Naruto: Maoyū

by TheWriteFiction

Following the end of the joint Chunin Exam test match with the other hidden villages, Naruto and his friends begin their training in preparation for the main event. However, just as their training gets under way, Konohagakure is suddenly attacked by a horde of monsters from another realm... [Current Arc- Konoha Crush Arc] [NarutoHarem]

13. Graduation Arc - The Test

Author's Note: For all those who've caught up, try and catch the historical figures in this chapter.

And also try and spot the other name.

---

NARUTO

Maoyū

The Test

(Meanwhile)

Many, many miles away from the Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire), across the vast stretch of ocean that resided west of Kaminari no Kuni (Land of Lightning) and north of Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost), a very ominous activity was taking place. Floating atop the calm waters of the enormous body of water making up the area known as the North Sea of the Elemental Nations, a cluster of vessels could be seen drifting over the waves.

Unlike the wooden and iron freighters that were normally seen forging paths around the continent, these behemoths were unlike any other vessel put to sea.

There were three in total. The two flanking the center vessel were the exact same class as one another; steel monstrosities with knife-shaped hulls each displacing approximately 2000 tons, with enclosed bridges, twin funnels, conning and compass towers, and decks loaded with 6 Type 3 127mm 50 caliber naval batteries, dozens of Type 96 AA guns, and a whole range of other deadly armaments. Bearing the distinction as Fubuki-Class destroyers, the names of each vessel were clearly imprinted on the port-side of their bows for everyone to see- Shirayuki and Murakumo.

The ship that they were protecting was even more immense and far more impressive. Overshadowing the two support craft with a towering hull and imposing superstructure, the dark-painted, 15,000 ton vessel, complete with five massive third year naval guns, dozens of other AA and mounted armaments, two sea planes mounted on catapults, and a crew of 1,000 strong, was the Takao-class heavy-cruiser Maya.

Above them there floated an armored zeppelin and, together, all four vessels bore the flag and insignia of a foreign nation- a red rising sun on a yellow background. The second flag they flew bore them emblem of the Gato International Trading Company- a big 'G' sitting in the center of a triangle being the design of the second flag.

As the three vessels sailed through the waves at a labored pace, remaining in formation beneath the armored airship, on the deck of the command ship Maya, a group of high-ranking officials exited the bridge and onto the viewing deck.

Under the guard of a dozen naval soldiers, all dressed in white uniforms decorated by blue trim and armed with Arisaka Type 38 bolt-action rifles, a group of five men and one woman stopped at the railing just outside of the bridge.

The one in the middle was the short, diminutive figure of the suit-wearing Gato- framed by his signature sunglasses and whisker-like mustache. Beside him, dressed in a white officer's uniform, with the breast packed with citations, was a stern, gruff looking individual with a shaven head and a stern expression- the captain of the vessel. And on the other side of Gato was the young woman, dressed in a pinstriped tailor suit and skirt, thin-glasses and her long brown hair tied back into a ponytail, was the magnate's secretary and daughter Ryoda. Behind her stood the other two men.

One was a brown haired individual with long hair tied into a ponytail, dressed in a black oriental-style suit and wearing a black montuki kimono over his shoulders, and white gloves. He was also armed with a daisho set: a katana sheathed at his side, with the sword itself fixed to its scabbard by a length of red ribbon, and a wakizashi concealed in a black scabbard behind his hip. The second was a tall, muscular young man with a hard chin, solid blue eyes, and brown hair trimmed as a buzz cut, wearing a black officer's uniform, fingerless fighting gloves, and a black montuki kimono, which was also worn over his shoulders like a cape.

Both robes on the two men had the same hiragana letters sewn onto the backs, which spelled Shinsengumi.

Upon fanning out across the viewing deck on the starboard side, the arrogantly smirking Gato gripped the railing tightly and, leaning forward breathed in a huge gulp of sea air. What followed was a satisfied sigh and a nod of delight.

"What a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the sea is calm, and the sky is clear. What better conditions could we ask for to conduct our little experiment?" the glasses-wearing billionaire chirped, as he then glanced back at his secretary to see her reading from her clipboard intently. "Are you a hundred percent positive that this prototype weapon is going to work?"

Glancing up from her writing, the beautiful young Ryoda reached up and gently nudged her thin glasses up her nose. "Yes, father. Mr. Nikola Tesla gave us his full assurance that his device will function as intended."

Despite her affirmative response, Gato couldn't help but narrow his eyes suspiciously. "Hmm. If you say so." He then looked back out across the ocean intently. "It took the man two years to even get the bloody thing off the drawing board. When he finally came to us with the final product after months of waiting, I got the impression that he'd just been procrastinating the entire time and splurging off of my generous donations." He then spat over the side of the ship. "Lazy, time-wasting scientist."

"Trust me, sir. Mr. Tesla's calculations are solid," his daughter informed as she looked back down at the papers and took a step forward. "The bomb is expected to yield a five megaton payload, with the capacity to annihilate an entire city with a single detonation." Ryoda then looked back up with a confident smile. "If this works… we will have witnessed the completion of a superweapon unlike any the world has ever seen before… and one that every nation will be lining up to buy. Once we've patented it, packaged it, and sold it off, you will become the most infamous arms dealer in history."

Smirking, Gato then lifted his head up high. "With the amount of money I can make from this, I could buy out any country or island that I want." Pondering on it for a moment then led to a wicked look appearing in the man's eye, who then turned his attention back to the sea. "Or… I could use the weapon itself to threaten the people into signing the lands over to me without having to spend a single ryo. Either way is fine."

Adjusting his collar, the captain of the ship stepped towards the glasses-wearing secretary and gave her a concerned look. "Are we sure about the impact distance of this device? Is it safe?"

Not even bothering to look towards the head officer of the ship, Ryoda nodded affirmatively. "We are approximately eighty kilometers outside of the red zone. If our numbers are correct, that places us and the ships safely out of the way of any potential fallout and waves generated by the explosion. So there's no need to fret, Jisaburo-san." Her glasses flashed as she turned her attention towards the white clouds drifting in the sky above them. "Of course… there are a lot of other factors that have yet to be taken into account."

"That's why we are conducting this test, my dear. To observe, monitor and record the event so that we can get the best possible results," Gato chirped, watching the currents beside the ship drift by. Once again eyeing the horizon and the way the sky seemed to touch the water in the distance, the bushy-haired magnate couldn't help but raise an eyebrow thoughtfully. "What was the name of this ocean again? I believe it has some sort of significance to the area."

Clearing his throat, Captain Jisaburo Ozawa spoke up on behalf of the men around him. "This stretch of water is called The Demons Crossing. It's an enormous bay that resides between the two great peninsulas of the Land of Lightning and the Mountains' Graveyard, and is directly connected to the North Sea. Up until about fourteen years ago, this entire inlet never existed." Noticing the magnate look up at him in confusion, the commander proceeded to elaborate. "That is… until Fuma Kotaro showed up."

Seconds later a memory was triggered inside Gato's head, who then perked up with a start. "Ah. You mean the crazy woman from the prison." He then looked back out over the water. "Mu-san said she was involved in this somehow."

"Yes. Back then there was another country that sat here… a peninsula protruding from the current Land of Frost's coastline. When the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and a group of other powerful ninja went into battle against Fuma Kotaro, they annihilated the entire cape and several islands in an attempt to bring her down," the captain said, at the same time pointing across the ocean and drawing a line over the horizon. "Now, instead a thousand square miles of lush, mountainous landscape, there instead lies a cold ocean of mist and sand."

"It is also said that a piece of the planet Mars, which Kotaro summoned to collide with the Earth, rests somewhere at the bottom of these waters, causing unpredictable shifts in the currents and weather patterns," Ryoda spoke up, concluding the man's story with a bang. "A battle between humans and a Demon God, which changed the face of the world… or at least one part of it."

While everybody else on that part of the deck reacted in awe to this story, Ryoda and her two silent bodyguards remained completely unfazed.

"Hm. Now isn't that something," Gato breathed out, his mind processing what he'd just been told and the results of said conflict lying directly in front of him. After staring out across the enormous inlet in awe, the man then turned his attention to the lower decks of the cruiser below the bridge's viewing deck, where he immediately spotted men working cameras and sound equipment by the row of anti-aircraft cannons. The man then nodded towards the director and the gentlemen in lab coats, who all gave the entrepreneur the thumbs-up. "We're good to go, Captain Ozawa."

Nodding affirmatively, the Captain of the Imperial State Ship Maya turned back towards the bridge and nodded to his Vice-Captain on standby. "All ships, full stop."

"All ships, full stop!" the second in command echoed, before a series of shouts inside and over the radio told all vessels in the area to slow and halt. A loud siren then rang out, followed shortly by the wakes generated by the Maya quieting and settling.

Before the three ships could come to a full stop, Ryoda turned to face the entrance to the bridge and directs her next instruction to the seaman waiting patiently at the door. "Inform Captain Kozu of the ISA Étagère that he has permission to launch the weapon."

"Yes, ma'am," the soldier replied, before quickly turning and rushing into the bridge.

A minute later and under the patient gazes of the officers and observers on deck, the entire ship heard the distant roar of an engine. Looking up towards the armored war blimp floating many stories overhead, all personnel atop the three vessels saw a twin-engine Heinkel He 111H emerge from the hangar built into the cannon-riddled zeppelin and soar out across the ocean. The crews below, namely Gato and his ilk, then watched as the plane flew out over the waters and towards the distant horizon.

For several minutes the high-ranking officials onboard the Maya observed the plane gain altitude and grow smaller and smaller. Eventually, when the aircraft had almost vanished completely from sight, to the point that the men on deck had to use binoculars to monitor its progress, the main event began.

"Eye protectors on," was the callout over the radio, which prompted every single person on station to pull out a pair of goggles and slip them over their eyes- seamen and bodyguards included. The only people who didn't bother to put on glasses were Ryoda and the two men dressed in black standing behind her.

Once proper protection had been put on, the crews on both destroyers and the cruiser braced themselves for the fireworks to come.

"Standby."

Seconds later, the Heinkel then dropped the large ordinance hanging from its underside over the ocean and pulled off as fast as it could, with the pilots wanting to get the hell out of there as fast as they could. As the bomb fell, a countdown was started onboard the Maya's P.A system, which blurted out the seconds till detonation. Moments later, after the bomber had safely cleared the airspace and was well above the red zone, it happened.

The instant the clock hit zero, the bomb made contact with the water. What followed was a blinding flash of light, which filled the sky and enveloped the grouping of three ships drifting outside of its range. Even with their goggles on the men and women on the war vessels couldn't help but flinch at the brightness of the explosion, which could be seen for hundreds of miles in all directions.

When the flash died out moments later, Gato and his subordinates, sans Ryoda, watched in awe as a plume of blue fire, smoke and water belched out of the North Sea and shot thousands of feet into the atmosphere; the clouds drifting high above being blown away by the shockwave that followed. It took a few moments, but the vessels eventually heard the deafening roar of the explosion hit them, the sound and vibrations generated by the cataclysm rattling the small fixtures on the ships and echoing far into the distance. It truly was an ungodly noise.

A split second later, the pillar of flames and smoke formed into an immense, multi-ringed mushroom cloud, in which bolts of blue lightning shot out from the explosion's heart and danced through the plume of cloud and flames, which only seemed to grow and grow as it filled the sky and horizon above the impact zone. The shockwave itself travelled onwards, passing over the waiting ships and continuing on, till it started a trek around the very curvature of the planet.

And so, at the outset of the calamity, a blast five times more powerful than the strongest Bijudama (Tailed-Beast Ball) had been ignited.

Watching the electrical storm produced by the blast continue in the distance as the explosion incinerated everything within thirty kilometers of its proximity, an observing Gato couldn't help but let a gasp leave his lips as his soul was literally rocked to its core. The magnitude of what he was now witnessing was beyond comprehension.

"Oh, it's beautiful," the billionaire whispered, struck with amazement as he leaned forward on the railing as the light of the explosion could be seen clearly reflected in his goggles.

Ryoda, her expression unflinching, even in the face of the flash, simply flashed her spectacles as a smile appeared across her lips. "Yes it is, father."

Inhaling deeply, Gato's grip on the ship's railing tightened as he marveled at the wonder. "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky… that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. And with this, from this day onwards… I am become Death… the destroyer of worlds."

Figuring the results of the explosion had finally come full circle, the men on the three vessels began to relax. However, just as the officers and the crew were caught up in staring at the temporary blot on the surface of the world, they suddenly spotted something heading towards them from the source of the explosion. Squinting, Captain Ozawa, Gato, and everyone else on the starboard side of the three war vessels all recoiled in terror when they saw a wall of water over two hundred meters high approaching them at neck break speeds.

Tearing across the bay and annihilating everything in its path, was a tsunami unlike any ever seen before, which had been produced by the shockwave generated by the explosion disturbing the surface of the ocean. Obviously being much more powerful than expected, the force of the blast thundered outwards in all directions without resistance, with the wave heading towards the collection of ships threatening to capsize, pulverize, and kill every single person in a single stroke.

As the tidal surge started to crest as it closed in on the observing platforms, the two destroyers and the cruiser Maya sounded alarms.

Sirens blaring across the vessels and lights starting to flash, Captain Ozawa turned to his crew and bellowed, "TSUNAMI! BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

While the crews scrambled about in a panic, knowing that their fates were as good as sealed as the 70 story wave's shadow fell over them, a calmly observing Ryoda pushed her glasses up her nose, crossed her arms and spoke.

"Okita."

At once, the stoic man in black and wearing the katana leapt forward, leapt forward onto the rail and, after taking a stance, reached back and grabbed the handle of the wakizashi hanging from his belt behind him. Calmly taking aim at the wall of water about to swamp the cluster of ships, including the armored Étagère floating overhead, the man didn't even bat an eye when he drew the short sword and sliced it in a wide, downward arc at blinding speed.

"Shingetsu." (New Moon)

The crescent flash of silver that carved through the air in front of him occurred in less than a second, producing a sharp and powerful current of slicing wind that shot forward and slammed into the enormous wave. The shockwave that occurred afterwards was immense, as the gale cut right through the tsunami and, following the path drawn by the samurai, the entire ocean was split right down the middle.

As a result of this impossible feat, not only was a huge chunk of the tidal wave in front of them obliterated while the rest of it passed by the squadron of ships without even coming within a mile of touching them, but the force generated by the slicing air current caused the sea to part all the way down to the bottom and for a distance of over twenty kilometers in the blink of an eye.

The attack unleashed by the samurai bodyguard was in fact so powerful that it caused whatever cloud cover in the troposphere above them to split and separate along the direction of his strike.

The walls of the trench carved through the water remained standing for a total of twenty seconds, before the ocean came crashing back together with pulverizing force and once again formed a single body of water.

When the ocean finally settled and all that remained of the near thermonuclear blast was a white mushroom cloud hanging over the horizon, the men gathered on the three ships were all left in states of awe. The sea quieting once more under the clear blue sky, Gato, Captain Ozawa, and every single crew member in sight looked up at the man that'd saved them from certain death. Upon doing so, they were able to watch as the samurai rose up from his attack stance, sheathed his sword, and hopped off of the railing.

As he returned to stand beside the woman in glasses, the Captain of the vessel staggered over to him and, with a nervous look on his face, paid him his respects. "You saved us. Thank you, sir."

Looking across at the formally dressed commander, the samurai bodyguard, Okita Soji, gave a curt nod in response. "No problem." He then stepped away and rejoined Ryoda's flank.

Once the moment of shock and bewilderment had passed, and the men on the decks of the vessels quickly returned to their previous stations, a skittish Gato readjusted his glasses, corrected his tie, and moved back over to the railing. As he watched the remnants of the mushroom cloud fade away, the billionaire magnate chuckled. "That… was a spectacular show. I've never seen anything like it." He then looked back at his daughter and grinned at her. "You've outdone yourself this time, Ryoda-chan. Good job."

Lowering her head towards her father's compliment, the neatly dressed secretary responded. "Though the outward traveling shockwave of the explosion was far greater than anticipated, I would still consider this to be a very successful test." Shuffling her pad from her hand to her armpit, the composed Ryoda gave her father a considerate look. "Once we report our observations and findings to Mr. Tesla, he'll be able to modify the next bomb's power and improve its accuracy and payload, allowing for more effective, strategy-based deployments."

"Excellent," Gato exclaimed, taking a deep breath of sea air while the film and research crews below began to chat amongst themselves over the experiment. His glasses reflecting a sense of pride and excitement, the billionaire company owner took a deep breath before speaking to those standing behind him. "Mark this day, Ryoda-chan… for this is the day the world takes its first real step out of its backwater era of swords and mythology… and into a new age of trade and technological advancement. This weapon will serve as the foundations to ending the Elemental Nations and its history of monsters, and establish itself as a stepping stone that will lead us into a brand new world." He then looked up with an unwavering smirk. "Soon, everyone will come to know the name of the man who ushered in this new era: Oda Sayasu Gato."

While his declaration was heard by all those on those present on the observation deck, Ryoda had chosen to excuse herself early. Followed by her two Shinsengumi bodyguards, the beautiful young woman in glasses passed by the guards posted on the platform's stairwell and made her way down.

"That was quite intense. Wouldn't you agree, Les Darcy-san?" the woman in the spectacles asked while keeping her gaze trained ahead.

"It certainly was, ma'am," the stoic guard with the buzz cut replied while following close behind his superior. As soon as they landed on the deck below, the smartly dressed, broad-shouldered male then spoke. "So… what now?"

Gaze remaining unchanged as they passed by more armed troops along the length of the cruiser, the Ryoda responded in kind. "We move on to the next phase of the plan: taking over my father's company. Once I've secured my place at the top of the pyramid, I will have seized full control of all his assets and every single shipping lane across the globe, allowing us to transport men and resources between nations at our leisure." She then glanced over her shoulder towards the bodyguard on her right, while her other guard Okita Soji listened intently to the conversation. "Inform Hideyoshi to start buying out shares from the members of the board and whatever's on the market. I don't care how much it costs, just tell her to make it happen."

The bodyguard identified as Les Darcy nodded, "Understood."

"I also want you to stick with my father as his personal escort," Ryoda continued, looking back ahead of her seriously. "Take the four new Shinsengumi recruits and keep a close eye on him… and inform me of any changes that occur in his schedule. I will call on you as soon as I'm able." Upon sensing the man nod, the woman then allowed a menacing grin to stretch across her lips. During which time her once hazel eyes flickered red for a moment as an overpowering sensation of murderous intent wafted off of her form. "The old man's purpose will soon come to an end. After that… it'll be my turn to take the lead."

OOO

(Back in Konohagakure)

Following their little trip up to the Hokage's office to hand in their documentation to be placed on their permanent records, Naruto and company then headed back down to the academy for a spot of lunch. After meeting up with Sasuke at the exit, the blonde and the two girls with them then headed out to locate the other members of Tayuya's squad.

Running across them over by the playground, the group of youngsters then found a quiet spot over on one of the outdoor tables, which sat underneath one of the large maples growing on the edge of the clearing. Basking under the red glow of the sun shining through the leaves of the canopy, the two teams sat together on the bench, unfurled their lunches, and tucked in. During which time they also spent their time getting to know the people they would be working with over the next few months during their tenure as Genin.

On one side of the table, Naruto- being the most excited and energized of the gang- was slowly devouring the sandwich Sato's gang had bought for him, and sharing pieces of it with his vixen friend Tama. Next to him sat Tayuya, who was also enjoying the peace and serenity of their surroundings, while leisurely eating her roll at her own pace. And right next to her was Yakumo, the brown haired, star-kunoichi from Class B, dressed in a purple combat kimono with pink and red flower patterns, sitting collectedly with her eyes closed and picking away at the bento box in front of her.

Such was the poise of the mysterious girl.

Across from them, positioned from left to right, Sasuke, Sakura and Kurumi were also present, each one either eating from a bento or a rice ball respectively.

Ever since sitting down, the entourage of children hadn't really said much to one another, preferring to occupy themselves with their lunches to fill their empty stomachs. The only people who'd really been invested in any sort of conversation during this early period had been Naruto and Tayuya, both of whom had been making comments on some rather enjoyable yet unimportant topics.

Case in point…

"Now that we're real shinobi and all that, I think we should use this time to come up with awesome 'shinobi names' for ourselves," Naruto said, at the same time sharing a piece of meat with Tama, who took it from his fingers and nibbled on it tentatively. "You know, like how old-man Third calls himself 'The Professor' and the Fourth Hokage called himself 'Konoha's Yellow Flash'?"

"Oh yeah. I get yah, shithead," Tayuya chirped, swallowing the food in her mouth before setting her half-eaten sandwich down and smiling across the table at the rest of their group. "All famous ninja have epic monikers attached to their names. It gives them a greater form of prestige and respect across the world."

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the God of Shinobi, the Gold and Silver Brothers… there was a whole string of individuals with infamous titles.

"We should totally do the same thing," Naruto continued excitedly, rubbing his hands together before holding them out dramatically. "I'll go first. Since I'm a delinquent- and a great one at that- as well as a hand-to-hand fighter, I was thinking of…" He then added a pause, causing Sakura, Kurumi and Tayuya to lean forward, whereas Sasuke continued on eating and Yakumo simply watched out of the corner of her eye. "Naruto – The Ronin."

For several moments the group stared at the blonde, with the whiskered Genin expecting a round of applause or something. But what he got instead was a couple of glances from the girls and Sasuke reaching up and coughing into his hand to cover up his response.

*Cough* "Lame." *Cough*

Eye twitching, Naruto then leant forward and glared across at the Uchiha prodigy. "Oh yeah? I'd like to see you come up with something better, teme."

Wiping his lips, the raven haired boy began unwrapping another rice ball from a banana leaf. "Well, since my father went by the name of Kyogan Fugaku (Wicked Eye Fugaku) because of his abilities to cast very powerful optical genjutsu with his Sharingan and my mum was named Demon Arrow and The Strongest Uchiha by Fuma Kotaro, I was thinking of emulating the two of them by calling myself Aka me Yurei."(Red Eyed Wraith)

Raising a hand as if to make a smartass comment about Sasuke's shinobi name choice, Naruto then lowered his hand and quickly looked taken aback. "Okay… that's actually a very cool name."

Sasuke then looked across at Tayuya seriously. "What about you? Got something to top the dobe's?"

Smiling brightly, the red haired flute-player leaned back in her seat proudly. "I was thinking something along the lines of Red Siren." She then shrugged and pulled out her flute, which she twirled stylishly between her fingers. "I mean, I already have the reddish hair and enchanting music down pat, so I think that name fits me just fine."

"No arguments here," Naruto remarked, holding his hand out and high-fiving his roommate. "That one is definitely a keeper."

Finding great interest in the discussion, Kurumi decided to chime in from her side of the table. "When I was younger, I always wanted to be called Kuro Neko (Black Cat). Since our clan's had a long standing association with felines and are best known for having raven black hair, I always thought it would be a really cool name to have as a kunoichi."

"Nice," Tayuya exclaimed, holding her fist out and bumping the girl's when she returned the gesture gladly. "You're like a fucking wild tiger when you fight." Seeing her teammate blush, the kunoichi then looked across at Yakumo, whom she could see was in the process of cleaning her mouth with a serviette. "And what about you, girl? You have a name you want to be immortalized with one day?"

After taking a moment to relax, the girl in the purple and pink flower decorated battle kimono and braids in her hair glanced up with a cool smile on her face. "Miko." (Priestess)

Naruto balked a little in confusion. "Miko?"

"It's another name for 'Shrine Maiden'. Someone who purifies and banishes evil spirits," Sakura informed from the sidelines, being the first to identify the figure that Yakumo was familiarizing herself with. "That's a pretty cool name to call yourself, considering you specialize in genjutsu and ninjutsu. I'm not surprised you'd settle for that kind of moniker."

Yakumo gave the pink haired kunoichi a smile. "Thanks. At first I was going to go with Akuma Miko (Demon Priestess), but I thought that was a little too dark."

"It's still pretty badass though," Naruto commented from nearby, earning another smile from the girl. "Personally, I think either one of those names fits you just fine."

"Well, I'll be sure to hang onto both of them. See where they take me in the future," Yakumo chirped, at the same time pushing her bento box aside to fold her hands gracefully on her lap. Being the most proper of the entourage, she was really going the extra distance to present herself in a poised manner. "Of course, these titles that we're picking out for ourselves will only matter if we become famous ninja… and the only way that will happen is if we earn it."

"Amen," Kurumi said, raising her juice box in agreement to her fellow Genin's statement.

During that exchange, Sasuke spared a moment to glance across at the brown haired girl in the kimono. After eyeing her for a moment, he suddenly saw the elegantly dressed kunoichi look in his general direction, causing the raven haired youngster to balk and quickly look away. A shade of red then appeared on his cheeks at being caught, which drew a curious blink from Yakumo.

"If we keep going the way we are, that shouldn't be too much of a problem," Tayuya added, finishing off her last rice ball and promptly sucking the oil off her fingers one at a time. "

"What about you, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked while glancing across at his kunoichi teammate, whom he saw sit up at being addressed. "Have you thought of an epic ninja name you'd like to be called in the future?"

"Oh. Uhh…" Hesitating for a moment as she put down her lunch, the pinkette swayed on the spot awkwardly for a moment before looking back up at the boy. "N-No. Not really. I just… figured I would get one after completing enough missions and getting promoted to Chunin." Sakura then gave the other kids a nervous smile, which she followed with a chuckle. "Guess I'm just not as ambitious or adventurous as the rest of you guys."

Picking at his rice ball, Sasuke then gave a careless, brooding shrug. "Not everyone is."

Kicking his feet back as he processed his friends' responses, Naruto put on a big grin as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Well… since we're all being super serious about this, I guess if I had to choose a name, it would be Gold Fox."

His statement had Tayuya glance across at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really? You want to go by your delinquent title?"

"Yep," Naruto nodded, at the same time noticing the looks the others were throwing him. "I'm serious. I think it's a really cool nickname… and one that a lot of people already know and fear." He then reached forward and petted Tama on the head, which the vixen responded to by nuzzling his palm lovingly. "Plus I've got fox pedigree to back me up, so you could say I'm two for two on this one." His explanation drew agreeable nods from Kurumi and Sasuke, with Sakura giving the blond a warm smile.

After thinking on it for a moment, Tayuya then slapped her hand on the table and grinned. "You know what. Screw it. Red Fox will be my fucking moniker." She then leaned over and elbowed Naruto in the side. "We already come as a two-person set anyway, so let's keep our reputation growing into our ninja careers. Yeah?"

"Yeah. You got it, dattebayo," Naruto exclaimed, sharing a fist-bump with the girl before going through their routine of a secret handshake: a back-and-forth slap, a finger lock, a hare and tiger seal, and then an explosion, which they mimicked through sound effects before brushing their hands through their hair. "Naruto and Tayuya: the unstoppable and awesome Gold and Red Foxes!"

"Partners for life," the flute player concluded. The display had Sasuke and Yakumo give the pair a strange look, before the delinquents quickly returned to their meals.

However, just as the blond was about to take another bite from his pork bun, his head perked up when he picked up something on his radar in the form of feet shuffling and a flutter of cloth. Sasuke, Tayuya, and Yakumo visibly detected the presence as well, whereas Sakura and Kurumi were too preoccupied with their food to notice.

Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto frowned when he spotted something unusual. "Don't look now… but we've got a shadow." His comment had the two girls oblivious to the sensation look away from their lunches.

At that moment Naruto and the rest of his friends sitting around the table quickly spied a large sheet of some kind hanging from the trunk just a few feet away from them. Now, ordinarily this wouldn't have been unusual were this part of some kind of ceremony. But the fact that the sheet was painted to look like the tree, but was hanging the wrong way around and had a pair of hands hanging onto it from above, just set off all sorts of weird bells for the Genin. The abovementioned group couldn't help but stare at it for several moments in complete silence, with Tayuya giving a blink of confusion.

"Umm… what the hell is that supposed to be?" the flute player asked no one in particular.

"Some sort of camouflage… I think?" Kurumi spoke up, also clearly baffled by the painted curtain.

"It's not even the right way up," Sakura said, a sweat drop appearing in her hair.

The bark was supposed to be going up and down. Whoever was holding it had it going side-to-side. If you didn't count all the other things wrong with it, such as the fact that some of the white edges underneath could still be seen and that the sheet was clearly hugging at the person's body… it was just a bad attempt at concealment.

Giving a deep frown at the trunk, Naruto set his lunch aside and stood up. He then marched up to the diminutive person holding the sheet and placed his hands on his hips. Upon which he then glared at the culprit. "Listen, kid. I'm not sure if you know this, but the whole point of a camouflage is to blend into your environment and make sure nobody can see you… and you're failing at that."

The group then only had to wait a few seconds after Naruto's statement before the sheet fell away and revealed the helmet and scarf-wearing form of Konohamaru Sarutobi, who stepped over his sheet to glare up at the blond defiantly.

Tayuya blinked when she recognized who it was. "Hey. It's that kid that tried to stab shithead up in the Hokage's office. Konoha-something or other."

Eye twitching, the boy barked back at the redhead angrily. "IT'S KONOHAMARU!" His shout had the kunoichi raise her hands and grin in amusement, before the youngster promptly returned his attention to Naruto and pointed at him accusingly. "AH-HA! It's just as I suspected!"

Now it was the delinquent's turn to look even more confused. "Huh? What's happening now?"

The boy grinned broadly. "You really are an elite ninja of the Hokage! All of you are! Being able to see through my disguise and find me so easily is proof of that."

The group of Genin around the table couldn't help but stare at the child blankly. Even Sasuke.

"You were standing two feet from us, holding a sheet painted to look like bark the wrong way around, with different parts of your body sticking out from behind it," Sakura replied in a deadpanned voice. "How is that a disguise?"

"You weren't even trying to hide," Naruto added at the end, crossing his arms while Tama, hiking up his body from behind, perched on his shoulder to look down at the kid curiously. "Why in the world did you think that would work?"

The kid puffed his chest out proudly. "It was strategy."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "How?"

Looking back down at his discarded cover, the youngster scratched his cheek. "Well… it wasn't exactly strategy. Honestly, the camouflage could use a little bit more work." He then glanced up at the tree above him. "Maybe if I added a pulley system…"

"Okay, first of all, forget the pulley system and the sheet. Trust me. Neither of them will work," Naruto cut in, drawing the kid's gaze back to him as he began his miffed interrogation. "Second of all, why the heck were you trying to spy on us?"

Was spy the right word?

Quickly getting back on track, a pumped-up Konohamaru rested his knuckles on his hips and spoke in a big, stuck-up voice. "Simple. I'm here for you!"

"Us?" Sakura asked from the table.

"No. Not you guys. Him!" The child then pointed at Naruto, who had the good sense of mind to appear taken aback. "He stopped me from attacking the Hokage and finishing a super-important mission to force the Uchiha woman into giving the hat back to oji-san. He disarmed me with no effort whatsoever and looked down at me like I was nothing!" Konohamaru then took on a sour look as he glared at the taller boy intensely. "No one has ever done that before."

At this, Tayuya couldn't help but grin from where she was sitting. "To be honest, brat, any one of us could've done that."

"Yeah. But he snapped my kunai in half with his fingers like it was nothing after being stabbed with it." Konohamaru continued while looking up at Naruto with an excited and admiring gleam in his eye. "Even though I ran at him with all my strength, it didn't even hurt him one bit. That means he's strong."

Naruto, looking back at Tayuya and the others, then turned back to the kid. "Umm. Okay… I'm strong… in my own way. But that doesn't explain why you're here."

Konohamaru's grin widened. "I've decided that you're going to train me, boss!"

The moment the boy shouted this, a lot of things happened. First, Sasuke choked on the rice ball he was eating and proceeded to try and cough it out. Sakura, Kurumi and Yakumo meanwhile remained dead silent, with the former blinking in surprise at the kid's rather gutsy and bold declaration that the delinquent in front of him was going to be his teacher. And Tayuya, after several seconds of silence, then burst into fits of uproarious laughter as Naruto stared down at the boy in disbelief.

"What the hell?! Who decided that I was going to train you?" the blond asked in outrage. But his questions didn't deter the youngster in the slightest. "On that note, why the heck would I want to train you? And more importantly, why are you picking me of all people?" By the time he finished his string of baffled inquiries, Sasuke had managed to dislodge the rice caught in his throat and return to listening. "Don't you have plenty of other people to teach you?"

It made sense, considering the kid's background. His grandfather was the Hokage, so obviously he would have a few elite ninja bobbing around, guarding him and training him in the ways of the shinobi. Wouldn't that be a prerequisite for being a relative of the village leader?

On that subject, where the heck was the ninja that was supposed to be looking after him now? Did this kid just up and ditch him?

Questions for another hour.

Konohamaru responded with a raspberry and a thumbs-down. "Those guys that jiji hired only care about protecting me. They're too scared or too busy to teach me anything," the adolescent stated, dropping his hand and continuing to eye the delinquent with a small degree of reverence. "You're the first person I've ever met who didn't refer to me as 'Honorable Grandson'. And you didn't even apologize to me after knocking me over. That tells me you're some kind of tough guy and rebel… someone who is perfect to work for the Hokage on the streets with the lowlifes."

Konohamaru's explanations only made Tayuya laugh even harder, who then looked across at her roommate hysterically. "Oh, this is priceless, shithead."

Getting a bit embarrassed at how much his friend was laughing at his expense, Naruto went back to glaring at the runt of a boy in front of him. "Look. This is super nice and all, squirt… but… I'm not really the kind of person you want to have hanging around and teaching you stuff. I'm not book smart, a lot of people around the village hate my guts, and I'm a bad influence… plus I get into tons of fights-"

"Then you're exactly the kind of guy I need training me!" Konohamaru shouted, cutting Naruto off while stepping towards him with his fists raised eagerly. "I hate studying, I don't have any friends, and I love fighting! That means you'll be able to teach me a lot of cool stuff!"

"Oh, good grief," Naruto sighed while slapping his face with his hand. As Tayuya began trying to catch her breath from all the laughing she'd been doing, with even Sakura and Kurumi sharing a bout of snickers with each other at how cute the scene was, the blond brawler then glared at the youngster again. "You're really not going to let this go are you?" he asked after seeing the enthusiasm burning in the child's face.

Konohamaru shook his head briskly. "Nope."

"You seriously want me to train you?"

This time the child nodded. "Yes!"

"Why?" Naruto asked, wanting to understand the reason this upstart was going through all this trouble pestering him for an apprenticeship.

Scrunching his face up and averting his gaze, Konohamaru thought hard about his answer. After a moment, he eventually came back with a surprising revelation. "People only see me as the grandson of the Third Hokage… and nobody ever acknowledges me by my name. Only as 'Honorable Grandson'… and I really hate that." He then looked back up at the blond and thumped his fist into his chest. "I'm my own person too, yah know! I want people in this village to start recognizing me and seeing me for who I am… and not who my grandpa is! That's why I want to train and become strong… so that people can remember my name!"

Taking a moment to cross his arms and survey the kid for a moment, Naruto thought hard about what the youngster had to say. Even the others behind him saw what the child was getting at.

It was only natural for people to want to be acknowledged for their individual achievements, talents, skills and strengths, with thoughts and feelings of their own. That was one of the biggest parts about being human. They're social animals, always wanting to communicate, show off, and earn attention from those around them. This boy standing in front of them was obviously tired of living in the shadow of his grandfather. He wanted to be treated like a normal kid, just like everybody else.

But man, he sure was ambitious too. The spunk and confidence he spoke with actually had Naruto shake his head for a second, as it was almost like he was looking at a younger version of himself. Of course, while the blond certainly did seek recognition from others for his own achievements, he had to start life out from the bottom of the pyramid… in the gutters. This kid was starting out life at the top, where he already had everything laid out for him.

Tayuya could also relate to the kid's plight in some way. She and Naruto were kindred spirits in that regard; people who didn't have anyone to acknowledge them, guide them, or help them to get where they needed to go, and thus were also seeking respect. After they met, the two of them helped and supported one another in making a new life together, with the blond instilling the belief in her that she could get more out of her existence by living for something or someone. Since then, Tayuya had established numerous goals for herself to reach, giving herself a purpose in life.

Honestly, earning acknowledgement for one's own worth as a person was an all too familiar desire to strive for, and upon considering the child's words, Naruto eventually reached a decision.

"Alright then, squirt. I'll help you out," Naruto said, causing young Konohamaru to light up once again. This then prompted the blond to hold a hand up to him. "But it will have to wait till the afternoon. The six of us have a team meeting to get to, so when that's over you can come meet up with us at the front of the school. Deal?"

"Deal!" the child exclaimed loudly, bouncing on the spot with his fists clenched excitedly. "Oh, man! This is going to be so awesome!" It was then after jumping around for a bit the youngster suddenly heard a person shout his name. The other Genin did to and after everyone looked in the direction it'd come from, Konohamaru quickly ducked low. "Sorry, boss! Gotta go!" He then sprinted away at full speed, disappearing into the brush.

A few seconds after seeing the kid rush off, the collection of Genin then saw a man with round sunglasses and wearing a blue shinobi uniform come running past. After looking at each of them with an exhausted expression, Ebisu then turned and continued on running, all the while shouting, "Honorable Grandson! Where are you?!"

Shrugging when he saw the man vanish down the footpath, Naruto returned to the table, where he rejoined the rest of his amused and semi-confused friends.

Kurumi, after smiling at the blond, then leant forward and propped her chin on her hand. "I feel like I'm missing out on something fun."

The blond chuckled while Tama rested her head across the scarf around his neck. "Hey. The kid tried to stab me after I stopped him from assassinating the Hokage. That's just an ordinary day for me."

"Honestly, you're not missing out on much," Tayuya also spoke, at the same time teasingly leaning against Naruto's shoulder for support.

Giving a couple of blinks, Yakumo then tilted her head. "I don't know. It kind of sounded fun to me." Her remark had Sasuke look across at her momentarily. After cracking a small smile, he went back to quietly drinking from the water bottle he'd brought.

OOO

(A little while later)

Following a very pleasant lunch, topped with a very invigorating conversation amongst the group's members, in which they spent a little time getting to know a bit more about each other, as well as exchanging numbers and addresses, the six Genin then headed back up to their classroom. They proceeded straight up to the room as a group, where they passed by more of their colleagues also returning to the room.

When the bell echoed throughout the school, marking the end of their break period, the students filing into Class A found a squad of uniformed individuals, all adults, waiting patiently for them at the front of the chamber. With both home groups assembling amongst the rows of desks in the upper levels of the room, the teams then sat and waited to see what would happen next.

"I hope all of you had a long and productive break, because it's time for us to get down to business," Iruka spoke from his desk, at the same time directing all the children towards the shinobi at the front. "The men and women you see standing in front of you are going to be your Jonin instructors. Though the one assigned to your team will be your main captain and trainer, each and every one of them are of high rank and authority, and you will regard them as such. This will be useful especially if you and your teammates will be shuffled between squads to fill in for any comrades who are either sick or off on other assignments." The Chunin then slipped his clipboard under his arm and smiled broadly. "These Jonin are elite, experienced shinobi, who will be leading your teams on missions and overseeing your training as a group, so make sure to work hard and study well."

Once that was said and done, each of the Jonin at the front of the class stepped forward one by one and asked for the team they'd been assigned. Each of the squads left in no particular order, but very soon every single person in the room had left, leaving only a confused Team 7 and a patiently waiting Iruka standing in the room.

Sakura, standing up from their seat in the middle row, raised her hand in concern. "Uhh… Iruka-sensei… what about our team leader? Isn't he here yet?" She certainly hoped that he was late, because if she was about to find out that the three of them had actually failed as a group before the first mission had even began, she was going to have a meltdown.

Iruka, beginning to move away from his desk with paperwork in hand, gave the three remaining Genin a nervous smile. "Uhh… Kakashi Hatake is notorious for being incredibly late to pre-scheduled events and meetings… particularly in regards to situations like these." He then laughed when he noticed the disbelieving looks that appeared on the kids' faces. "You guys are going to be waiting here a while." Walking over to the door and sliding it open, the scar-faced Chunin gave the trio one last fond farewell before departing. "Best of luck."

And so, when the door closed moments later, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were left in silence.

With nothing to do but wait until their team leader arrived to pick them up, the three kids spent the next half hour doing whatever they could to occupy themselves. While Sasuke remained exactly where he was, sitting in the middle row with his arms crossed and eyes closed in meditation, Sakura took to pacing around the area, kicking at the floor and admiring the view outside the window. Naruto on the other hand, wanting to use the time constructively, filled in his quota by going through a rigorous routine of one-handed pushups, sit ups and chin ups from the rafters. When he got bored with that, he then moved on to reviewing some of the material he had written down in the little notebook he always carried around with him.

It was all he really could do in that time, especially since they were apparently the only ones left in the while building. Every other class had been given the day off, meaning that the academy was pretty much deserted.

Eternity seemed to go by as the three kids paced and brooded about their homeroom. By the time the first hour passed, the situation had gradually transformed from one of tedious waiting to full-on boredom. Sasuke had his feet kicked up on the desk in front of him and was close to falling asleep.

Sakura, abandoning her attempts to walk a trench into the floorboards, had decided to play around with Tama. Using a pencil and a string she'd found in Iruka's desk, the girl knelt on the ground and giggled as watched Naruto's tiny fox partner roll about on her back, swatting at the overhanging string like a kitten. Seeing her bark and pat at the lure was probably one of the cutest things the kunoichi had ever seen, with the game itself helping to kill the dullness of the atmosphere.

Naruto on the other hand had gone full native. After experimenting with the living scarf wrapped around his neck for the last fifteen minutes in the corner- grabbing objects from a distance and using its length to create temporary shields- he then mentally willed Aijo to increase her size and width. Upon which he then had the sentient material tie both ends to the rafters above them, laid down across its length a few feet above the floor, and began swaying back and forth like he was lying in a hammock.

He had to admit, for an enchanted/demonic object, it sure as hell was comfortable.

After watching Tama try and nip at the string hanging over her face, a giggling Sakura then looked up at the napping Naruto and spoke to him. "Hey, Naruto… I'm curious. Is it true that you got into a fight with a water demon in a fishing village not that long ago?" she asked, drawing the blonde's attention down to her. "Tayuya told me about it while we were walking back up to the room. She said you went for a hike outside of the hidden leaf last month and ran into a creature at some northern lake town?"

"Yeah. I did," Naruto replied, continuing to swing back and forth on his temporary bed. "Tama and I decided to go on a little adventure together outside the walls to find the place where she came from. After bumping into a Genin team from Kumogakure and following them to the village they were heading to, we ended up encountering a giant, amphibious beast called a Kappa that was terrorizing the people there." He then held his hand out in a thumbs-up. "We fought it and we won."

"Wow. Okay," Sakura replied, looking down to see Tama grab the string she was holding over her with her mouth and chewing on it happily. "Since it was a demon, was it a tough battle?"

"Oh yeah. Absolutely," Naruto laughed, at the same time exhaling sharply. "That giant walking turtle gave me the hardest fight I'd ever had in my entire life. It was big, it was fast, and it literally kicked the shit out of us for a full half-hour. There was no way I could've beaten it on my own. It was only through dumb luck and a keen eye that we managed to figure out where Suiro's weak spot was. After that, the whole fight turned back into our favor." The blonde then held up his left arm and pulled back his sleeve to show off the tattoo on his wrist. "Now he's living in the onsen behind my apartment and, thanks to the pact we made, I can summon him whenever and wherever I want."

"Really?" Sakura murmured curiously.

OOO

(Meanwhile)

Over at Naruto's apartment block in the downtown suburban district, in the fenced off area behind the building, a cloud of steam could be seen hanging over the complex's private hot spring area. Consisting of a single large pond surrounded by a pristine feng shui arrangement and a few feet away from the washing up area, through the fog and the heat, a single figure could be seen lying with her back against the rocky wall.

Wash cloth sitting on top of her head and a sake tray floating right next to her, the bare-naked, voluptuous form of Mitarashi Anko could be seen lying with a content smile on her face amidst the hot water. Inhaling deeply and giving a happy sigh, the woman then held her arms up and gave a big stretch, which caused her rather sizable chest to bounce a little above the calm water.

"Ahh… man… this is the bomb," the kunoichi sighed, at the same time resting her elbows back on top of the pool's rocky edge. "Nothing beats a nice hot bath and a side of alcohol after a long night of spirit-hazing grinding."

Seriously. Though working for the ANBU had its share of benefits, it also came with an equal amount of downsides. These included long night shifts, long periods of hiding, and overtime with no extra pay.

At least the health insurance was good.

Having just gone through several hours of sorting through an enormous mountain of paperwork leading into the wake hours of the morning, most of which had to do with the new changes in policy and regulation, the now off-duty Anko was just in the process of surrendering herself completely to the sweet and utter content of euphoria. That was until the woman suddenly heard a little splash next to her and looked along the edge of the bath to see a little frog the size of a plate had hopped out of the water.

Well… from the way it was squatting on the floor it certainly looked like a frog. But from its flippers and the hard shell resting on its back, it also shared the characteristics of another aquatic animal. Since it also had a tiny pool of water sitting in the top of its head where the lid to its skull should've been, this combination of traits officially made it the strangest looking amphibian Anko had ever seen.

Giving the toad or whatever a couple of surprised blinks, Anko then tilted her head. "What are you supposed to be?"

Staring at the attractive, naked woman sitting in the water for a few seconds, the miniaturized Suiro shook himself out of his daze before quickly coming up with the only response he could. "Uhh… ribbit?"

Though his little croak was completely fake and unconvincing, Anko didn't pick up on the kappa's little act of deception. In fact, after considering the strange animal for a moment, the purple haired kunoichi grinned and reached over. "Aww… Mr. Turtle thinks he's a frog." Grabbing it by the side, she then picked up the reptile and brought him over to her. "Come here, cutie." Against all real common sense, she then hugged the animal against her chest and sunk further into the water. "Why don't you keep drunk little Anko-neechan company?"

As Anko continued to enjoy her soak in the water, unbeknownst to her, the tiny kappa which she was pressing into her bosom had a very lecherous grin come over his face. Upon which he then closed his eyes as he shamelessly basked in the glory of his current position nestled between the two mounds.

"This… is… awesome!" the widely grinning Suiro thought as his flippers lightly groped the oblivious and slightly drunken woman's boobs.

When Naruto first set him up here in this little paradise, the blond had given him three orders he had to follow without question.

One: do not leave this hot spring without permission. Two: do not destroy a single thing without permission. Three: do not harm a single person in this village without permission.

Though the rules were strict and certainly within reason, there was still a little bit of wiggle room that Suiro could squeeze into his new living accommodations.

This situation in particular qualified as one of them, something that the little kappa had absolutely no problems with as he lay there in the arms of the incredibly hot and well-endowed female resident of Naruto's apartment block.

"Kami, if this is heaven, please let me stay here and die," the little turtle man thought as Anko happily took another sip from her cup of sake.

OOO

(Back at the academy)

Blinking at the last part of Naruto's report, Sakura then smiled. "That's pretty cool." She then looked back at Tama to see her roll back onto her front and sit up. "What about this little one? Is she some kind of summon animal?"

"No. Tama is a demon as well," Naruto exclaimed, swinging his legs over to dangle them over the side of his scarf-hammock. "Her real name is Tamamo no Mae- a wandering, shapeshifting fox spirit that has been around since before the time of the Sage of Six Paths. For the last three thousand years she was trapped inside a tombstone in a small temple in the hills of Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water). When the Third Shinobi World War broke out in the area, her tablet was broken and she was set free. After I found her injured and nursed her back to health, she decided to stay with me."

Sakura then looked down at the little fox with a look of sheer bewilderment. "Whoa. She's really that old?"

"Uh-huh."

Upon inspecting the little critter for a couple of moments, Sakura then extended her hand and patted the little vixen on the head. The act of which earned a light purr and a bark from the kitsune. "Well… she's not evil or aggressive in any way… and she protected me during Mizuki-sensei's rampage last night. After everything I've seen, I guess it would be pretty unfair of me to think that every single demon and spirit out there is bad," the pinkette reasoned, at the same time receiving a happy nuzzle from the vixen. "That's not true at all."

Smiling at the girl's realization of this fact, Naruto leant forward and dropped back down to the floor. "Some are good and some are assholes, and many of them are misunderstood. But Tama-chan here has been a good friend of mine for years. To me… she's family." Quietly retracting his large scarf from the rafters and feeling Aijo wrap around his neck once again, Naruto then slipped his hands into his pockets and approached his teammate. "She's given me tons of help with training and advice on how to improve my fighting skills. She's even been teaching me how to use her type of chakra in place of my own."

Sasuke, having been listening in to the boy's little recounts, cracked open his eyes and looked across at the delinquent curiously. "She's teaching you how to use a completely different type of chakra?" Was that even possible?

"Yeah. The chakra she uses is not like everyone else's. It's stronger, more potent, and doesn't have any identifiable nature type. It's the same energy I used against Mizuki to mash up his organs and punch a hole through the clouds. Damn near broke my hand doing it too," Naruto informed, at the same time looking down at his fingers and clenching them into fists. "I've been getting better and better at using it… but I still don't have full control yet."

His statements earned a supporting smile from Sakura. "The important thing is that you're working towards something." She then gave him a wink. "Just keep at it. I know you'll get it eventually."

After Naruto thanked his friend for her encouragement, Tama hopped back to her feet and bounded over to the delinquent, where she quickly hiked up his leg before perching herself on his left shoulder. From there both the blond and the pinkette proceeded to wait on for their teacher to arrive, with Sasuke remaining where he was with his eyes closed.

To pass the next half hour that followed not long afterwards, Naruto decided to show Sakura some more taijutsu techniques across the open floor, with the blond demonstrating by first getting her to mimic his hand movements and stances, and then repeating the steps as they came. Tama meanwhile sat on the sidelines, watching the pair 'play' with interest.

This soon led to the young go-getter shuffling over to correct a couple of the kunoichi's poses, taking up the spot directly behind the kunoichi to gently edge her hands and feet into the right positions.

Much to Sakura's embarrassment and utter delight, this meant the rugged delinquent getting more than a few millimeters close to her in order to properly instigate his teachings. Feeling his chest push into her back and his breath hit the back of her ear, the girl's stomach was practically doing tumble turns when the young man stretched out her left arm and shifted her right hand back toward her chin.

"You want to be able to hit and guard yourself at the same time," Naruto informed, at the same time getting the girl's elbow into an upward lock. "This way, if your opponent decides to get clever, you can quickly spin back around with a counter."

Doing as instructed by moving her arm in to her cheek, the kunoichi gulped. "L-Like this?" Sakura stammered shyly.

"Yeah. That's it. You got it."

Of course, just as he was in the process of getting her to tuck her chin in, the trio were then interrupted from their respective practices by the door to the room opening.

When they all looked, they saw a man, dressed in the standard Konoha shinobi uniform and headband, wearing a mask that concealed most of his face except for his right eye, and gravity defying spiky silver hair, peering into the room. Upon pushing open the door, the Jonin then stepped in and raised his hand apologetically.

"Sorry I'm late. I got a little caught up rearranging some furniture around my apartment and lost track of time," the man said, while at the same time giving what the kids assumed was a smile through his facial mask. "So… you three are Team 7, correct?" When his eye landed on Naruto and Sakura, a couple of blinks occurred before the Jonin then chirped in surprise. "Oh? Am I interrupting something?"

Noticing that their teacher had finally arrived and was now looking right at them, Sakura, realizing she was still pressed up against Naruto, reacted instantly.

Her face turning a bright shade of scarlet in two seconds flat, the wide-eyed kunoichi then gave a couple of squeaks before, with a frantic cry of, she grabbed Naruto by the arm and tossed him through means of a perfectly executed, textbook shoulder throw. The result was the completely unprepared boy giving a startled yelp before he was slammed back first into the floorboards with a loud thud.

Naruto, having not expected to be thrown like that, wheezed out the only word he could muster at that moment, "Ow."

Lying sprawled out in a daze, the blond could only stare up at the ceiling while an embarrassed Sakura, having not noticed what she'd done until a few seconds later, then waved her hands in front of her in alarm.

"Oh Kami! Naruto-kun! Are you alright?!" Sakura shouted anxiously. "I didn't mean to do that! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?"

While the kunoichi fussed over her fallen friend and Kakashi looked on quietly in confusion, Sasuke, having watched the entire scene play out from his spot at the desks, couldn't help but allow his surprised visage to crack a small grin.

"You know, in hindsight, I'm so glad I'm here right now," the Uchiha thought, clearly satisfied at seeing Naruto get dumped on the floor by Sakura so easily. Hell, even little Tama was sitting there and looking like she was about to laugh.

Kami, he was going to remember this moment forever…

OOO

After Naruto had gotten back to his feet and regained his bearings, the three young members of Team 7 were then led up to the roof by their Jonin commander. The mysterious, silver-haired Kakashi remained completely silent until they reached their destination; which was a wide, open balcony decorated by a small garden with a railing surrounding the entire area, giving them a fantastic view of downtown Konohagakure and the Hokage Tower behind them.

Instructing the trio to take a seat on the stairs, the shinobi adult then took his place over by the railing, where he leaned back and crossed his arms comfortably. From the look on his face, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke got the distinct impression that their 'instructor' didn't want to be there. However, wanting to see how things played out as well as where this was going to go, the three just went along with it.

Hopefully this wouldn't devolve into some kind of standoff.

"So… seeing as how I'm still new to this, why don't we start off with something simple first?" the Jonin began with a light nod, "Introductions. Tell me about yourselves."

Sakura, sitting on the lower step next to Naruto with her legs pulled up to her chest, tilted her head curiously. "W-What would you like us to say, sensei?"

Kakashi held out his hands and shrugged. "Anything. Things you like. Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Stuff like that."

"Well, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself first?" Naruto asked, at the same time Tama lay asleep on his shoulder. "That way we can see how you want us to answer and we can take it from there." His statement drew a nod of agreement from the quiet Sasuke, who was sitting on the step above them with his arms on his lap.

"Yeah. Plus we don't know you… and you look kind of sketchy," Sakura added at the end, at the same time giving the Jonin a scowl. You can't trust a guy who covered his entire face with a mask. It always sent out mixed signals.

Hearing the children's reasoning had the silver-haired man smile. "Very well. I'm Kakashi Hatake… a shinobi by trade and a man of many talents. Things I like and things I hate… hmm… I don't really feel like getting into that with you guys." Seeing the three kids recoil in surprise then prompted him to continue. "Dreams for the future? Never really thought about them. And as for my hobbies, well…" He looked up thoughtfully, "I have lots of hobbies."

"So… all he really told us is his name and profession?" Sakura murmured to the others, both of whom were currently giving the man deadpanned expressions.

"I think we're dealing with a really shady character here," Naruto whispered back. Tama meanwhile just gave a yawn from her moving bed, her tail brushing gently up against the blonde's cheek.

As suspicious as the guy came across, he certainly did give off the air of a professional shinobi; somebody who was secretive, mysterious, and knew how to conceal any clues to his true identity. This definitely gave credence to his reasons for wearing a mask in the first place.

Kakashi then gestured across to the kids. "Okay. Now that I've talked about myself, it's your turn. I'll let the one on the right go first."

"Sweet," Naruto exclaimed, perking up and adjusting the scarf around his collar. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki- resident delinquent and part-time hero. I like training, fighting, and spending time with my best friend Tayuya. Oh, and my spirit partner Tama-chan here." He added to this by petting the white fox on his shoulder, earning a warm smile from her in return. "I also really like hanging out with the other friends I've made… even though there are few, exploring new places, and meeting new people. My favorite food is ramen… though I really hate how long it takes to prepare it. And I also really hate bullies and people who hurt others for no reason." He said this last part with a bit of a cross expression, which quickly switched back to a smile as he leant forward on his knee. "My hobbies are training and working around as a handyman to earn extra money and experience. And my dreams for the future…" His gaze shifted upwards momentarily. "At first I was thinking about becoming Hokage… but then I figured I'd like to get out there and see the world first- visit other countries, meet interesting people, and kick some ass." He said this while throwing his arms and slipping them behind his head in a laugh. "Have an adventure, as they say. And maybe, if everything goes well, do something important in my life that people will acknowledge and remember me for."

When the blond finished his excited exclamation, Kakashi couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the wide grin he had on his face. "Well, he's grown up in a very interesting way, that's for sure. Though considering who his parents are, I shouldn't be surprised. He's got a strong spirit." Filing away this information for later, the Jonin then turned to the next person. "Alright. What about you, young lady?"

The pinkette perked up at being addressed and, after straightening out her skirt, smiled brightly towards the silver haired shinobi. "I'm Sakura Haruno. I like a lot of things, including sweets and reading. I also like uhh… umm…" She then tentatively glanced in Naruto's direction and when she saw the blond looking across at her and listening intently, her cheeks flushed red and she pushed back several strands of loose hair behind her ear. "I… I also dislike people who pick on others and call them names. My favorite food is Shiratama Anmitsu… and my least favorite is anything too spicy. My hobbies include studying, playing trivia games and memorization. And my dream for the future is to become stronger and to do well as a ninja of Konohagakure." Her last response was accompanied by a smile towards Naruto. "A close friend of mine inspired me to follow this path."

Kakashi tilted his head slightly. "That much I expected. There's definitely a spark under there." All she needed to do now was tend and apply it. Once he was certain the pinkette had finished, he then turned his attention to the last one. "Very well. Now the last one."

There was a brief, dramatic pause before the raven haired Genin decided to speak up. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are a lot of things that I dislike, such as sweets and Natto… and I'm not a really big fan of crowded places. The things that I like include trying out different kinds of rice balls and training on our estate, since I can get a lot of privacy there." He then closed his eyes to think a bit more. "And my hobbies include walking around the village and meditating on matters that are important to me. As for my goals… I want to become strong enough to protect what's left of my clan and to face my brother, so that I can ask him why he really did what he did." Opening his eyes and looking across at Kakashi, the Uchiha's expression steeled. "I know my mother will disapprove, but it's something that I feel that I have to do… for my family."

Once the moment of seriousness had passed and everyone was done sharing their interests, a completely calm Kakashi gave a nod of approval and straightened up where he was sitting. "Good. That's it for introductions. I'm pleased to see that each of you are very unique individuals with your own ideas and interests. Hopefully these will all serve you well moving into your futures." After that a smile appeared under his mask. "Now that that's sorted, I've decided we're going to have our first mission tomorrow…" When he saw the three kids look up at him with a mixture of anticipation and excitement, the man waited a few moments before deciding to drop the bomb on them. "It will be a task that all four of us will do together: a survival exercise."

This announcement had Naruto recoil a little. "Uhh… survival exercise?"

"Aren't you… going to give us an actual assignment, sensei?" Sakura asked, not quite understanding where their instructor was trying to do. "We did a lot of exercises and drills at the academy… and we've had plenty of field practice as a class. Why are you getting us to do a test instead of an actual mission?"

"This isn't going to be like your previous training," Kakashi interrupted, shooting down any other chances for questions. "It's a little more… involved then what you would be used to." A light chuckle then left his lips as a rather mischievous look appeared on his face. "Though I warn you guys, you're probably not going to like what I have to say next."

The trio of Genin all frowned at once, as they didn't like the smug expression their teacher was currently giving them.

Finally deciding to stop beating around the bush, Kakashi, putting on the best intimidating look he could muster, placed his hand against his face and leant forward on his knee. "Of the 54 graduates that came out of the academy this year, which is much bigger than the graduating groups of semesters past, only 18 will be officially accepted as Genin. The other 36 will be weeded out and sent back to the academy. In other words, this next test is going to be a make-it or break-it, pass-fail assessment, and the chances that you will fail is at least 66 percent," Kakashi informed, watching in satisfaction as the faces on all three of his students changed drastically. Their flabbergasted expressions were enough to tell him that they certainly didn't like what he'd told them, which caused the man to grin. "See… I told you that you'd freak out."

Blinking at the big reveal of the test they were now expected to face, Naruto looked across at his other two teammates to see that Sasuke's scowl had darkened and Sakura's expression had paled. After processing the information that'd been given to them, as well as the fact that this next coming trial was going to be much harder than what they'd ever experienced before, the delinquent grinned broadly.

"Awesome," was the thought that rang through his head.

"Hold on!" Sakura exclaimed, looking across at their instructor in disbelief. "Then what was the point of the graduation exams?" Honestly, it was because of their previous tests that she was finding this information so hard to grasp.

"Oh that? That was just a preliminary test to select candidates who might become Genin… or not. Sorry." Kakashi's apology was made kind of mute by the cheeky smile on his face.

"Ugh…" Sakura groaned, looking down with a proverbial raincloud over her head. So what Iruka had said to them about their next coming trials being harder than anything they'd ever faced before was true.

"That's how it is I'm afraid," the masked Jonin said while hopping off of the railing and approaching the youngsters sitting on the steps. "I'm the one who decides whether you pass or fail. No objections. No negotiations. No excuses." Pulling out three sheets of paper, he then handed them to the trio and watched them take them. "Here. Be at the designated training spot by 5 AM… and bring your ninja gear." Watching the team start to read through the documents, the man straightened up and turned around, giving them a brisk wave and starting to head off. "That's it. You're dismissed. Oh… and one last thing." He then peered over his shoulder at the group to see them glance up at him. "You may want to skip breakfast tomorrow, otherwise you'll puke."

After thoroughly reading through his document and the prerequisites set by their instructor, Sasuke grunted indignantly and, standing up, shoved the piece of paper into his pocket. While Kakashi walked off and Sakura continued glaring daggers down at her sheet like it was a literal death warrant, Naruto folded his paper up into a cube, slipped it into his jacket, and sprung to his feet like a gymnast.

Giving a well-earned stretch, the youngster then put his hands behind his head and started to amble away at his leisure. "Alright. See you guys tomorrow! I'm going to get some training in… and maybe step on a few toes while I'm at it." His last statement had Sasuke raise an eyebrow at the blonde's back, but didn't prompt any further action beyond that.

After all, the delinquent was weird, eccentric, and completely unpredictable. Anything was possible with the way he operated. So, after giving Naruto his due respects and a nod of farewell, the Uchiha decided to head off in the opposite direction, where he hoped to squeeze in a bit of exercise as well.

Watching the delinquent march away with a stride in each step and a smile on his face, Sakura couldn't help but sigh and allow a warm look to appear in her cheeks as she observed the boy's posture. "Man. I really wish I was as confident and energetic as you, Naruto-kun."

Perhaps, with some luck and no short amount of hard work, she could get that confidence too.

OOO

(That afternoon)

Outside the main streets and social hubs of Konohagakure, in the industrial storage house district where a lot of the businesses in the village keep their surplus of stock and machinery, a secret meeting was currently being orchestrated. Inside one of the seemingly abandoned warehouses, scattered around the depressing, grey room, surrounded by empty crates, barrels and boxes, were about eight different groups of casually dressed youths.

Each gang was made up of over a dozen or more teenagers of different heights, ages, backgrounds and appearances. The first one, made up predominantly of boys, was Sato's group, whom Naruto and Tayuya had encountered earlier that morning and were the main ones responsible for gathering all these other clubs together. They were standing in the middle of the room in their jumpers, hoodies and jeans, looking all tough, intimidating, and glaring daggers at the other groups scattered around them.

Another unique-looking crowd was a pack of about ten boys in black and grey clothing decorated by chains and rings, being led by a tall Uchiha boy with the right side of his head shaven and his hair combed over. The third most unique group was a gang composed entirely of girls, over fifteen of them all wearing sweaters and hooded-jackets, with the leader being a girl with long orange hair, wearing a white shirt, and carrying a bokken.

Between these gangs were also a number of standalone boys and girls- kids who were not part of any of the gangs and would be considered loners. They were mixed in amongst the collection of hoods and at the same time were keeping mostly to themselves.

Having obviously been standing around for quite some time, the collection of miscellaneous street rebels remained in deathly, awkward silence, while at the same time attempting to scare of the others with their looks. Nobody really wanted to say or do anything, for fear of starting all all-out war with each other.

But eventually, after about half an hour of just standing and not doing anything, somebody had to say something.

Tapping her bokken against her shoulder, the orange haired girl in the white top and jean short-shorts frowned. "Hey, Sato. How much longer are we going to have to wait around here for, huh?"

The boy in the yellow jacket, torn jeans and scratched out headband across his brow frowned. "Beats me. He just told us to meet him here at five o'clock and wait. That's all."

"Hmph," the tough girl grunted while flicking back her long hair. "Well, you might be all for following his orders like a bitch, but we've got better things to do with our time. We're not scared of him and his red-headed dog."

"Yeah? Then why are you and your girls here, Kyoko?" the Uchiha boy sitting on top of the nearby crate asked, his expression stone-cold and unwavering. "Surely it can't be out of the goodness of your delinquent heart." His remark had the orange-haired female sweat nervously at having her reasons picked at.

Gritting her teeth tightly, the girl gang leader known as Kyoko promptly pointed across at Sato. "Because he and his boys insisted that we had to be here." She then swung her bokken down and tapped it on the ground. "There's really no other reason why any of us had to come. If the Gold and Red Foxes want to have a word with us, then they should just come onto our turf and tell us in person-"

"Your turf, huh?"

The echo of a young, husky voice suddenly echoed throughout the warehouse, causing every single boy and girl there to freeze and turn towards the entrance. When all eyes landed on the light breaking through the front doors, the collection of hoodlums and delinquents saw three silhouettes march into view. Once they were close to the spot where all the groups were gathered around, the individuals revealed themselves to be Naruto, Tayuya, and the young Konohamaru, the latter of whom was looking at his surroundings with great interest.

As for the two Genin however, they were looking as serious and as mean as ever, both sporting their trademark shinobi styles and expressions.

The moment their presence was made known to the assembly, every single boy and girl in the room stood up or closed ranks… for their own protection.

Being the one to have spoken up, Naruto, hands in his jacket pockets and Tama perched on his shoulder, glanced towards Kyoko's gang and narrowed his eyes on the nervous leader. "The last time I checked, Kyoko-chan, you and the rest of these plebs no longer have any turf. All the areas you used to skulk about in now belong to me and Tayuya, so don't go thinking you can still run around this village like you own the place." When he saw the girl grit her teeth, the boy in the scarf then turned towards the rest of the warehouse and spoke. "On that note, I'm really happy to see that all of you guys were able to make it to this little gathering. Although…"

"We can't help but notice that not all of the gangs are here," Tayuya continued in the blonde's place, stepping forward as she surveyed the room of about a hundred or so young teenagers. "Where are Yagura's boys and the two groups off of Main Street? The Band of Fourteen Devils and the Twenty-Seven Precepts?"

"Also, why the hell are most of your gangs named after the total number of people in your group?" Naruto asked while raising an eyebrow. "What happens when another kid wants to join up… or if a couple of you are away sick for the day?"

Not really being able to answer the blond delinquent's question, due to how on point he was about the pattern, one of the loner boys on the sidelines, a young lad with white hair and a trench coat, decided to speak up. "Their gangs broke up two months ago and went off to do other things. Last I heard, you and your girlfriend beat them up so badly that they didn't want to hang around with each other anymore."

"Seriously?" Naruto laughed a little while scratching his head. "Holy crap. I thought I was going easy on those guys, but damn…" After taking a moment to consider the magnitude of this little victory, the youngster then shook his head and returned to the moment. All the while Konohamaru continued to listen in quietly from the sidelines. "Anyway… now that we're all here, we can finally get down to business… and talk about the real reason why I asked Sato to bring all of you guys together to this warehouse."

As the collection of ruffians and thugs stepped in closer to circle the area better, namely the two delinquents responsible for inflicting the most injuries and wounds on them over the last couple of years, the Uchiha gang leader perched on top of the empty crates spoke. "Are you planning on fighting all of our gangs at once? Is that why you brought us to this dump?"

"A lot of us have known you for years, Gold Fox," another delinquent in a hoody spoke, his gaze trained solely on the newly promoted Genin. "In the last six months alone, all you've ever done is hunt us down and kick the crap out of us for sport… sometimes for very petty reasons."

"Wrecking homes, painting slander on walls, threatening people, and picking on other kids aren't what I'd call 'petty' reasons, Daiki," Naruto snapped, causing the kids around him to balk slightly at his very angry response. "At least, not to me. For the past five years, the only things I've ever seen you guys do is trash the village that you live in, smash windows, set fire to garbage bins, and cause problems for all the people living in your neighborhoods. Hell, many of you even went out of your way to target me and make my life a living hell… calling me names, throwing stones at my back, and ganging up on me day after day with no rest. After so many weeks of constantly being picked on and abused by kids stronger and bigger than me, did you honestly think I was just going to sit around and take that shit?" His shout caused every one of the boys looking to start something with him to back off, which then led to Naruto scoffing. "Of course not."

"So is that what this is all about?" Kyoko asked from her spot while resting her arms over the bokken sitting across her shoulders. "You called all of us down here just so you could tell us to leave you and your girlfriend alone?"

"Because honestly, Naruto-aniki… w-we don't really want to fight with you anymore," another boy from Sato's gang spoke up, stepping forward to show the bandages wrapped around his nose. From the way he was holding his hand up to let his presence known, it was clear he was quite intimidated by Naruto. "None of us do."

"We've seen what you do to the people that piss you off. That's... something we really want to try and avoid."

While most of the teenagers and kids gathered in that shed murmured and voiced their agreement to those statements, Naruto and Tayuya remained vigilant. After the chatter and whispering continued on for several more seconds, the blond spoke again.

"Well, that's one of the reasons," Naruto began, causing all of the kids there to shut up as he began to elaborate. "The other reason why I brought you here is to put an end to this stupid game once and for all." When he saw all the leaders and all the members of the gangs look around at each other in confusion, the blond held his hands out and pointed to them. "This. This whole thing. The war between rival gangs, the troublemaking, the larceny, the trashing of other people's properties, the bullying… I want to put a stop to all of it. And the way I'm going to do it is through one, simple proposal that I now offer to all of you…" He then put on a smile of confidence and bravado. "I want us to team up."

Remaining silent for a few moments, as the shock of the announcement rang through all of them, the completely bewildered Kyoko's marched forward. "Wait! So… let me get this straight. You want us… the gangs who you've fought with and badgered for years… to team up with each other to form one group?"

"Yep," Naruto replied with a firm nod. "That's exactly it."

"Bullshit!" one of the other gang leaders spoke up, a young male with goggles and leading a group of mixed boys and girls standing in the corner. "Why the hell would you want to do something like that?!"

"Yeah. Don't you hate our guts?" another boy from the crowd spoke. "What's the deal?"

Looking across at Naruto and smiling at him, Tayuya, taking the stance as a leader and the dominant party there, stepped forward. "Tomorrow Naruto and I will be taking the final test that will officially certify us as Genin of Konohagakure. When we pass… and I guarantee all of you that we will… our time schedules and roles in this area will change. Since the duties and responsibilities of protecting the village will be falling onto our shoulders… that means we're going to have to start taking our jobs of protecting and inspiring change in our community a little more seriously."

"The way we want to do this is to help out those who are struggling the most… namely you guys," Naruto informed, causing all of the gangs to look at the pair with a mixture of confusion and shock. "Most of you either dropped out of the academy early or didn't pass the final exams. Hell, some of you even got to the team exam, failed, and gave up without going for a second try."

"That's because the Jonin instructors in charge of the school are idiots," the Uchiha gang leader spoke, his expression tightening angrily as he looked across at the blond. "They don't care about your individual achievements or how talented you are… only about how well you work together as a group… even with people you don't know or absolutely hate."

"Then that's probably where you went wrong," Naruto replied, glancing across at the teen who spoke with a frown. "You guys have all the talent and skills to become good ninja, but the moment you were faced with a real challenge or something you didn't like… you backed down. You let it beat you before you even had a chance to really prove yourselves, and because of that you ended up here. Well… that's going to change right now." The blonde's expression steeled and he pressed on with his speech. "When I first met you guys, all I saw was a bunch of no good punks who hated me and everything else around them… people who didn't know what to do with their lives and were just taking their anger out on everything else. Back then I never understood the reasons why. But after growing up, going through these last exams, and realizing what was to come, I now have a better idea of what you fellas have been through. And that's why I want to help." He then moved towards the middle of the circle and began looking around at all the kids surrounding him. "I want to work with you guys and help you to become better than what you already are… and in turn help the village."

"And you think that if we listen to you that you'll be able to miraculously transform us into proper, respectable people?" one of the girls from Kyoko's gang asked, which caused the leader to glance over her shoulder at her friend momentarily.

Another of the hoodlums listening in from the other side of the room scoffed and crossed his arms. "Get fucked, kid. If you haven't noticed already, all of us are beyond help. None of the teachers or adults care about us… nobody does."

"And what makes you think that?" Naruto retorted, looking back at the older teenager and glaring at him harshly. The act of doing so silenced any rebuttal the youngster wanted to make. "Yes, some people may not care. Yes, life is tough and unfair. Yes, the world has beaten you down at every step. But you can't let any of that stop you from getting what you want. I know that most of you really wanted to become ninja… to do something of worth with your lives and for the village. Well, now you have the chance to do that." Once again looking around at the gangs in the room, the blond raised his hand and made a fist. "Tayuya and I don't plan on staying as Genin for long. We're aiming to break records in the future, get promoted to Chunin early… and maybe even move up to Jonin in the next two years. When that happens, we'll have the means and the authority to really help you guys and improve the system."

"But only if you're willing to help us and yourselves by following our lead," Tayuya informed, also drawing the attention of the leaders and speaking to them with a firm and commanding tone. "If you can do that… and work together instead of fight… then maybe you can all change the world for the better, and fucking show everyone that even failures can still win."

Sato, looking back at his gang and then around at all the other groups who'd fallen silent following the pair's speech, then turned his attention back to Naruto and shrugged. "Sounds fair." His answer drew a round of agreeable murmurs from his gang, with several other boys and girls also voicing their approval.

Kyoko on the other hand scoffed while looking across at Naruto, as she was not quite convinced at his plan. "That was a nice speech and all, brat. Yeah. Very moving. But how do we know you and red over there are even going to make it that far in life?" Her question and overall opinion on the boy was reciprocated by several other people in the room, all of whom could be seen glaring at the pair from amongst the crowds. "Prove to us that you have what it takes to become a Jonin… that you're going to become a great ninja someday… and then- maybe- we'll listen to you." Her remark was accompanied by a round of chuckles from some of the other kids.

A smile breaking out on his face, Naruto then nodded to the white fox on his shoulder without even looking at her. "Tama-chan." The moment he said her name, the tiny little vixen stood up and, without warning, exploded into a twisting cloud of bright blue flames, which swallowed up the blond and engulfed the area around him in a raging inferno.

The gangs of teenagers could only gape in horror, as they thought Naruto had just been vaporized right in front of them. Even Konohamaru was staring with a slacked jaw as fire and smoke filled the center of the warehouse. But judging from the big smile on Tayuya's face that was not the case.

Moments later, the wall of flames and smoke were blown away by a series of four large tails, which whipped away the pillar and unfurled themselves. All the kids in that room then gave simultaneous cries and yelps of fright when, from out of the fumes, a massive white fox the size of a horse appeared, chomping and snapping. With a deafening, high-pitch howl, the fully grown Tama threw a mighty roar at the gangs surrounding her, causing the entire warehouse they were in to rattle and the majority of the youths to backpedal in alarm. Kyoko and the Uchiha kid meanwhile simply gaped in awe at the beast.

"Whoa…" Konohamaru exclaimed, eyes wide as he watched the beast curled protectively around Naruto make its presence known. "What a boss!"

This comment was of course directed towards the blond delinquent, who was still standing calmly in the center of the warehouse floor.

After watching his friend bark and roar at the teenagers, and watching in satisfaction as several of the delinquents toppled over in fright, Naruto, who was still standing next to his transformed partner, raised a hand and gently patted her on the side. Calming down in a matter of seconds, the now composed and silent Tama stood upright and, like a glorified sentry, waited behind her best friend as he marched forward.

"Yeah. That's right. I have a giant fox demon for a friend. I guess those rumors about me are now true," Naruto said with a smirk. "Is that proof enough for you?"

Kyoko, staring at the kid in disbelief while the majority of the girls behind her cowered together under the glare of the white, four-tailed monster in front of them, the orange-haired delinquent girl smirked, laughed a little, and lifted her head up proudly. "Alright… I'm convinced. Whatever you have to say, I'll go along with it, golden boy."

Smirking broadly at seeing the usually tough street girl finally give in, Naruto then frowned and gave one last look around at all the terrified kids around him. "I'll give all of you a week to think about this- about whether or not Tayuya and I are fit enough to lead you. If all of you are still serious about doing something good for your village… to have a shot at becoming real ninja… then meet us back here next Friday, same time. Until then…" He then raised a finger and pointed it at each gang in turn, "no more bullying… no more fighting… no more loitering… and no more vandalism. Let's start things off with a clean slate. Agreed?" Seeing most of them nod and murmur affirmatively, a content Naruto then turned heel and marched back over to Tayuya, at the same time beckoning Tama to follow him.

Returning to the redhead's side as his enormous fox partner transformed back to her little kitsune form and hopped onto his shoulder, Naruto smiled down at the stunned Konohamaru. "So… you said you wanted ninja lessons?"

The boy in the scarf nodded vigorously, yet was still clearly anxious. "Y-Yeah."

"Good. Then follow me," the blond instructed, walking past the kid and towards the entrance. "We've got a long afternoon ahead of us… and an even longer night." He whispered that last part to himself.

When Tayuya and Konohamaru joined him, the trio left, allowing the street gangs and delinquents to consider their proposal…

XXX

(That night)

The sound of tapping against her second floor balcony window woke Sakura from her peaceful slumber, the pinkette groggily sitting up from her pillow and looking about the dark of her room in confusion. When a couple more clicks echoed off of her pane glass divider, the youngster slowly slipped out from under her blanket and went over to investigate, ignoring the fact that she was wearing only a T-shirt and a set of frilly, pink underwear.

When she opened the doors and peeked over the balcony, a look of surprise quickly appeared on her sleepy face when she saw, waiting in the street below, Naruto and Sasuke standing side-by-side and staring up at her.

Grinning at seeing his teammate's head poke into view, the blond delinquent waved. "Hey! Sakura-chan! You ready to head out?!"

"N-Naruto-kun? Sasuke-kun?" Sakura stuttered, glancing over her shoulder at her bedside clock. "W-What time is it?"

"Ten past three," the Uchiha replied.

"Isn't it a little too early to be up?" the pinkette asked, looking back down at the pair while gesturing towards the night sky and the partially-lit street. "Aren't we supposed to be meeting Kakashi-sensei at five?"

"Yeah. But since neither of us could get any sleep, we decided to get together and head out to do some extra planning," Naruto answered, slipping his hands into his pockets as he smiled up at their female partner. "We think there's a bit more to the test than what Kakashi-sensei is letting on. If he's aiming to pull a fast one over us and catch us off guard, we want to be as ready as we can be to face him."

"You in?" Sasuke asked as a small smile formed on his face.

"Uhh… alright…" Sakura murmured, glancing between the two boys for a moment as her own enthusiasm started to grow. It was only a few seconds later that the kunoichi realized she was still dressed in a nightshirt and underwear and, giving a startled yelp, ducked back into her room in a panic. "Kya!" Face red, the girl squeaked back from the safety of her quarters. "O-Okay… I'll… umm… meet you guys downstairs. Just give me a couple of minutes to get ready."

Blinking curiously, the boy in the white fur-hooded jacket, blue shirt and blue scarf tilted his head at the girl. "Do you… need us to come up there to help you pack some stuff, Sakura-chan?!"

"No! No! I'm fine! I'm fine! Just stay right there!" the girl cried back frantically.

"OK!" When Naruto glanced across at Sasuke, he saw the Uchiha was giving him an odd look, to which the delinquent shrugged. "What? I'm just offering to give her a hand. What's wrong with that?" His question had the raven haired boy shake his head and turn away.

Obviously the whole problem with Naruto going up there to 'help' a friend flew right over his head.

Several minutes later Sakura eventually exited her home, dressed in her red and white qi pao, with a green backpack in hand. Upon flinging her carrier over her shoulders, the girl joined up with her teammates and proceeded to follow them out of her neighborhood and towards the main road. Trailing along the highway to the outskirts on the east side of the community, the trio passed through the main gate, beyond the defensive wall, and onto the outlying fields.

Konohagakure was known for having multiple training areas both inside and outside its boundaries, with each one serving a specific function ranging from scientific study to regimental training. While districts like the Forty-Forth Training Ground and the Zeroth Training Ground were classified as a wildlife sanctuary and a competition ground respectively, and were both considered extremely dangerous, areas like the Third all the way to the Fifteenth training fields were all safe and could be used by multiple parties. The former training zone was a particular favorite of shinobi team captains for testing and assessing newly graduated Genin, and it was at this very same space Kakashi instructed his squad to meet him.

Entering the valley through the perimeter fence from the main road, the three youngsters slogged their way out into the central clearing, which sat beside a large lake, three training stumps, and a war memorial in the shape of a kunai. With very little light to work with, the kids couldn't really appreciate the sights around them to their fullest. So, after depositing their bags by the stumps, the members of Team 7 moved out into the middle of the grove where a lone tree stood nearest to the water.

As they ambled across the grass, a passive-looking Sasuke then noticed something off about Naruto's appearance. "Tama didn't want to come out today?"

The blond shook his head. "She was asleep and I didn't want to wake her. Plus I thought it would be kind of pointless to force her to come all the way out here just to watch us go through another exam." He turned to look at the Uchiha with his hands in his pockets. "It wouldn't be a proper assessment if she was here with us. We need to show that we can do this on our own terms and with our own skills."

Sasuke nodded. "Fair enough."

After giving a loud and much-needed yawn, Sakura turned her attention to Naruto. "Could you tell me what's going on now, Naruto-kun? Why did you want us to come out here so early?" Surely there had to be a seriously good reason behind this madness.

Human beings weren't meant to wake up at three o'clock in the morning.

The blond in question focused up on the pair standing behind him with a firm expression. "I went to visit Tenten-chan after our meeting with Kakashi-sensei on the academy rooftop. When I was at her place, she told me about the test that her instructor gave to her squad after graduation. Apparently, in order to figure out whether they would make a good team for him, he had all three of them fight him head-to-head in a full-on taijutsu slugfest." His announcement had Sasuke and Sakura give him a look of surprise, which prompted Naruto to turn their attention to the field around them. "After he kicked the crap out of them for about half the day, he officially decided to take them on as his apprentices. That's how Tenten got to be where she is today."

Quickly picking at the details of the blonde's story, Sakura then took a concerned step forward. "So… are you saying that Kakashi-sensei is going to make us fight him? Three-on-one? That's just-"

"Actually… I don't think it's going to be that straightforward," Sasuke suddenly cut in, drawing the pair's gaze as the Uchiha looked down at his feet. "Tenten's teacher is a taijutsu master, right? Someone who is headstrong, robust, and perspiring raw power? If that's the case, then it makes sense that someone reflecting those kinds of traits would put his squad through a contest of physical strength and skill. But this Kakashi guy… he's not like that. He seems more like the cold, calculating type of shinobi: someone who is incredibly shrewd and prefers using intelligence and wit over brute force." He then looked across at Naruto seriously. "From the stories I've heard about him, he's supposed to be really scary."

Naruto crossed his arms and lowered his head. "Tenten-chan said something similar about him. Apparently Kakashi-sensei was given two more squads before us… and he failed both of them after they couldn't pass his screening. She said it's because the criteria he set was incredibly strict and that none of the squads were able to live up to his insane expectations." The blonde then looked up at his friends, unable to hide the nervous bead of sweat that appeared on his face. "Honestly, guys… if he's as tough as everyone says he is… then I think we're going to be in for a really long morning."

This was something that neither one of them wanted to think about leading into their final test, let alone talk about. But looking at their current circumstances, it was unavoidable. Both Naruto and Sasuke realized this and, with the high chance of failure looming over the horizon, an overwhelming sense of dread fell over them, prompting the pair to tense up and sulk. They were completely on edge- tapping their feet and fingers respectively as they hastily attempted to figure out a solution to their incredibly big problem. But with so many factors and so many unknowns to take into account, they just didn't know where to start.

"What can we do?" Naruto thought, raking his brain for an answer just as his other teammates were.

While the two boys were mulling things over and coming close to experiencing a nervous breakdown, Sakura, noticing the pair's stress and anxiety growing by the second, was promptly shaken out of her state of unease and back into the world of the living.

At first the kunoichi wanted to freak out like the rest of them. The hopelessness of their situation and the trial to come weighed heavily on her mind, making her chest tighten painfully and her muscles quake. However, when the girl noticed Naruto and Sasuke starting to doubt their abilities to succeed, the two young men who weren't afraid of anything and had pulled through all the hard yards so far, the pinkette knew that if she didn't step up and try something, then their team was going to fail. Since she was a part of their group, she knew she had to do something as well.

She couldn't let the boys carry all the weight by themselves. If she did, then she would never be able to live with herself, nor would she be able to stand alongside the young man that she had a crush on.

In that moment, Sakura's resolve was made. Taking a small step back followed by a deep breath, which helped in calming her overworked mind, she considered their situation from a distance.

After pondering over the details of their instructions, the kunoichi turned to the field behind them and marched into the open clearing. "The test is going to be out here, right?" Sakura asked in a determined voice, surprising the two boys and prompting them to give the pinkette their undivided attention. Receiving no answer, though not really needing it, the adolescent turned back around. "We've got two more hours before sun up. So let's make the most of it and get ourselves ready."

Sasuke blinked as he looked at their confident looking teammate. "You have something in mind?"

"I like solving problems," Sakura informed, a smile turning on her lips as she looked back at the two boys. "Even though this is a practical test, I know that with enough careful planning and calculating, we'll be able to overcome it." She then pointed towards the greenery behind them. "Based on what we already know about our instructor and what we've been able to find out, the test is going to be a purely physical one confined to just one location. And since every single graduating group has been assigned to three-man squads, it's obviously going to be an exam that tests our knowledge and teamwork. So, whatever mission Kakashi-sensei has in store for us, it's going to involve the three of us working together against him."

Hearing what Sakura had to say loud and clear, the switch inside Naruto's head eventually clicked. "He wants to see if we can put aside our egos and cooperate." It made sense. After speaking with the gangs at the warehouse yesterday and hearing from one of them how the instructors completely ignored their individual qualities and only focused on the squad, everything added up.

Sasuke worked this out at the same time, a smirk forming as he turned his attention to Sakura. "Our squad is a mixture of alphas with different levels of talent and skill… so that means he's going to be looking for opportunities to exploit those and force us to work against each other. But we're not going to let that happen." The Uchiha then pointed at himself. "We can start by combining our strengths. I've got long range ninjutsu and a dōjutsu that we can use…"

"And I've got close-combat and physical strength," Naruto added, at the same time looking across at Sakura. "And Sakura-chan has intelligence and strategy on her side... some of the best from our class."

Beaming warmly at the delinquent's support in her, the kunoichi then pointed at her. "I'm also great at setting traps. Since we've got an open field with a tree line surrounding the entire grove, we have plenty of blind spots and resources we can work with." Sakura then walked forward and beckoned the boys over. She then crouched down on the floor and, picking up a stick, began to draw in the patch of dirt that was there. Naruto and Sasuke meanwhile looked on with intent, with the former squatting down to join the girl as she did a rough sketch of their location. "Here's what we're going to do…"

OOO

(Six hours later)

The thing that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura hated about their teacher right at that very moment, it wasn't the fact that he was tough, or hid his face behind a mask, or was giving them an impossible test that, if they failed it, they would be sent back to the academy. No. What they hated about Kakashi the most was that he was making them wait.

The man was ridiculously unpunctual. Even though he'd set the time and place for them to meet and had informed them that it was crucial that they be at the location on the dot, even after an hour has passed since their supposed rendezvous, the guy still wasn't here. And so, with everything all set and ready for the mission to come, and with all three Genin members of Team 7 present and accounted for, they waited.

Once again finding themselves in a position of nothing to do, Naruto and his two friends chose to wait out the dawn in the center of the field, their eyes glued in three different directions as they counted the minutes to their instructor's eventual appearance… which apparently wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. But, being the patient and diligent little students that they were, the trio held back their frustrations and instead opted for calm and relaxing silence.

All their planning was done, and all their positions and steps had been clearly outlined in their heads. So in the event that this test did in fact turn out to be a physical battle between them and their Jonin sensei, they would be able to turn the tables on him and catch him by surprise.

Until then there was nothing else to do but wait.

And of course, because they had so long to wait, the trio even cracked out three sets of bento boxes for breakfast, which Naruto had happily gone out and bought for them prior to their arrival. Since they expected their teacher to be running super late, the trio figured that it would be okay to load up on fuel before their eventual examination. So, going against their leader's instructions, they ate, and boy was it delicious.

By the time the sun has risen to its point at nine o'clock, the three kids were still positioned back to back with one another and at relative attention. While Sakura was sitting on the floor and Sasuke was standing in place with his arms crossed, the pair suddenly became aware of a very strange sound. Looking at one another in confusion when the noise persisted, they then turned to Naruto, where they could see him standing straight up with his hands in his pockets, head down and his eyes closed.

Sakura blinked as she stared at the delinquent, as she quickly realized what must have happened. "Is Naruto-kun… asleep?"

"Maybe." Giving the boy an odd look over, the Uchiha prodigy walked up to the delinquent and looked right at his face. Waving a hand in front of the blonde's eyes and getting no response, Sasuke then snapped his fingers at the kid's ears. He then recoiled when he didn't get a single tell or twitch from his friend. "Shit. He is asleep."

Standing up as well, the pinkette moved around to have a look at the dozing blond for herself. "He's standing up. How is he able to do that?"

"With practice, I guess?" Sasuke murmured, at the same stepping back with his arms folded. "The dobe isn't what you would call a normal person. The kid can probably train all night while taking a power nap." Muscle memory. That probably explained how he was able to sleep right now.

Giggling a little when she heard the blond snore a little louder where he was propped up, an amused Sakura then reached forward and gently shook the Genin by the shoulders. "Hey. Naruto-kun. Wake up. It's daytime."

The swaying eventually helped to kick the blond out of his hibernation state, causing him to look up with a start. "Huh? Wha? What's going on? Is he here yet?" the 'jinchuriki' asked, obviously discombobulated from being woken so suddenly. When he saw Sakura's face floating right in front of his with that innocent look of curiosity in her eyes, the groggy boy blinked back to life. "Oh. Hey, Sakura-chan. 'Sup?"

Realizing that her face was directly in front of the delinquent's, the pinkette's cheeks lit up a bright red and a nervous sweat broke out over her face. Stuttering a little as her eyes took in the cute visage of the whiskered youngster, from the battle scar on the edge of his left eyebrow to the rugged curve of his jaw, the girl promptly spun around and straightened her back.

"N-N-Nothing. Just… making sure you're okay," Sakura squeaked in a somewhat high-pitched voice. "Y-You were asleep."

"Oh. Really? S-Sorry about that," Naruto apologized, extending arms and stretching out his back. "I must have dozed off again."

Sasuke chuckled as he watched the blond flex out his muscles from not moving for the last hour. "We have a big test coming up and somehow you can still find the time to catch a few winks… standing up no less."

"Hey, I was bored and there was nothing else to do. Getting a few minutes of extra shuteye seemed like a really good idea," Naruto replied, giving a big yawn afterwards that earned an amused headshake from the Uchiha, who then turned his attention back to the field. "Man. As short as it was, it was still a good nap."

Of course the pair's little bout of verbal jabs never really got the chance to take off. Just a couple minutes after Naruto was roused from his slumber, the group was soon greeted by the familiar yet hateful sight of their teacher walking up to them from the direction of the field's entrance. Smartly dressed in his standard-issue shinobi uniform, carrying a backpack, and looking as though he'd had both a beautiful night's sleep and a filling breakfast, Kakashi Hatake stopped just a few yards from his team and waved to them cheerfully.

"Morning everyone. Ready for your first day?" the Jonin greeted.

Bags under their eyes and eyes twitching, Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke returned the man's friendly salutation with a well-earned, "You're late, damn it!"

The man then gave a sheepish look as he pointed over his shoulder. "Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way around." His team of youngsters was unconvinced, but before they could really lay into their instructor over his tardiness, Kakashi then made his way over to the three tree stumps nearby. "Well then… *ahem*… let's get started."

Watching him closely, the group of youngsters observed as their leader set his bag down on the floor and pulled a timer out of it. He then set the clock on top of the middle stump and pushed down on the starter. "There. It's set for noon." After making his way back over to his team and standing across from them, a light jingle then filled the air as he then pulled a pair of tiny silver bells from his pocket and dangled them in front of him. "Your assignment for today is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the simplicity of his instructions. "That's it?"

"Wait for it," Naruto and Sasuke whispered to her.

Kakashi then pointed towards the three tree stumps on the edge of the field. "If you can't get them by noon you'll go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts and you'll watch as I eat my lunch in front of you."

"Ah. There it is," the three kids thought at once, with obvious looks of displeasure on their faces. Honestly, they kind of suspected that their teacher had something cheeky in mind when he was setting his test.

"Each of you needs to get one bell," Kakashi informed as he then went about securing the mission's goal to his belt. As soon as they'd been tied, the silver-haired man continued. "There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a post at the end of the day. The person who doesn't take a bell will ultimately be disqualified for failing to complete the mission and get sent straight back to the academy. But then again… all three of you has a high chance of failing… so make sure to do your best. Any questions?" He got three hard stares from the members of the team, which was something he expected as he then slipped a hand into his pocket. "Very well. You can use any and all means to complete the objective- weapons, jutsu, shuriken, hand-to-hand, explosives, etc. Because if you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells and hence will not be fit for active duty as shinobi."

"Oh, we have no problems with that," Naruto said as he then proceeded to stretch his arms and legs in preparation for the fight to come.

"Are you sure about this, sensei?" Sakura asked, as she saw that both her male teammates were ready to go. "Those weapons are incredibly dangerous. Not to mention using jutsu-"

"Oh, don't worry. I'm sure I can handle it," the man chirped, before cracking a smile at the looks of determination that appeared on the trio's faces. "Now that you all understand what's at stake and the parameters given, we can start. On my mark…" He then lifted his hand and, after watching the three kids crouch down into similar starting stances, dropped his arm. "BEGIN!"

He then watched the three break off and vanish into the tree line.

OOO

The test started off smoothly for the members of Team 7, particularly for their instructor Kakashi Hatake, who had opted to remain in the center of the field in order to better monitor his team's progress and performance. He'd given them the chance to put some distance between themselves and him, as he knew that if he'd gone after them he wouldn't be able to give them a complete or fair assessment of their skills. But now that they've hidden, he knew that the fun part was just about to begin.

With the first twenty minutes passing by without a single breath or sound being made, the masked Jonin slipped his hands into his pockets and scanned the forest running around the perimeter of the clearing for any traces of his team.

A smart shinobi was the one that hid himself well. Since all three of them were aware of the mission's ultimate objective, they knew that they had to keep their instructor within sight, but at the same time act smart and conceal their presence. After a lengthy silence and a period of searching, Kakashi nodded his head in approval at what he was able to observe.

"The most basic practice of a shinobi is to be able to conceal their presence. That means taking advantage of their surroundings to blend into their environment and hide effectively," Kakashi recited in his head as he glanced around the area. "Good. They've hidden well."

Overall, the positions that the members of the team had selected were superb, and allowed them to keep an eye on their instructor from a safe distance. Whilst Sasuke had perched himself in a tree on the edge overlooking the clearing, Sakura had managed to conceal herself behind some bushes, with a kunai drawn and resting comfortably in her grip. Both of them were watching the clearing with serious, focused expressions on their faces, and were keeping their teacher squarely in their sights.

Naruto too had also found a good hiding spot in the brush on the far side of the clearing, keeping his body comfortably hidden behind a trunk. He too was locked in a battle ready state and had selected his position based on the strategy he and his team had formed.

Hopefully, if all went well, they would be able to pull this off without a hitch.

"Okay. Kakashi-sensei has taken up position in the middle of the field," Sakura thought as she continued to scan the area around the Jonin. Quickly doing the math in her head and ticking off boxes on her checklist, the girl nodded affirmatively. "If we can somehow get him to move to the right for about ten more feet, we should be able to get him." That was where their first trap had been laid out- ready and waiting. However…

"The only problem is that we have no idea what the guy's really capable of," Sasuke muttered, a bead of sweat running down the side of his head as his fingers twitched a little. "We don't know how he fights, how fast he moves, how strong he is, or what the hell kind of techniques he has up his sleeve." Heck, maybe he already knew where they were hiding but was taking it easy on them to give them a fair chance. Of course this did present another problem for the group. "I sure hope Naruto has it in him to go the mile…"

Over on his edge of the field closest to the lake, the jinchuriki in question narrowed his eyes on the Jonin's spot and checked his surroundings. "He's standing out in the open, with a perfect three hundred and sixty degree view of the area. With the way he's turning his back to the trees, he's just waiting for us to make the first move." Clenching his fist tightly as he saw the scarecrow of a man do another turn a few seconds later, the blond then took a steady breath. "When Sakura-chan gives the signal, I'm going to have to move quickly."

And the best way to do that was with as little weight as possible. So, factoring in his chances of success with his chances of failure, the blond pulled back his sleeve and unclipped the weight band on his right arm.

After another half an hour had passed with the clock still ticking atop the center post, Kakashi, still holding his station in the middle of the clearing, casually slipped a hand into his pocket and looked over his shoulder. Concern gradually swept through him, not out of any sense for his own safety and wellbeing, but because neither one of his students had decided to show themselves or make any attempts to try and go for the bells.

"Hmm… one of them should've tried something by now," Kakashi thought as while drumming a finger against his leg. "They know they're on a time limit… not to mention what will happen to them if they fail." A weary sigh then passed through his mask as after a couple more minutes of waiting, the Jonin then opted for a change of tactics. "Very well… if they won't make the first move… then I'll just give them a reason to…" He then reached into his pouch and rummaged about inside of it for a few seconds.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura then braced themselves, thinking that the man was reaching for a weapon of some kind. They then nearly face-faulted to the floor when they saw their teacher pull an orange book out of his carrier and flip it open, with the title clearly reading Icha Icha Paradise.

"What in the world?" Naruto thought when he saw the man casually flick through the pages.

"Now… let's see…" Kakashi mumbled to himself happily as he landed on the section he had doggy-eared. "Ah yes. Here we go. Chapter three…"

"He can't be serious?" Sasuke muttered in his head as he gave the man a deadpanned look. "He's supposed to be giving us a test and he's cracking out a book? Is he that confident that he can take on all of us without even trying?"

Eye twitching, Sakura then took a deep breath and, reaching back into her pouch, drew a handful more shuriken. Her eyes fully locked onto their target, the girl then nodded. "Well… if there was ever going to be an opening… that's it!" Clenching the weapons between her fingers intently, the girl then steadied herself before, with a grunt, she darted out from behind cover. "NOW!" She then hocked the shuriken and kunai across the field, watching them sail over the area at speed before ducking back behind another tree.

The weapons curved through the air at random angles, before converging on their target from the side. But just before they could come into contact with Kakashi, the seemingly unfocused Jonin swiped his hand through the air, caught the kunai, before promptly deflecting all of the shuriken trailing after it, all without looking. Sakura's eyes widened in disbelief when she saw this, her heartbeat then quickening when she saw their instructor's gaze snap to the tree line where she was concealed.

"Bingo," Kakashi thought, snapping his book closed and preparing to give chase. "I knew one of them would slip up eventually-" However, just as he was in the process of turning, a shadow out of the corner of his eye caused his head to whip back around. He then recoiled in shock when all he saw flying towards him was the point of somebody's knee. "WHOA!" The man then swung his arm up to block, before a deafening 'crack' rang out as what felt like a cannon ball slammed into his limb.

"Kūken: Oyasumi Hiza!" (Void Fist: Goodnight Knee) Naruto bellowed as he drove his attack into his target as hard as he could, before watching Kakashi fly off his feet.

Dropping back to the floor promptly, the Jonin skidded to a stop several moments later, arms still raised in a block and eye now locked onto his second attacker. When he saw Naruto touch down as well, the silver-haired male smiled. "Well, well… it took you guys long enough to break the silence."

Naruto smirked, "Just waiting for the right moment to strike, dattebayo. You weren't really giving us many chances."

"I assume that was Sakura who threw the shuriken from the undergrowth," Kakashi said, at the same time giving the boy an inquisitive look. "Were you waiting for one of the others to attack so that you could make your own move?"

"Yep," the blond replied, retaking his stance with his left arm dropped and his right hand held protectively at his face, as he took on a very cross-armed sort of stance. "I needed you to be distracted enough before I could even try going in for an attack… and it looks like it worked."

At this remark the older shinobi gave a lighthearted laugh before straightening up, at the same time slipping his book back into the pouch behind him. "I have to say, I'm impressed by your intuition. Taking advantage of an opponent's momentary lapse in focus to launch an attack is certainly a tactic worthy of praise." After fastening his holder, Kakashi then gave Naruto a more serious look. "But… I'm afraid it's going to take a lot more than one hit to beat someone of my level."

Naruto smiled back in response. "I know. That's why I'm going to try and get about a hundred hits in."

As the pair faced off with one another in the middle of the field, a now more alert Kakashi glanced down at his left arm, which he'd used to block the blonde's hit. He then gave a bit of a wince when he felt pins and needles run up and down his extremity, which told him everything he needed to know about the boy that'd came at him. "Damn. I wasn't paying attention and he managed to get me clean in the arm. Even though I was able to block it, that jumping knee that he threw was no joke." Had he actually hit him in the head or center mass, he could've easily knocked him out… or worse. After flexing his fingers to wear out the numbness, the Jonin once again glanced back up at the battle ready Naruto. "This kid… he's something else."

On the other end of the spectrum, the blond delinquent was currently doing his own assessment of his target. "This guy was able to block the full force of my Goodnight Knee," Naruto thought, breaking down what he was able to witness from their split-second exchange. "He didn't absorb it. He deflected it by pushing my knee to the side at the last second to put me off target." Even when caught completely by surprise, the Jonin was able to react to defend himself.

He was sharp.

After holding his position for about a minute, sizing up his foe and measuring the distance between them, Naruto then spared a brief glance to another part of the clearing. Upon which he then widened his stance, took a deep breath, and kicked off the ground. What happened next was Kakashi recoiling in surprise when he saw the young Genin transform into an orange blur, which sprinted around him in a wide arc and reappeared deep inside his range on his left side.

In the blink of an eye, the blond had managed to close the distance between them.

"He's fast!" Kakashi blinked in alarm, leaning back sharply to dodge the blonde's back fist. He was then forced to throw his left arm up to block the jumping spinning back-kick that he followed up with, which ended up slamming into the man's arm and bouncing his forearm off of his head when he underestimated how strong it was. "Ngh! And strong." Feeling the force of a mule's kick powering into his guard, the Jonin quickly parried the leg away, before blocking and dodging the flurry of attacks that immediately came after him.

Using quick hand and body movements, the taller shinobi started backpedaling across the field as Naruto lashed out at him with a string of random punches and kicks, all of which he fired off at him at an unrelenting pace. Hopping back a little further to dodge a low kick to the leg, Kakashi then had to block high when the youngster leapt at him with a flying right cross- the Jonin using two hands to absorb the force of the hit when it threatened to smash into his face.

"His physical strength is unreal," Kakashi thought, expression tense as he struggled a bit to hold back the power of the kid's blow. "Just how much time did he spend training to get this strong?" In terms of taijutsu, he is just as good as Gai was at that age, maybe even better. But his strength was on an entirely different level.

While Sasuke watched carefully from his position in the trees as the blond danced and rushed around his taller opponent in a barely visible shimmer, Sakura, after also looking on in amazement, then moved the kunai she was holding over to a rope that she had attached to a stake next to her. This trigger was also connected to another mechanism, which she had hidden in the ground.

Limb trembling as she held her position, the anxious kunoichi gritted her teeth as she watched her teammate attempt to herd Kakashi towards the area nearby, but was finding it very difficult due to how the man was currently avoiding his assault.

"Come on, Naruto-kun. Get him to move towards the stumps," Sakura thought.

As for Naruto, he thought he was doing pretty well. Right now he was chasing down Kakashi with pretty much everything he had, jumping and lashing out at the man as fast as his body would allow him. Every one of his punches and kicks were trained and targeted, aiming for every vital spot on the man's body to keep him on his toes, while at the same time mixing in low and high shots to keep the adult from retaliating. From a distance, Naruto's form would blur out every time he changed directions and rushed in, while his attacks caused dust to billow around them.

So far his strategy was working.

Kakashi, struggling somewhat to find an opening in Naruto's combos to catch and counter him, then attempted to step in with hook. When he threw it, he watched the blond duck under and dart to his far left, below his field of vision, forcing the older shinobi to crane his head to keep him in the corner of his eye.

"He keeps going for my left," the Jonin thought, watching the blonde's form blur out as he jumped at him. Instinctively dodging a spin kick to the head from the deft youngster, Kakashi then jumped away and attempted to put some more distance between them. But no matter where he moved or how he evaded, Naruto just followed, charging after him at full pelt before once again diving to his right. "He's deliberately targeting my blind spot where my headband is covering my eye. Clever." The man then checked a kick and the right elbow that followed, catching it with his guard. "He really is a natural hand-to-hand fighter."

Going after the Jonin with a barrage of straights, Naruto then sprung into the air again and, performing a very acrobatic spin, thrust his leg out at Kakashi's head in a swift side kick. When his foot thumped against the forearm that appeared, he then saw the Jonin swiftly grab his ankle and trap him. But just when it seemed like he was about to get caught, the blond suddenly threw himself on top of Kakashi's upper body; wrapping his free leg around the man's back, snapping his right arm around the adult's head, and thrusting his left elbow down towards Kakashi's skull in a downward elbow.

The Jonin reacted in alarm at having the blond grab him and threw up his remaining free arm to block the string of vicious elbows Naruto began hammering into his cranium. Catching a few in the hairline, the man grunted in pain as he attempted to fend off the ferocious animal that was the young delinquent. "His attacks just keep coming. I can't even lock him up." Managing to work his other arm out from under the boy's leg, Kakashi then caught the blonde's elbowing arm. However, his releasing of Naruto's foot meant Naruto was able to cartwheel in his grip and drop a knee into his head, forcing Kakashi to block high with both arms across.

This turned out to be the Jonin's big mistake, as it left his midsection completely exposed, including the bells hanging around his waist. It was exactly what Naruto was intending as he thrust his hand out to grab them. This unexpected maneuver caused Kakashi's lone eye to widen.

"Shit!" Using quick reflexes, Kakashi released the blonde and leapt back as fast as he could, watching the kid cartwheel out of the air after his fingers barely grazed the two bells. Clapping a hand over the jingling metal trinkets to make sure they were still there, the Jonin skidded to a stop several yards away, a bead of sweat running down the side of his face. Though his hair was messy from deflecting the close-range pummeling, the man was still unharmed. "He's fierce… he didn't even give me time to breathe."

As it turns out he didn't have time now either. The moment Naruto looked up and grinned, the Jonin suddenly felt it.

"Gotcha!" Sakura thought, cutting the rope next to her with a loud 'snap'.

The instant she did, the ground beneath Kakashi and for about thirty yards in all directions caved in. Imploded. Vanished. Dropping the Jonin into a pit ten meters deep with a thousand stakes lying beneath it. Naruto, knowing the floor would give way, managed to backflip away and land safely on the edge of their specially made crevice, whereas his silver-haired adversary, caught right in the middle of the trap, gave a yelp of terror as he was sent plummeting into the pit along with several rocks and branches. For one nerve rattling second, the members of Team 7 thought that they were about to watch their elite instructor make a miraculous escape attempt.

A cloud of dust shot into the air from their trap going off, covering the area and, for a brief few seconds, blocked everyone's view of the scene. But then, just when things seemed to be going exactly as planned, a loud series of snaps and the sickening sound of flesh being punctured suddenly echoed from the bottom of the hole, closely followed by silence.

Naruto and Sasuke, being the only ones elevated enough to be able to witness the whole thing, gaped in horror when, after watching the smoke dissipate over the hole, they saw their instructor's body had landed on a dozen spikes, back first, with the wooden stakes running right through him.

For all intents and purposes, the man now resembled the goriest hedgehog you'd ever seen.

"Shit," the Uchiha choked out. "Did the net we set up break? What the heck happened?" Obviously they didn't want their target to fall completely into the hole, so they set up a bunch of ropes to snare him before he could even hit the stakes.

But judging from what'd just transpired, it looked like the secondary mechanism had failed. But how?

"Uhh…" Naruto gulped as he looked over the side of the small canyon and to the bottom, where they saw the perpetually stunned Kakashi's dead eye staring back up at him, his body limp and propped up on the wooden spikes impaling his body. "I think… we just killed our teacher…"

"Not quite."

Eyes still locked on the body, the blond delinquent at the top of the hole suddenly balked when he saw 'Kakashi' go up in a puff of smoke, becoming replaced by a straw man covered in shinobi clothes. Realizing that the body had in fact just been a delayed Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique), Naruto then spun around when a shadow darted past him. A split second later the boy felt his arm seized and his legs kicked out from under him, before he was slammed chest first into the ground.

The next thing he knew was his face being pushed into the grass by a still astonishingly alive Kakashi Hatake, who was now kneeling on top of the youngster with his hand keeping his arm locked behind him.

"But it was a good effort though," the Jonin chirped, having to push down quite hard as Naruto desperately fought against him, attempting to break free. But with the way Kakashi was now holding him and keeping his center of gravity down, all the blond could do was writhe uselessly, his feet scraping across the floor behind them.

"D-Damn it," Naruto cursed under his breath, unable to muster his strength or flexibility to break free. "He got me." The man had him trapped good and practically at his mercy.

As he continued to feel the gutsy Genin fight against him, the completely calm and unharmed Kakashi spoke. "Your taijutsu is superb, Naruto-kun… probably the best I've ever seen in a Genin. But if that's all you are able to do against me, you're at a major disadvantage," he informed, applying a bit more pressure to the youngster's arm to keep him down. Even though he had a good hold of him, the child was still incredibly strong. It was like he was trying to hold down a horse. "Without knowing any other ninjutsu except the ones taught to you at the academy, I'm afraid you don't have a hope of beating me."

Naruto strained weakly, looking up at his teacher from his pitiful position in the dirt. The moment his eyes landed on his instructor and he saw the man staring down at him seriously, a sly grinned then crossed the delinquent's lips.

"Who says I don't know any ninjutsu?"

In that moment, Kakashi's eye widened, a split second before a shadow suddenly flew out from behind the man and clocked him in the side of the head by a jumping roundhouse kick. The blow to his blind spot landed with a loud clang as the Jonin was literally thrown across the field and off of the hapless Naruto, freeing him from his hold. That's what it looked like at least.

However, contrary to what everyone thought, the older shinobi was able to bend away at the last moment to absorb the force of the kick, thereby negating some of its power. The rest of the blow reverberated against Kakashi's headband, while the man threw his body back as best as he could to avoid the followthrough.

Managing to perform a corrective backflip and land several feet away from the Genin, the dazed Jonin then looked up with a start where, much to everyone's surprise, they saw two Narutos now standing there and grinning at him. "What the…?"

"I-Is that…" Sakura whispered, rubbing her eyes a couple of times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Nope. She wasn't. Standing next to the previously trapped Naruto and looking raring to go was, in fact, another Naruto. A perfect doppelganger, sharing the exact same physical traits, characteristics, and appearance as the original. Hell, he had the exact same grin and battle scar as well.

At first neither Sakura nor Sasuke had any idea what was going on. That was until Kakashi quickly worked out what the boy had done.

"The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu?" (Shadow Clone Technique) the Jonin murmured, taking a moment to process what he was witnessing before allowing a frown to cross his lips. "No way. His school records showed that he couldn't perform any advanced techniques outside of taijutsu." Heck, he couldn't even perform the basic Bunshin no Jutsu successfully at his final exam. So how was this even possible?

While Kakashi was trying to figure this out, one of the two smiling Naruto doppelgangers reached for the cylindrical holster hanging from his back. "On the night we took down Mizuki, I had a bit of extra time to take a closer look at that giant scroll he stole from the Hokage and found this technique. After reading about what it was, I tried practicing it for the last two nights in secret and… well… as you can see…" Cracking the canister open, he then flung out a folded up staff, which he quickly snapped to full length and held it out for the copy to take, which he did. "It's turning out to be quite a cool jutsu!" With a loud yell, he then picked up his doppelganger friend and, performing a big spin, flung him towards Kakashi like a missile.

Telegraphing the blonde's approach, the Jonin chose wisely to dodge and sprang to the side as fast as he could. The moment the clone went sailing past, Kakashi then attempted to lock back onto the original, only to jump back again when a set of shuriken came arcing past him.

When the Jonin's eyes snapped towards the tree line of the forest, he caught a glimpse of a distantly observing Sasuke, perched up on one of the branches with his hand extended. Immediately after spotting him, Kakashi then had to change directions against when two more Narutos came running at him, with wooden staffs spinning between their hands as they came lashing out at the Jonin.

Blocking their attacks, Kakashi then cartwheeled over them and swiftly kicked one of the boys in the back, knocking him into his counterpart and taking them out in two, simultaneous puffs of white smoke.

"Okay. This is starting to get very difficult," a noticeably sweating Kakashi thought when he touched down a second later and had to duck to avoid the swing of the original Naruto coming at him from his blind spot. When the blond leapt into the air and swung back at his target with a spinning back kick, the Jonin blocked and promptly leapt away. "So not only do I have to worry about the one that's attacking me, I also have to worry about the other two taking pot shots at me from the shadows." Deftly avoiding and springing away from the delinquent when he struck out at him with powerful swings of his staff, the instructor then stopped a few yards away and glanced at his feet to make sure he wasn't standing over another pothole. "I also have to keep an extra eye out for any more traps-"

Sakura meanwhile, still keeping herself concealed in the woods, smiled mischievously as she used her knife to cut yet another rope, which promptly vanished into the ground.

As Kakashi was keeping his attention fixed on Naruto, who was currently standing just a few feet in front of him with his staff drawn, the man then became aware of a low creaking sound behind him. When the noise grew louder, he then noticed the area around him darken and looked over his shoulder, where he suddenly found the lone, tall tree standing nearest to the lake toppling towards him.

Taking immediate action, the alarmed Jonin leapt into the air, dodging the tree as it came crashing to the floor and almost flattening him under its canopy.

"These kids are coming after me non-stop," Kakashi thought in amazement after springing high into the air and beginning his descent. "Exactly how many of these things did they manage to lay out?"

Before he could answer that question, Sasuke, having positioned himself high in the tree line, flew through hand seals, before then inhaling sharply. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) He then took aim and unleashed a torrent of fire from his lips, which expanded into a spinning ball of flames that then rocketed towards the airborne Kakashi.

Spotting the attack flying at him from the trees, the falling Kakashi couldn't help but balk at the size of the blast now coming at him. As he was in the air, he couldn't do anything to move, block or speed up his fall to avoid the attack, and for a moment it looked like he was doomed.

But once again keeping his wits about him, the Jonin pulled out a length of chain from his pouch and, with a quick spin of the counterweight, flung it towards the three stumps on the edge of the field and wrapped it around the left one. With a firm tug, he then yanked himself out of the sky and towards the obstacles, allowing him to dodge the twisting sphere of flames that shot past and barely grazed his foot.

"Woo. That was a close one," Kakashi whispered as he touched safely down on the ground and slid to a stop. However, just as he was once again regaining his bearings, a rustle from the bushes behind forced the man to refocus his attention on the forest, where he then saw Sakura come lunging out at him with a kunai.

With a yell, the girl struck, only to watch the man step back and avoid her strike, before promptly kicking her square in the stomach and knocking her away. Her knife flying out of her grip, the girl then crashed into the grass with a loud thud and a pained yelp, looking up through squinted eyes to see the Jonin lower his foot and begin walking towards her. Her knife landed on the floor right beside him.

"I'm guessing you guys are finally out of tricks," Kakashi said in his usual, straightforward tone. But just before he could move any closer to the girl, he caught a glimpse of a mischievous smile on her face, prompting his gaze to snap to the knife sticking in the ground next to him. "Oh, shoot" He saw the handle around the kunai spark, which instantly compelled him to jump away as quickly as he could. Sakura meanwhile curled up on the ground and cupped her ears.

A bright flash and a deafening bang then filled the area as the knife detonated, revealing an explosive tag had been wrapped around its handle. The blast of flames easily punched a small hole into the ground where it'd been set off, damaging everything that was caught within its radius. Unfortunately Kakashi wasn't one of them, as he'd managed to spring away just in time to dodge the cloud of debris.

"Okay. Not bad," the man sighed as he kept a stance, his one eye glancing from left to right. He now braced himself for the next attack, as he knew these kids were now out to get him. "Who's next?" His answer came not long afterwards when, also diving down at him from his blind spot, Sasuke came lunging at him with a kick.

The Uchiha let out a yell as he swung his leg out and attempted to hit the man in the head. Quick as ever however, Kakashi managed to bring his arm up and block the attack, which cracked against his limb loudly. He then promptly grabbed the kid's ankle, preparing to throw him. But Sasuke wasn't done, as indicated by his hands being fixed in a hand seal.

"Surprise!" Spinning downwards, the raven haired youngster put his fingers to his lips and, cheeks puffing up, he fired. "Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Technique) A small ball of flames then shot out from his lips and slammed into Kakashi's chest, along with a couple more attacks, which exploded against the Jonin and sent him stumbling away.

Trailing flames and smoke, a now slight charred Kakashi emerged from the fumes with a wounded look on his face. Just as he saw Sasuke drop safely to the ground, his eye then snapped around to see Sakura once again rushing at him from nearby, but this time she had something else in hand.

"GET HIM, AIJO!" the pinkette shouted, chucking what looked like a long blue scarf at the Jonin. In that moment, the length of material unexpectedly came to life midflight and, fanning out and picking up speed, flew right into Kakashi's face.

The surprised shinobi only had enough time to yelp when the scarf suddenly wrapped around his entire face, the rest of its body whipping around his neck and beginning to tighten like a snake. Gasping for air as he was promptly smothered by the living shawl, the silver haired shinobi began clawing and pulling at the length of material constricting his head. With his eyes blocked out, he also couldn't see where he was, and started to lose balance.

The attacking members of Team 7 took this as their chance.

"NOW, SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto shouted, the boy flying at Kakashi from behind and slamming his feet into the stricken man's back. "ORAAA!" The force of his impact caused a loud 'thud' to echo across the field, at the same time the pink haired kunoichi tackled the Jonin's legs from the front, knocking the man into a violent tumble and slamming him into the ground. As a result the delinquent blond wound up on top of their larger opponent, pinning him to the ground with the man's arm in his grip, while Sakura had her entire body wrapped around Kakashi's left leg, locking him down and preventing him from kicking.

And just like that, it was over.

Panting and sweating profusely just as much as Naruto was, the adrenaline fueled Sakura then gave an affirmative nod and a triumphant smile. "Mission accomplished!"

As Sasuke quickly ran over to the group and stopped alongside them, the blond delinquent perched on top of the motionless warrior instructed his scarf-familiar to unwrap from around Kakashi's head and quickly return to its owner. Naruto then gave a bright grin when the length of cotton wool folded comfortably around his neck, allowing him to catch a glimpse of their somewhat surprised opponent. "It looks like we beat your test, Kakashi-sensei. Not bad for a bunch of academy students, huh?"

"We figured you would try to get us to work against each other and play by your rules. Since you failed several other teams before us, we assumed you were going to try something to test our dynamics and relationships… and not just our skills," Sasuke said from where he was standing, drawing the Jonin's gaze towards him. "So we spent the last few hours of this morning talking and coming up with a plan to take you down."

"The three of us had this whole field loaded with traps, and came up with a few different scenarios to follow in case the first one didn't pan out. When the first plan failed after you broke our net, fell into the hole, and used a replacement technique to make us think we'd actually killed you, we then had to go with route two," Sakura informed, keeping her arms locked around the man's ankle when she felt him try to move. "And by keeping your focus on Naruto-kun the entire time, it made it much harder for you to predict our next moves."

"And now it looks like the one getting tied up today is you," Naruto concluded, wiping his nose with his thumb while throwing a grin down at their trapped instructor. "How do you like that?"

As the still calm Jonin looked between the three smiling kids and listened to their plan, Kakashi at first didn't say anything. But then, just when it seemed like he was at a loss for words, he smiled through his mask. "I have to admit… I never expected you three to actually come together to take me down… and you did it so well. If this had been an actual, real world mission, I have no doubt that you guys would've done amazing." Upon seeing the smiles on their faces, the silver-haired man then frowned. "However…"

That was the only word he was able to speak before his whole body vanished in a puff of smoke, dropping Naruto and Sakura to the ground, while all three members of Team 7 balked in shock.

The blond delinquent crouched to the floor as he looked around in alarm. "A replacement? No. A shadow clone!" His eyes then snapped to another part of the field. "He can use that jutsu too?"

Sharingan spinning into view, Sasuke spun around and glared across the field, his jaw clenched and sweat dripping down the side of his face. "He's a Jonin, so it doesn't surprise me that he knows how to use that technique." Eyes scanning their surroundings for any signs of their instructor, the Uchiha cursed under his breath. "Shit. This is not good."

Sakura, after realizing that their target was now gone, quickly scrambled to her feet and drew a kunai. "He was playing us this whole time! Naruto-kun?"

"Quick! Back to back!" Naruto shouted, spinning his staff in front of him before turning around, where he, Sasuke and Sakura then set their backs against each other. Eyes now facing in three different directions, the blond then took a defensive stance with his weapon pointed forward and ready to counter whatever came at them next. "Damn it. What now?"

"As far as I'm concerned, the three of you still have so much more to learn," the voice of their sensei suddenly echoed around the field, causing the trio to freeze up. "Rule number two of being a shinobi; assumption is the mother of all screw ups. You have yet to complete your primary objective… and have just spent the last twenty minutes fighting a decoy. Now that I've forced you to show your hand, I can finally go about finishing this assessment." A cold sweat then appeared on their faces and their skin became clammy when a crushing presence suddenly fell over them, choking the area and causing the sky to darken. "Your plan failed before it even began."

The man's voice was filled with cold malice, which was only topped by the unmistakable feel of impending death falling over the clearing. It sure as hell scared the shit out of Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, all of whom were now desperately trying to figure out where their instructor's voice was coming from.

"Sasuke? C-Can you see him?" Sakura whispered over her shoulder.

"No. I can't," the Uchiha hissed back, his red eyes piercing the tree line and undergrowth for just the slightest sliver of their opponent. "He's masking his chakra signature somehow."

"I can't get a bead on him either," Naruto also spoke, extending all his senses over the area. When he couldn't track the man by sight, he then attempted to follow him through the killing intent he was exuding. But it was no use. "He's throwing and spacing out his voice so that we can't trace it back to him."

"So what do we do now?" Sakura asked, now at a complete loss as to what they can do.

For the next several seconds the trio remained in silence, searching their surroundings and keeping all eyes wide open. It was during that time Sasuke began eliminating possibilities as to where their opponent was concealing himself, with the youngster crossing each area off one by one.

"Trees? Bushes? Lake? Field?" Sharingan darting left and right, the boy then looked up. "Front? Sides? Behind? Above?" When he finally reached the bottom, Sasuke then recoiled and his gaze shot down. "No! Bel-!" Unfortunately, he was unable to finish his exclamation, as a pair of hands suddenly shot out of the ground, grabbed his ankles, and yanked him into the floor. All the Uchiha could do was scream as he was pulled in.

Naruto's eyes snapped over his shoulder to the cloud of dust hanging in the air, "Sasuk-GAAAAAH!" Before he was also pulled into the floor by the same pair of hands. The sound of Sakura's high-pitched squeak followed a split second later, as the kunoichi also feel victim to the same trap.

When the cloud of fumes settled moments later, it revealed all three kids, still in their triangle formation, buried all the way up to their necks in the ground. Completely bewildered and caught off guard by what'd just happened, the trio began struggling to try and get out, but found themselves unable to budge as the compacted earth was restraining their limbs and preventing them from moving. Even with Naruto's terrifying strength, he couldn't move, which came as a bit of conundrum for him.

"Ugh. What is this?!" the blond growled, unable to move his fingers or his shoulders, despite the latter being closest to the surface.

A light jingle from overhead then drew Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura's gazes upwards, where they quickly spotted their cheeky instructor squatting down in front of them with a smile underneath his mask. "That would be Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique). A useful technique that is ideal for trapping, torturing, and executing enemies from a grounded position. And now all three of you are stuck." After chuckling at the growls both Naruto and Sasuke threw at him, the silver-haired man then stood up and slipped his hands into his pockets. "As interesting a performance as this was… I think it's time I finished you all off. Starting with you." He said this while glaring down at Sakura, who froze up when she felt his ire fall over her.

"Hey! If you want to pick on someone, pick on me first!" Naruto barked, fighting against the earth and attempting to get out. But as hard as he tried, he still couldn't budge. "You leave her and Sasuke alone!"

"Oh? And why should I?" Kakashi asked, turning his attention to the blond before then deciding to speak to all of them at once. When he did, he began bombarding them with a menacing wave of outrage and disapproval. "Before this test had even started, all three of you broke every single rule and ignored every instruction I'd set out for you. You cheated by asking a senior colleague about previous examinations to find an easier way to pass, arrived at the training zone before the designated meeting time in order to adjust the layout of the testing area in your favor, ate a full breakfast when I specifically asked the three of you not to, completely ignored the initial objective of acquiring the two bells in favor of working together, and stuck your necks out for the other members of your team when there was absolutely no reason for you to do so! It was completely unacceptable and violates every single code a shinobi is expected to live by!" His reading out their errors caused the three kids' heads to lower in shame, as it was clear the man was not happy with how things had played out. "And for that, I only have one thing to say to you three."

When the man leant forward, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all expected the Jonin to fail them right then and there. They shut their eyes, fearing for what was to come as sweat continued to pour down their pale faces. With the way he had them now, buried, defenseless, and completely at his mercy, the three wouldn't be surprised if he decided to do away with them and assassinate them on the spot. He was well within his right too anyway, considering it was their main profession to be killers.

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi waited for a moment and allowed the realization of their fates to settle in. That was until a cheerful smile then appeared through the lens of his one visible eye, which closed in a delighted manner.

"You pass."

Blank looks then came upon the team's faces, with Naruto and the other two staring up at the man in confusion. Of course, with the way they were currently buried, it made the scene all the more hilarious.

"Uhh… what?" Sakura murmured.

Kakashi chuckled at the trio's expressions. "You… pass. That's it. The test is over… and I've concluded that you guys completed it with flying colors." Straightening up, the man kept that bright look on his face as he then went about looking the youngsters over one by one. "Simply put, you three are the first."

Sasuke blinked. "First for what?"

"What I mean is that you guys are the first team I've ever tested who were able to set aside your personal interests and work together to complete a task that would've otherwise been impossible for you to complete on your own," Kakashi informed, beginning to pace around them as he went about assessing their performance. "The other groups did exactly what I told them and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. But you three… not only were you able to cooperate with one another and combine your strengths into a solid plan to engage me, you also went out of your way to exploit every avenue you could in order to finish with the best results." He then stopped and looked down at Sakura, whom he could see was still in a bit of a daze. "Even though your plans fell through, the three of you still went the distance… and put on a performance only the most seasoned Genin teams could ever pull off."

The man then looked across the field and towards the kunai-shaped stone at the edge of the area. When the three kids followed his gaze, they heard him continue to speak, this time with a far more down to earth voice.

"Sure, individual strength and ability is important for a shinobi. But what's more important than that is teamwork. It is an important concept that is deeply rooted in our village's everyday practices and is one of the many foundations that the world of shinobi is built upon. Ninjas are required to look and think beyond the norm, to see through deception, and to look underneath the underneath," Kakashi informed, before quickly turning back to the group with his unwavering expression. "It is also said that in the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum. That is true. But you know what?" The man broke out a soft and honest smile. "Those who don't take care of their comrades and abandon their friends… are even worse than scum."

And in that moment, everything seemed to turn for the better. The shadow cast by the clouds vanished as the white veil was dispersed, the temperature rose just a little higher, and the birds that had once been quiet during the great battle, once again started to sing. The scene quickly became one of peace and serenity, with the buried members of Team 7 gazing up at their instructor with renewed senses of warmth, confidence, and awe.

While Sasuke cracked a smile and Sakura closed her eyes with glee, Naruto couldn't help but let an admiring look fill his gaze, which shimmered at the look of pride Kakashi was giving them.

"He is so cool," Naruto whispered, earning a nod of agreement from his fellow Genin.

Once all that was said and done, and Kakashi had finished speaking his mind, he then gazed down at his team and gave them all a thumbs-up. "Training for today is complete. Everybody passes. Team 7 will start its first real mission tomorrow." When he heard Naruto and Sakura cheer, whereas Sasuke just kept smiling to himself, the Jonin then turned heel and waved. "Have a good night's rest and meet me here tomorrow at 7 o'clock sharp by the stumps. Great work you guys." He then proceeded to walk away.

As Kakashi started to leave, the three smiling and cheerful kids then suddenly became aware of a rather glaring problem, and quickly perked up in alarm.

"H-Hey! Sensei!" Sakura shrieked, causing the man to stop and turn back around. "Aren't you forgetting something?!"

Blinking as he stared at the kids, Kakashi then realized that the three of them were still buried and, considering their position for a moment, then gave a laugh. "Oh. Of course. Silly me." When it seemed like he was about to head back over to dig them out, the man then raised a finger and spoke. "Since I'm now officially recognizing you as my students and have taken up the mantel as your teacher, my first instruction to the three of you is to try and find a way to dig yourselves out." When he saw all three kids gape at him, the Jonin propped his hands on his hips. "Consider it a secondary training exercise to cap off today's assessment. I'll give you all till tomorrow morning."

"Huh? Wha… do… but…?" Naruto stuttered for a moment before a rather pissed off look appeared on his face. "Y-You can't be serious?"

"You're not seriously just going to leave us out here to rot, are you?!" Sakura shouted in disbelief.

"No. Of course not," Kakashi replied cheerfully, walking back over to his head-hunted youngsters and stopping beside the trio. "Starve. Maybe. But rot? No way. This is a public training area used by multiple teams and shinobi across village. That being said, I'm positive that if you aren't able to pull yourselves out by this evening, someone will eventually come along to help you." When he saw the three kids begin thrashing their heads about and shout various profanities at him that were better off left censored, the amused Jonin then reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of slips of paper. "Now, now. There's no need to get upset. Save that energy for the next several hours of digging you're going to do. Speaking of which…" He then walked a lap around the youngsters and popped a set of chopsticks between each of their lips. "Your tools for the expedition." Once he'd done that, he turned around and walked away. "You can start whenever."

"Hey! HEY! HEEEEEEY!" Naruto screamed, inadvertently dropping one of his chopsticks as he tried craning his head to see where the man was walking. "Come on, Kakashi-sensei! You can't just leave us like this! HEY! You ju-" When he realized the man was gone, the blonde's head dropped in defeat.

"Shit…" Sasuke mumbled.

For the next minute the three kids just lay there (or stood there, they couldn't really tell). But after a long period of awkward silence and looking at one another with irritated glints in their eyes, a frustrated Sasuke signed in resignation and started to brush away at the dirt with the chopsticks in his mouth. When they saw the Uchiha begin his endeavor, the mortified Sakura and Naruto sucked it up and started too. With expert use of his tongue, the whiskered delinquent managed to pick up the other cutlery he'd dropped and, with determination burning in his eyes, started flicking away at the ground.

"This... freakin'... sucks..." Naruto grunted between head turns as he started pushing sand away one tiny clump at a time. "I'll be out of here in less than an hour!"

Kakashi meanwhile, having collected his bag on his way out of the field, had started towards the gate on the edge of the property. Upon hitting the dirt path and passing by the zone's forest, the man stopped when he heard a person clearing their throat from behind a tree and, looking to his left, he saw the distinct form of Mikoto Uchiha leaning against the trunk with her arms crossed.

Dressed in her regular ANBU gear and Hokage robe, the smiling woman glanced across at the Jonin and beamed. "So… how did they do?"

Giving the woman his due respect, the silver-haired instructor responded confidently. "Well… they defeated my shadow clone and ruined most of the training ground by transforming it into a funhouse of certain death. If you want my honest opinion…" He then gave the woman his signature eye-smile and chuckled. "When they grow up… those three are going to become the most dangerous ninja in the world."

Blinking at this report then led to Mikoto breaking out a smile and looking back towards the field, where she knew the three youngsters were digging. Though she wasn't too surprised at the news, considering she'd watched the whole thing from a distance- and would also be keeping an eye on them to make sure they got out of their little predicament- she still couldn't help but feel a sense of overwhelming delight and self-assurance overcome her.

"That's exactly what I wanted to here."

And she meant it too.

TO BE CONTINUED…

---

Omake – Later that evening

"Ahhh… God damn it!" Naruto cried out, his face covered in dirt as he gazed up at the slowly darkening sky above him. "This is horseshit! Why the hell are we still doing this?!" Panting a little as he let the chopsticks in his lips drop to the ground, he then craned his head and looked at the others. "How are things on your end, Sakura-chan? Status update."

Looking just as dirty as her blond teammate, a completely worn out girl gasped and let her head roll back. "Not good. I've only gotten about an inch… maybe an inch and a half." This much was obvious from the tiny hole she'd dug just beneath her chin with the pair of rice pincers. Unable to shake the miserable look on her face, Sakura then turned to her other male partner. "What about you, Sasuke? Have you made much progress?"

Still scooping clumps of dirt away with his chopsticks, the determined and still annoyed Uchiha prodigy sighed and glanced over his shoulder. "In the last two hours… very little." He then eyed the chopsticks in his mouth with an obvious ire. "Damn it. In what world did Kakashi think this was practical in any way? This is just stupid." Obviously the man was still messing with them. Seeing as how he was an elite ninja with decades of work and experience under his belt, it kind of made sense that the guy had a bit of a mean streak.

Given the militaristic style training they had to go through, one could almost view this as a hazing exercise. This was just complete and utter torture, plain and simple. Now the members of Team 7 could see why this technique was so useful against enemies. Just spending a day in the ground would be more than enough to get any spy or terrorist from any village to talk.

But to use it on them?

"Well, I'm not giving up!" Naruto shouted, sticking out his tongue and flicking the chopsticks back into his mouth. He then went back to scooping, trying to get to his right hand as fast as he could. "Ngh! I'm going to keep digging until I pass out or die! Ngh! Ngh!" Since his Ittan-momen partner Aijo was also buried with him, there was very little both of them could do in this situation.

After catching their breaths the other two members of the squad continued to dig as well. In the hours that they'd spent out here, they all figured out that if they dug towards one of their shoulders, they had a high chance of getting one of their limbs free. If they did that, they'd be able to get out of there much easier. All they had to do was dig for about a foot and they'd be gold.

For the next twenty minutes following their brief pause the youngsters kept at it, determined to make it out of their predicament before night settled in. The last thing they wanted to do was spend a night out there with the nocturnal neighborhood. However, while they were in the process of getting somewhere with their impossible task, the trio became aware of the sound of footsteps approaching. When they turned towards the furthest edge of the clearing, they saw the all too familiar forms of Tayuya, Yakumo, and Kurumi standing there, all carrying plastic bags and staring down at the team in surprise.

Upon seeing the three female members of Team 11, Naruto dropped his chopsticks and gasped in relief. "Oh, Sage! Yes! Thank you!" He then beamed across at the girls, his eyes welling up with tears. "Kami, we're so happy to see you guys!"

"This is the greatest moment ever!" Sakura also exclaimed, tears of joy running down her cheeks as she then gestured towards the three stumps at the edge of the clearing. "Quick! We've got trench shovels in our packs! Could you girls grab them and help dig us out?!" When she turned back to the trio and saw that neither of them were moving, the pinkette's overjoyed expression faltered somewhat. "Girls?"

At first not saying anything, Tayuya and her teammates simply stared at the group for about a minute. When the smiles of Team 7's faces vanished, they then watched as the red-headed flute player walked a few yards across the field, picked up a fallen tree log, and dragged it over. Upon seeing it on the grass, she and the other two girls sat down, put the plastic bags next to them, and pulled out the bento boxes they had inside.

Upon cracking them open, the trio began to eat, much to the confusion of the three stranded Team 7 members.

"Umm… hello?" Sasuke spoke.

Chewing on a piece of chicken, a completely relaxed Tayuya, not tearing her eyes away from the three kids, then leaned over and whispered to Kurumi. "Did you bring your camera?"

"Yep," the raven haired Uchiha girl answered, reaching into her top and pulling out said device.

"Awesome." Drawing a can of soda out of the shopping bag at her feet and cracking it open, a now widely grinning Tayuya then gestured towards the three kids with chopsticks in their mouths and signaled for them to proceed. "No, please. Continue. Don't mind us." The incredibly mischievous looks that appeared on Kurumi and Yakumo's faces when she said this pretty much revealed the real reason why they were there.

It took a few seconds for it to click. When it eventually did, the previously relieved Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura frowned and, in perfect unison, said the one thing that was most appropriate for that situation.

"Oh, crap."

---

Author's Note: Okay, this chapter was a tad bit longer than I was expecting. But I'm pleased with the results.

It's always really hard coming up with alterations to the original bell test. Honestly, I could've done a dozen different tests, but all of them simply paled in comparison to the original. I always viewed the original test as a great way of Kakashi bringing out the skills in his three students, and considering it has been a long-used form of training used by different generations of shinobi, I decided to stick with it.

I also view Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's dynamic as a good one. Though it was poorly executed by Kishimoto in the original canon, I plan on improving it with this story. The characters are so much better when you don't make one a complete moron, one a complete dick, and the other a useless fan girl.

With the tweaks I've made, I plan on making this story one that carries itself amongst history's greatest.

If you guys were able to spot the famous historical warriors in this one, good on you. But just in case you missed them:

OOO

Historical figure profiles (Part II):

-Okita Soji (1842 or 1844 to July 19th 1868) – Regarded as one of the greatest and most famous swordsmen in history, Okita was the captain of the first unit of the Shinsengumi, a special police force in Kyoto during the late shogunate period. He was one of the best swordsmen of the Shinsengumi, sharing the top three seats along with Saito Hajime and Nagakure Shinpachi. Though a fine warrior, the man suffered from many health problems in his life, and supposedly died at a very young age from tuberculosis.

In the Naruto: Maoyu story- similar to his real-life counterpart, Okita is a fine warrior and a terrific swordsman, who currently holds the distinction as being the greatest swordsman in the world. He is also the leader of a group called the Shinsengumi under the billionaire magnate Gato, and is apparently serving as Ryoda's bodyguard. Possessing skills and power similar to Mihawk (One Piece), using only his short-blade Okita has demonstrated the capability of generating a cutting force capable of slicing the ocean and atmosphere in half with a single swing. Though this was only a fraction of his awesome power.

-James Leslie 'Les' Darcy (31st October 1895 to 24th May 1917) – Revered as a legend in his home country, Les Darcy was an Australian boxer from the middleweight division, but also held the Australian Heavyweight Championship title during his career. Renowned for fighting in both his homeland and the United States, he had a remarkable ring record for the time period- consisting of 56 fights and only 4 losses, in which he only lost in points and was never knocked out. Possessing a muscular physique that was impervious to the heaviest blows- even from heavy weight boxers- the man was famous for having a terrifying reach and a very fierce fighting style. He was embroiled in the politics of conscription in Australia during the lead up to WWI and, after moving to the US, died of septicemia.

In the Naruto: Maoyu story- similar to his real-life counterpart, Les Darcy is a boxer of great renown, and seems to have taken up a military and bodyguard role under Gato's organization. A member of the Shinsengumi- which the samurai Okita is also part of, and possessing a high rank as an officer, Les can be seen serving as a bodyguard to Gato's daughter Ryoda- until he is reassigned by the secretary to her father. His true strength is currently unknown, but for him to be given a place on the Shinsengumi in the same class as Okita, must mean that he is an incredibly powerful warrior.