Uchiha compound should you wish it." Kaguya pointed out before adding at the pink haired girl's confused gaze. "That was out agreement, remember? When you, your mother and aunt came into my service. It was decided that if you become a ninja you will be free from the obligations your debt had placed on you. You can pay back your part of the debt in time from your wages, though there's no rush right now."
"Oh." Sakura replied, feeling a bit lost, giving Kaguya an inscrutable look before nodding and ending the conversation.
Timeskip – four hours later
"Where is he?" Naruto screeched as the end of the third hour since the end of the lunch break and the time when Kakashi should have arrived.
"Not here, for one." Kaguya yawned, having been woken up by his scream. "And keep it down, will ya? I was having a nice nap."
"Come on, Kaguya!" Naruto exclaimed. "Aren't you the least excited about this?"
"He's late, by three hours." Kaguya observed. "That tells me nothing about our sensei to be excited about – the opposite actually."
"Grrr… at least, let's punish him a bit." Naruto decided and quickly grabbed the erased and set it up above the door to fall on the person who opens it.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Kaguya asked slowly.
"I'm setting a little prank for our tardy sensei." Naruto grinned.
"Hmph, like a Jonin would fall for that." Sasuke scoffed.
"Yeah." Kaguya agreed s she pulled a small bottle out of her pouch and tossed it to Naruto. "Add this to it."
"Eh, what's…?" Naruto began only to stop as a wide grin stretched his face. "Brilliant!"
"Yes, I am." Kaguya smirked as she leaned back in her seat to get some more shut-eye.
A few minutes later, she was awoken by the arrival of Kakashi who was not covered in not just chalk dust but also sparkling pink glitter.
"My first impression of you…" Kakashi began blandly "is that I hate you."
"That's fine, you're only Sasuke's type so there's only one broken heart here." Kaguya yawned.
"What?" Sasuke demanded, glaring at her in embarrassment and outrage.
"…Er, meet me on the roof in five minutes." Kakashi instructed before poof-ing away, revealing to have been a Kage Bunshin as the dust and glitter floated to the ground.
A few minutes later, Kakashi was staring a bit warily at the three Genin before him, Sasuke in particular.
"So, let's introduce ourselves." Kakashi suggested. "I'll go first. My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… dreams for the future… hmm… and I have lots of hobbies." He eye-smiled at the looks Sasuke and Naruto were giving him.
"He like's reading porn, he hates losing teammates, his hobbies are reading porn and staring at the memorial monument and his dream for the future is probably to actually get laid rather then just read about it." Kaguya deadpanned.
"…Why don't you tell us about yourself next, hm?" Kakashi suggested with a twitching eye.
"Sure. My name is Kaguya Uchiha. I like training, sleeping and ramen. I dislike traitors and idiots. My hobbies are private." Kaguya smiled pleasantly.
"And your dreams?" Kakashi prodded.
"Hm, rebuilding the Uchiha clan, though that's more of a project then a dream… I don't know, world domination maybe?" she shrugged.
"World domination?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"If you dream, you might as well aim high." Kaguya remarked.
"Hmph, I can get behind that." The silver haired Jonin eye-smiled. "Next, blondie." He instructed and kept a careful eye on the Uchiha girl during Naruto's enthusiastic introduction. "Hokage, eh?" he mussed toward the blond. "And last but not least, broody."
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha." The avenger began. "I don't have any likes and I have many dislikes. I don't have a dream, but an ambition. I will rebuild my clan and kill a certain man." He said darkly.
"I see." Kakashi mussed. "Isn't he a ball of sunshine. And from the looks of it his sister is not too happy with his plans." He noticed the look Kaguya was giving her twin.
"Well then…" Kakashi got the meeting back on track and revealed the existence of the Genin Test, and how only 30% passed before leaving after suggesting them not to eat breakfast.
Timeskip – Next day, 9 a.m. AKA three hours after appointed meeting time
Appearing in a Shunshin before his students-to-be, Kakashi greeted them cheerfully.
"Good morning, everyone!" the Jonin eye-smiled.
"You're late!" Naruto screamed while the two Uchiha glared.
"Sorry, I got lost on the road of life." Kakashi replied. "At any rate, here's the deal." He took out a clock and set the timer to noon. "You have until noon to take these two bells from me. Those who don't manage it will be sent back to the Academy for another year. Also, I brought lunches. So if you fail, I'll tie you up to those stumps and eat it in front of you." He placed the two lunches on another of the stumps.
In response to his words, Sasuke and Naruto's stomachs growled and they glared at the Jonin in irritation.
"Good thing I ate a large breakfast." Kaguya smirked.
"But sensei said not to eat breakfast!" Naruto pointed at her accusingly.
"Nope, he merely said we could throw up if we did." Kaguya corrected. "Still, I'd rather throw up then be took hungry to do anything. Besides." She smirked "Like he said yesterday, he isn't out sensei yet, nor are we Genin yet. So I have no obligation to obey any of his orders until then."
"…You're a shrewd one, aren't you?" Kakashi eye-smiled.
"It's called looking underneath the underneath. You should try it sometimes." Kaguya offered innocently.
"I practically coined that phrase!" Kakashi twitched before shaking his head. "At any rate, if you want to pass, come at me with the intent to kill."
As soon a he finished that, Naruto drew a kunai and charged at the Jonin… on to find himself captured, with a kunai held to the back of his skull.
"I didn't say start." Kakashi pleasantly informed them.
"So? We're training to be ninja. Cheating is our game." Kaguya pointed out as Naruto carefully backed away to his teammates.
"True enough." Kakashi chuckled. "Now start."
At the point, Sasuke darted for cover behind the tree line, Kaguya disappeared in a puff of smoke and Naruto…
"You and me, right here, right now!" the blond proclaimed as he pointed at a sweat-dropping Kakashi.
"Wow, this is actually sad." Kaguya observed after receiving the memories of her Kage Bunshin as she watched from her Kamui dimension as Naruto got his but kicked and poked by Kakashi, the Kage Bunshin proving to be a weakness as much as they were a trump card. Then she watched as Kakashi searched for her, only to then give up, before going to engage Sasuke in a Taijutsu and Ninjutsu fight. "Now's my chance." she returned to the physical world by the three stumps on which the clock and the lunches stood.
A few minutes later, the alarm went off just as Naruto was preparing to eat one of the lunches.
"And what do you think you're doing?" Kakashi eye-smiled as he caught the blond in the act.
Soon enough, Naruto was tied to the middle wooden post while the two Uchiha was leaning against the other two.
"Well, you two look hungry." Kakashi remarked as he eyed Sasuke and Naruto. "As for passing…well, there's no need for you three to go back to the Academy."
"Then! Then!" Naruto grinned widely while Sasuke sighed in relief. Kaguya remained impassive. "All three of us…!"
"Yup, that's right! All three of you should quit as ninja." Kakashi declared with a tone of finality.
"Quit as ninja?!" Naruto screamed. "What does that mean?" he demanded as he struggled in his binds "Ok! Ok! So we didn't get the bells but… why do we have to quit?"
"Because all of you… are just punks who don't deserve to be ninja." Kakashi declared as an enraged Sasuke lunged at him, only to find himself restrained with Kakashi sitting on him a second later. "That's why you're a punk." Kakashi concluded.
"Oi, oi!" Kaguya frowned.
"Are you guys underestimating ninja, huh?" Kakashi asked in a deadly voice. "Why do you think you were divided into teams and are doing this exercise?"
"Huh?" Naruto asked clueless while Kaguya yawned, drawing Kakashi's ire.
"Basically, you guys don't know the answer to this test." Kakashi concluded.
"Answer?" Naruto tilted his head and Kaguya closed her eyes, repressing a grimace at his stupidity.
"Yes, the answer that lets you pass this test." Kakashi patiently explained.
"Ugh! Well, tell us the answer already!" Naruto erupted.
"Teamwork." Kaguya said it before Kakashi could. "It's asking the impossible for a newly graduated Genin to be able to steal from a Jonin, never mind defeat him in battle. Three Genin working together, however, might have managed to distract him long enough to manage it."
"Exactly." Kakashi nodded, his satisfaction at the answer rather muted by the suspicious look he was giving her.
"B-But! There's only two bells!" Naruto erupted. "Even if we used teamwork, one of us would still fail! What teamwork, we would have ended up fighting for the bells between us!"
"That was the purpose of the bells." Kakashi said. "To see if you had what it takes to work together to achieve a common goal, even if you might end up enemies later on. Yet you guys…" he shook his head in disgust. "You, Naruto! You were just running around by yourself! Sasuke! You just assumed the others would get in your way and tried to do… everything yourself." Both boys scowled. "The duties are done by the team. Of course, superior individual ability is important to a ninja. But what's even more important is Teawork." He glared at Kaguya. "Kaguya, you knew the goal of this test from the beginning, didn't you?"
"Of course." Kaguya shrugged. "It was easy to look through the files of the teams you failed in the past and find out what you found them lacking in."
"Then why didn't you help your teammates?" Kakashi demanded angrily. "Actually, what were you even doing during the test?"
"I was watching you fight Naruto and Sasuke." Kaguya replied like it was obvious. "Knowing that we were supposed to have a chance by using teamwork is nice and all, but without knowing how you fight and without a proper plan, all we would have achieved with our teamwork would have been being dysfunctional together." Kaguya closed he eyes. "Besides, just going to these two and telling them they can't do it by themselves? Unlike you who clearly haven't even bothered to properly read our files, I actually know these idiots personally. They might have potential to be great Shinobi, but at this point they're a couple of proud individualistic brats."
"Hm." Kakashi mused. "Individual play that disrupts the team can put your comrades in danger. For example…" he placed a kunai at Sasuke's neck "Kaguya! Kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!" he commanded.
"What?" Naruto screamed while looking nervously at Kaguya… who yawned.
"Kakashi, we've been over this already. Until I'm legally a ninja, I don't take orders from you." Kaguya said in a bored voice.
"Sigh… fine." Kakashi sighed as he withdrew his kunai and got off Sasuke. "But the point is that is a hostage is take, you will have to make tough choices and then possibly die. You will be risking your lives in these duties." He informed them as he walked over to the memorial monument. "Look at all these names carved on this stone. These are ninja that are recognized as heroes of this village."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Naruto erupted and Kaguya closed her eyes, anticipating what was to come from the look in his eyes "I've decided to get my name carved there too! Hero! That's what I'll become!"
"But… the aren't just normal heroes." Kakashi said cryptically.
"Oh yeah, what kind are they?" Naruto asked.
"…They are all heroes who died on duty." Kakashi replied calmly.
This struck dumb both Naruto and Sasuke.
"This is a memorial… my best friend's name is also carved here…" Kakashi quietly informed them. Then, after a few minutes of silence, he turned to them once more. "You guys… I'll give you one more chance. But after lunch I'll make it even tougher to get the bells." He smirked. "Sasuke, Kaguya, you two can eat. But don't give any to Naruto since he tried to eat the bentos by himself earlier. If anyone gives him any food, they will fail immediately. I am the rules here, got it?!"
"Yeah, Sure. But before that, Kakashi, can I have a look at those bells?" Kaguya spoke up.
"Oh? Why's that. Planning on trapping them or something?" Kakashi inquired.
"No, I just want to inspect them a bit. They're the same that the Nidaime, Sandaime, Jiraiya of the Sannin and the Yondaime used to test their teams before you, right?"
"Hm…" Kakashi eyed her for a few seconds before taking the bells and tossing them to the last female Uchiha. "I'll check them before I let you try again, so don't bother with any tricks." "I'll check with my Sharingan, this girl is much more then she appears." He mentally decided before disappearing from the clearing.
"Hm, to think these little things have such history." Kaguya mused as she carefully looked at the bells. Then she took out a kunai and cut Naruto loose.
"Ah, right! He didn't say anything about freeing me!" Naruto exclaimed only to blink as he caught the bell she tossed at him, Sasuke doing the same.
"Hold onto those until I say otherwise, okay?" Kaguya told them before tossing them each one of the two lunches. "Now eat, or you won't have any strength. Kakashi isn't here to see you."
"But… what about you?" Naruto hesitated.
"I told you I ate a big breakfast." Kaguya reminded.
"Oh, right!" Naruto grinned brightly as he opened the package and began inhaling the food, just as Sasuke was.
Seconds later, Kakashi appeared before them releasing a mild killing intent.
"What is this?" Kakashi demanded in a demonic voice as he glared at them "You guys…"
"We all pass." Kaguya's deadpan voice killed the atmosphere.
Kakashi stared at her for a few seconds.
"And what makes you say that?" he asked curiously.
"The goal was to get the bells." Kaguya reminded. "I got them from you, and Naruto and Sasuke got them from me. So we all achieved the goal of this test."
"I didn't start the second test yet." Kakashi pointed out.
"What's the point of starting a second test when the first one never ended?" Kaguya smirked smugly.
"…What?" Kakashi blinked.
"Why don't you go ahead and dispel the genjutsu I placed on that clock?" Kaguya suggested.
Suspicions forming in his mind, Kakashi did just that and suddenly, I was no longer 12:30, but rather 11:15.
"For shame, Kakashi, missing such an obvious trap." Kaguya shook her head in amusement. "And to think I even went as far as give you a hint: to look underneath the underneath."
"I know that!" Kakashi twitched.
"I'm telling you because you don't know." Kaguya told him in a very smug voice.
Naruto couldn't help it, he cracked up at the look on Kakashi's face as his own words were thrown into his face. Even Sasuke was grinning.
"…You are an evil little girl." Kakashi concluded.
"Ah, he has seen the light!" Kaguya mockingly clapped her hands.
"Alright, alright, enough picking on your sensei." Kakashi sighed in defeat.
"T-Then…!" Naruto did not dare say it.
"Yes, you all pass." Kakashi confirmed with an eye-smile. "Still, while it was a clever plan, it was rather unreliable since it depended on me giving you the bells." He told Kaguya, hoping to knock her down a few pegs.
"Or I could have activated the Raiton tags that I've stuck to the back of your legs and your lower back, paralyzing you long enough to walk over and take the bells." Kaguya replied sweetly.
Slowly, Kakashi patted himself down in the indicated locations and indeed found sealing tags there.
"It's safe to remove them now." Kaguya nodded indulgingly.
"…Why didn't you try to take the bells if you got close enough to apply these tags without me noticing?" Kakashi asked as he removed the three tags, eyeing them carefully.
"They're bells. They might have made noise and blown my cover. That or they might have been trapped." Kaguya shrugged. "Or even fakes for the matter."
"…Impressive." Kakashi nodded. "To tell the truth, I was going to pass you anyway once you decided to share your lunch with Naruto despite my warnings." He admitted. "You guys are the first. Everyone else would do exactly what I told them, like morons… Ninja must see underneath the underneath…" his eyebrow twitched at the smirks all three Genin were giving him, but he decided to continued to the most important point. "Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash… but you know what? Those who abandon their comrades are lower then trash." He declared.
"He's… pretty cool…" Naruto thought.
"The survival exercise ends here! You all pass!" Kakashi declared with a thumbs-up. "Starting tomorrow, Team 7 will begin its duties!"
"Yay! I did it! I did it! Ninja! Ninja! Ninja!" Naruto cheered.
"Kakashi… are you having a Gai moment?" Kaguya asked curiously the Jonin who was still in that pose.
Kakashi's eye bulged and he quickly put his hands behind his back, trying to act casual.
"Oh, wait till he hears about his rival's Flames of Youth burning brightly." Kaguya smirked evilly.
"…Can we negotiate?" Kakashi sweatdropped.
"I'll consider it…" Kaguya began "If you treat us to ramen at Ichiraku's. All we can eat."
Kakashi winced and quickly tried to weight it in his head: the lasting humiliation of following Gai's example VS the temporary emptying of his wallet by treating Naruto to ramen. With a sigh, he realized it was never a choice to be made.
"Fine."
Timeskip – four hours later, Hokage's office
It was rather lifeless Kakashi that arrived for the Jonin sensei meeting in the Hokage's office. What drew even more attention then his condition was that he was early! By a couple minutes, true, but that was still a novelty. More then a couple of those present worriedly glanced outside to see if the sky was falling or the like.
"Well, since everyone is here, let's begin." The Sandaime decided. "What are the verdicts for the Genin tests?"
Quickly enough, the Jonin assigned teams 1 through 6 declared that their teams had failed, only for Kakashi to be the one to break the mold by pronouncing Team 7 a passed. Sarutobi, after a curious look at the silver haired Jonin, decided to hold his curiosity for now and continued the meeting, with Kurenai and Asuma declaring Teams 8 and 10 as passed as well. Dismissing all but the now official Jonin sensei, Sarutobi stared at Kakashi for a few moments.
"Are you feeling alright, Kakashi? Do you need medical assistance?" the Hokage inquired.
"No… it's just… Kaguya persuaded me to treat the whole team to Ichiraku's after they passed. All they could eat." Kakashi grimaced.
"Wow… what did she blackmail you with?" Kurenai asked in awe. "Whatever it was, I doubt it was worth it. I know for a fact that she can eat more ramen in one sitting then even Uzumaki."
"I could have used that bit of information a few hours ago." Kakashi slumped. "I'll be eating cup ramen myself until my next paycheck."
"I see." The Sandaime smothered a grin. "What about their Test? How did they do?"
"Or rather how did Kaguya manipulate you into passing them." Kurenai remarked dryly. "Did she threaten to burn your Icha Icha? Did she place an explosive tag in your underwear?"
"She tricked me into believing that the test was over by making the alarm clock go off more then an hour earlier and hiding her work under a genjutsu." Kakashi cut her off. "Then she tricked me into handing her the bells so she can have a look at them, what with their history. Though she also had a backup plan involving Raiton tags ready to paralyze me."
"Knowing her, she likely had a dozen more backup plans, each more dangerous then the one before." Kurenai shook her head.
"Perhaps." Kakashi grimaced, resolving to check the two options she had named, involving his Icha Icha and his underwear, as soon as he got home. "Overall, she knows what she's doing, both regarding herself and her teammates. She knew they would be unwilling to work together on her words alone so she set things up so that they would achieve the goal by using only a bit of teamwork: Naruto and Sasuke fighting me in order for her to assess me and distract me to set her traps, and she giving the finishing touch and giving a bell to each of her teammates, so they each 'got a bell' as was my requirement for passing, since I said nothing of keeping the bells." He explained, closing his eyes. "I admit to not have given it my all, doing so against Genin would be unfair, but… she's good. Very good. Too good for a Genin. Even without taking into account her combat skills since she did not need to display any, she's easily Chunin material. Why is she only now graduating the Academy?"
"Sigh… politics, mostly." The Sandaime let out a heavy breath. "She could have graduated when she was nine, maybe even at eight, but for another Uchiha prodigy to appear so soon after the previous one, Itachi, did what he did…"
"The village would have been in an uproar." Asuma sighed.
"And then some." The Sandaime agreed. "So she held back, deciding to graduate with her age group. She even withdrew from the Academy for a time to take care of clan business, thus dropping further under the radar."
"Why this year though?" Kakashi inquired. "Because it was her age group? If she wanted to, she could have waited another year to lower suspicions further."
"There are several reasons for that." The Sandaime lit his pipe. "Graduating with her age group would indeed guarantee to most of the village that she is not beyond what the other clan heir in her age group can reach. Also, as much as she wants to hide her skills, it would be shameful if the Uchiha Clan Head was surpassed by her twin brother, and considering that her appointment as Clan Head was due to her skill surpassing Sasuke's, it would call the succession in question, which she does not want." He closed his eyes "Then there's the fact that she needed to be on a team with Naruto and Sasuke in order to fulfill the missions I assigned her."
"What missions?" Kakashi's eye narrowed.
"The same you have." The Sandaime met his gaze "To subdue Naruto and Sasuke should they become a danger to the village or to themselves. With her mature Sharingan, it's within her power."
"Naruto and Sasuke aren't…" Kakashi began protesting.
"Naruto is not a flight risk." The Hokage nodded. "However, it is well known that the malice that permeates the chakra of the Biiju often clouds the minds of even experienced Jinchuriki. Someone like Naruto who never used it before and then suddenly calls on it by instinct in the heat of battle when his life is endangered or his emotions maxed… we cannot expect him to maintain full control of his actions, regardless of what he is like normally. The Kyubi in particular is called a mass of pure hatred for a reason."
"And Sasuke?" Kurenai inquired for Kakashi's benefit, though she already knew the answer.
"Sasuke, however, is a flight risk. And Kaguya knows it all too well." The Hokage sighed. "After the Massacre, he became obsessed with power and killing Itachi, and nothing the mind walkers that have worked on him will change it. I know that it may appear that Kaguya did not do much to help him, however it's her very absence from Sasuke's daily life that allowed him to heal somewhat. Since a young age, Sasuke has had an inferiority complex, what with having the prodigy Itachi as his older brother. Kaguya being recognized by their parents as superior to him, so soon after the damage the Massacre did to him… it was another heavy blow."
"And Kaguya could not do as much as she wanted to help since it would lower the shaky standing of the Uchiha clan further, which would in turn endanger both her and Sasuke." Kakashi sighed.
"Now though, with Sasuke becoming a ninja, we cannot coddle him any longer." The Sandaime decided. "We will observe his development and if it comes to it, Kaguya has agreed to have his chakra sealed. By their parents' will, as long as he either become a Jonin or has sired a heir by the time he turns twenty, Sasuke can still become the Uchiha head. He would still be able to rebuild his clan, and even set up Itachi's death the same way Kaguya is doing so now, by sending skilled assassins after him. He would not be as satisfied as he would by doing the deed himself, but we decided he would be content enough should it come down to it."
"And if they become a problem at the same time, I can handle one while Kaguya handles the other, huh?" Kakashi mussed. "I don't like it."
"Neither do we. If we had it our way, however, neither the Kyubi attack not the Uchiha Massacre would have happened, and both those boys would have grown up happily with their parents. But that is just wishful thinking." The Sandaime sighed.
"Hey, pops…" Asuma began slowly "If you assigned her to be on guard to subdue the Kyubi should it surface… does that mean you told her about Naruto's Jinchuriki status?"
"There was no need." The aged Hokage grimaced. "It appears that my law regarding Naruto and the Kyubi was even more flawed then we thought, considering that Kaguya had put it all together even before the Massacred and had her mother confirm it, thereby sidestepping the law. And those that oppose Naruto have obviously managed to violate the spirit of the law even though they abided by its letter."
After a contemplative silence, the old man shook his head.
"What of Naruto and Sasuke's performance in the test?" the Kage asked.
"Like I said, they needed Kaguya tricking them into sorta working together. Individually, Sasuke is admittedly impressive for a new Genin, though nothing I haven't seen before. Naruto… well, he had a lot of imagination and stamina, and with his Kage Bunshin he could achieve much in the future… but right now he's a dumbass. I'll have to work on it." Kakashi sighed.
"Good. Kurenai, how did you team perform?" the Sandaime turned his attention to the Kunoichi.
"Very good. They tracked me down and managed to each tag me once as I have instructed by working rather well together." The red eyed Jonin remarked. "There are still plenty of kinks to work on, not limited to the reaction Akamaru has to Shino's bugs, but they can become a cohesive unit with proper training."
"Good, good." The old man nodded in satisfaction. "And...?"
"Shikamaru made a plan and Ino and Choji helped him execute it pretty well. There's room for improvement, but unlike with Kakashi's team they already trust each other due to growing up together rather closely. They still have their big flaws, with Shikamaru's laziness, Ino's temper and fangirl tendencies and Choji being touchy about his weight, but with time they could equal, if not surpass, their fathers." Asuma explained.
"Perfect. That's all I need to know. You're dismissed." The Sandaime smiled.
A.N.: Here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.
Merry Christmas, everyone!