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Chapter Nine
You Failed!
As the four Genin stared at Kakashi with horror in their eyes, the Hokage and their former Sensei, Iruka, were sharing lunch with each other.
"You invited me to lunch because you wanted to learn something, right, Iruka?" the old leader questioned the chocolate haired Chuunin, "What is it?"
"Group Seven – Naruto, Iduna-chan, and the others…" he began, leaning forward, "What kind of Sensei did you assign them, Hokage-Sama? Is he very strict?"
"Who…Kakashi?" the older man asked through a mouthful of food. "Does it worry you? Here!" he said as he pulled a book from his robes. "It's a roster of all of Kakashi's previous students among the junior-level shinobi – who passed and who failed."
Iruka took the book from his Hokage and flipped through it, growing more and more distressed as he flipped.
Meanwhile, Naruto and the others were completely stunned at their Sensei's comment. Iduna stared at Kakashi with wide eyes as her dragon companion landed safely on the top of the log she was tied to.
"What do you mean – give up?" she cried out as Naruto looked at her with pain etched into his eyes. The blond shinobi clenched his fist, whirling around to look at the silver haired man in the eye.
"Give me a break!" Naruto growled, "Iduna got a bell and gave it to me! We worked as a team to get this. Isn't that what we were supposed to do? Why should we quit because of that?"
"Because not one of you…has what it takes!" Kakashi explained lazily. Suddenly, Sasuke launched forward, intent on attacking the Jonin. The older man was quick and he managed to pin the Uchiha heir in under a second, sitting on the dark haired boy's back and pushing Sasuke's face into the ground with his foot. He held the boy's arm behind his back as he spoke.
"What you are is a quartet of spoiled brats. Your dragon is no better!" he exclaimed, looking at the dragon with narrowed eyes.
"Don't step on Sasuke-kun! Get off of him!" Sakura shrieked, eyes wide in anger. Sasuke struggled, but was unable to pry himself from the ground.
"Are you trying to make fun of the shinobi with your behavior?" Kakashi asked, venom lacing his voice, "Well, are you? Do you even stop to wonder for one minute…why you were divided into teams? Naruto and Iduna are heading towards the right idea, but Sakura! Sasuke! You obviously don't. You missed the entire point of the exercise."
"It had a point?" Sakura questioned.
"Of course." This time it was the white haired kunoichi tied to the log. "Everything has a point."
"And that point determines whether or not you would succeed." The silver haired shinobi continued as if he weren't interrupted in the first place.
"But…" Sakura stammered, "you haven't explained what it is!"
Kakashi was silent for a few moments before shaking his head.
"I don't believe this." He muttered to himself.
"Come on, already. Tell us!" Sakura said, becoming angry at her Sensei.
"It's teamwork." Iduna said, looking down at them. Kakashi stared at her blankly for a moment before nodding his head.
"That's right. If the four of you had come at me…together…you might have been able to take both of the bells." He said, holding up the one bell that was still attached to his pants. "Iduna and Naruto worked together and managed to get a bell, but Iduna gave up her chance to become a shinobi to let Naruto pass. That is what teamwork is, but I'm afraid not all of you know how to work as a team."
Sakura glared at her Sensei even harder.
"If we were expected to function as a team, why did you only have two bells?" she scoffed, "Even if we'd worked together, one of us would from each team still have had to go without lunch. You're preaching teamwork, but you played us against each other!"
Kakashi stared at the pink haired kunoichi.
"Of course. This task was designed to cause dissension in your ranks." The silver haired shinobi explained, "The situation was set up to reveal which of you would set aside your individual interests…and propose to the others that you work together for the good of all."
He sighed and began tearing apart the young shinobi one by one.
"Instead of which…you, Sakura, ignored Naruto who was right in front of you, leaving Iduna to save him from the trap. You focused your attention on Sasuke, though you didn tknow where he was."
He turned his attention to Naruto.
"Naruto tried to do single-handedly what should have been the work of all four!"
His gaze shifted to the one tied to the pole.
"Iduna was the only one to propose teamwork, but she didn't even propose the idea to Sakura. She saved Naruto and gave him the bell, but ignored her body's limitations during our fight."
His gaze then shifted to the one in his grasp.
"And Sasuke had already decided that the other three just got in his way…and he was better off playing solo." He sighed in discontent, "You are a team! Learn to act as one! Yes, it's necessary for shinobi to have individual skills, but…what is even more important now is teamwork!"
Kakashi had never been so disgruntled when working with young shinobi before. Did they really not see how important teamwork was?
"Making a play as an individual is bad for the team and exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger. You might as well kill them yourself." Kakashi tried to explain again as Sasuke tried to move from underneath him. The Jonin looked down and smirked, pulling out a kunai and targeting Sakura's trembling frame.
"Sakura! Kill Iduna. Or Sasuke dies." He commanded, placing the kunai next to the incapacitated Genin's neck. Iduna gasped in shock as Naruto growled, stepping protectively in front of Iduna as he glared at Sakura.
"What?" he growled, feeling a spark of something deep within him break free. Nobody threatened his Iduna when he was around.
"The day could come…when one of you may be taken hostage, and you're forced to make such a choice." Kakashi said, shaking his head as he removed the kunai from Sasuke's neck, "When you are on a mission, your lives will always be on the line."
He then fully released Sasuke and walked over to the stone where the bento boxes were.
"Look at the marker…all the names carved in the stone…Heroes of our village. Shinobi."
Naruto's ears perked up as he heard the word 'heroes' but Iduna and Sakura knew what the stone was for. Iduna's father's name was on it despite the fact he committed suicide.
"That's it!" Naruto exclaimed, "I just made up my mind! That's where I want my name to go! I'm not gonna throw my life away! I want to be like them – a hero!"
Kakashi cleared his throat as he looked back at the eager blond shinobi.
"…but the ones listed there aren't just any heroes…" the silver haired shinobi continued in a haunted voice.
"Really? What kind of heroes are they?" Naruto was eager to know what kinds of heroes were on the stone.
"Naruto…" Iduna said in a soft voice "My father's name is on that stone." She explained. Naruto's face fell into one of confusion.
"But isn't your dad…"
"Dead? Yes…he committed suicide because the Kyuubi killed his dragon companion. His death was considered 'killed in the line of duty' and his name was put on the stone." She softly explained. Naruto's eyes shone with regret, but she smiled and shook her head. It had been a long time since she had even thought about her father. She hadn't even met him, after all. He died before she was born.
"This is a memorial. It includes the name of my best friend." Kakashi said. Iduna, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke stared at him while he spoke.
Suddenly, Kakashi turned around with a dark gleam in his eye.
"Pay attention! I'm giving you all one last chance." He said, narrowing his one visible eye, "One that will be far more difficult than our last little game with the bells. If you're prepared to continue, you may eat one of the bento boxes. But no sharing with Iduna or the dragon – Saiki. They go hungry."
"Why?" Naruto questioned, feeling bad for his friend. He could hear her stomach growling as she bowed her head in defeat.
"She gave up the bell when she could have kept it. You two were disqualified since you didn't even touch a bell. If one of you had gained one then the other would have been tied to the post as well." Kakashi explained to them, "If any of you feeds them, you fail the test right there."
He stood, trying to be as menacing as possible.
"My word is law. Do you understand?" he glared at the four Genin and the dragon. He was hissing at the silver haired Jonin in anger. Kakashi hardly even noticed as he jumped away. Unbeknownst to the four Genin, he was watching their every movement.
"It's alright, guys. I can stand not eating for a while longer." The white haired kunoichi said with a pained smile.
Naruto would have none of it. He offered her the food in his bento.
"Eat. It's my fault you're tied to the post." Naruto said, uncharacteristically serious. He felt bad. It was his fault that she was tied to the post in the first place.
"Naruto, no. I couldn't eat your food." She said, tilting her head to the side.
"Then eat mine." Sasuke said, holding out his food to her. Sakura glared at the white haired kunoichi before protesting Sasuke's offering.
"Bu…but Sasuke, Kakashi-Sensei told us…!" she was interrupted by Sasuke's glare.
"I'm not worried. He's probably miles away by now. And we'll all need our strength if we're going to work together to get that last bell." Sasuke said, a faint blush on his cheeks, "You're no good to me if you'er just going to be a liability."
Sakura stared at the raven haired shinobi before thrusting out her bento box to the icy dragon that was still sitting on top of the post. He cooed at her and launched himself at Sakura, intent on at least eating a bit of the meat.
Sasuke and Naruto took turns feeding Iduna, but Naruto had a strange feeling welling up in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like the fact that Sasuke was feeding the white haired kunoichi as well.
Far away, Kakashi had a faint smile on his face. Perhaps they weren't as stupid and naive as he thought.
"Thanks." Iduna said while giving her friends a soft smile.
Across the village, Iruka was staring at the book that the Hokage had given him to read. He couldn't wrap his mind around the information he had received.
"This…this is…" he trailed off.
"Yes…there's no denying that Kakashi is extremely strict…" the Hokage said, closing his eyes and folded his hands.
"No one? No one at all?" the brunette shinobi said with a shocked look on his face.
"Yes." The Hokage mused, "Kakashi never passes anyone." He continued. "Ever." He added as an afterthought.
Back with the four Genin students, Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke. His eye was murderous and the three free students jumped back in shock. Sasuke glared at the silver haired shinobi while both Naruto and Sakura screamed in surprise. Iduna squeaked and jerked her head back while her dragon companion hissed at the approaching figure.
"You…" Kakashi stopped for dramatic effect. He stopped right in front of the four students.
"Pass." He leaned down and gave them a wink.
"Whaaat…?" Iduna said, confused beyond all reason. The three other Genin students were just as confused as she was.
"We pass?" Sakura shrieked, "But…why?"
"You four have just taken a giant step forward." Their silver haired Sensei explained, much friendlier than before. He had been wrong about the three of them.
"Up until now, all any of you have done is listen unquestioningly to everything I say…like mindless little drones." He said in a dramatic fashion, "A true shinobi seeks for the hidden meanings within hidden meanings. In a shinobi's world, those who violate the rules and fail to follow orders…are lower than garbage. They are scum." He hissed, looking up as if he were remembering something he had been told long ago.
"However…those who do not care for and support their fellow shinobi…are worse than scum!" he shouted out with conviction.
"This exercise is now concluded. You all pass! That's all for today, Team Seven. Your duties will commence tomorrow!" Kakashi grinned before taking a kunai and cutting the white haired kunoichi from the log.
"I…uh…apologize for hurting your arm." He said, scratching the back of his head.
"It's ok…but I'd watch out for Iruka-nii in the future." Iduna laughed out.
"Yatta!" Naruto screamed, jumping in the air. "We're shinobi!"