"The loud mouth Uzumaki Naruto, The fangirl Sakura Haruno and the arrogant and vengeful Sasuke Uchiha, huh?" The third hokage looked at the masked mani with narrowed eyes. The man's lazy attitude, in a rare occurrence, frustrated the old ninja.
"Kakashi, you are my most trusted jonin so I'll be honest with you." His commanding tone made Kakashi stiffen.
He straightened up, his lazy posture gone, replaced by one that struck fear into the hearts of many - friend and foe alike.
"Of course, Hokage-sama." The old man nodded, pleased with Kakashi's swift change in personality.
"The council wants you to take on this team for two reasons; To train the last loyal Uchiha and to keep a leash on the demon fox. The Haruno is just an added illusion to cement the belief that this team is indeed a 4-man cell."
Kakashi looked at his leader with slightly narrowed eyes. "They want me to train Sasuke and neglect Naruto and Sakura, to put it bluntly."
The third sighed, "I am afraid so, Kakashi." Kakashi shook his head, his eyes set in a glare. "Forgive me If I am out of line Hokage-sama, but you know this as well as I that I could not neglect the other two just to train the Uchiha!"
Hiruzen smiled. He was proud his Shinobi valued team work, friendships and bonds over raw strength.
"Will you go against the council, Jonin Kakashi Hatake?" Kakashi hesitated but the memory of his best friend crushed under a rock. His last words and the promise Kakashi made to him. His hand, shrouded in Raiton chakra, running through his friend's heart.
His Sensei's will. His letter…
Closing his eyes, he thought hard. Was he really willing to take up such a responsibility? To not only train three green kids but to make sure they are ready for the ninja world - the real world before their first C-Rank. Could he really train this team of fresh genin with no chemistry?
He looked at the three documents spread out in front of him. Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno.
Was he competent enough to be a teacher in the first place? He was Kakashi Hatake, an esteemed jonin of Konoha who's skills were second to none among the jonin ranks. If not for the sannin, there was no doubt he would be the strongest behind the Hokage.
But he had already failed once. He didn't value friendship and the bonds his Sensei worked so hard to forge between his team and it cost him his friends' lives.
He worked hard after that, joining the ANBU as Inu after his Sensei's eventual early demise just to get away from everything that reminded him of his teacher.
"I understand what you are thinking, Kakashi," the Hokage started, "But you can't go on like this. I removed you from the ANBU so you could focus more on yourself rather than taking sucide missions. You are just hurting yourself!" Hiruzen sighed.
"My predecessor did not train you to act like this, to hurt yourself." Kakashi flinched at that. "Kakashi, it's time you start to move on." seeing him about to protest, Hiruzen held up a hand.
"I am not telling you to forget about your late teacher and your late friends but you must learn to move on. Remember them in your hearts but do not let your grief shape who you become. It's time for you to move on and forge new bonds, Kakashi."
Seeing the man hesitate more, Hiruzen knew he just needed one more push.
"Very well, let's make a deal then." He said slyly. "Deal?" Hiruzen nodded. "I want you to train this team for six months and if you still feel like you don't want to teach them after, then I'll have another Jonin take over as team leader."
Kakashi contemplated this before he looked at Hiruzen. "Very well, Hokage-sama," Hiruzen grinned but did not say anything knowing Kakashi had more to add, "I will go along with you for now but if I am going to be teaching them then I'll do it right. I am not going to neglect one for the other and vice versa. Also, just because I'm accepting this doesn't mean I won't fail them if they don't pass my test."
Hiruzen nodded, satisfied. "Very well Kakashi and don't worry about the council. I'll keep them away from your business. Now, go and meet your genin team. I still have more paperwork to do!"
Kakashi looked at the third hokage in confusion. "Meet my genin team? But the teams won't be picked for another week-" he paused when he realised he had been set up.
He glared at the old man. "You set me up didn't you. You knew how this would go!" Hiruzen chuckled. "I don't know what you are talking about Kakashi."
"What if I didn't accept to take on a genin team?" Hiruzen sighed. "Did you though?" Kakashi said nothing.
"Now go Kakashi, you are already an hour and a half late. I still have paperwork to do."
"Team 7, huh?" Kakashi all but whispered. He sighed and disappeared leaving leaves where he once stood.
Hiruzen, now alone, glared at the pile of papers stacked neatly on his desk. "You demon! How do you keep coming back and with greater numbers! When will you die!" His cry of anguish could be heard all over Konoha.
"Naruto! What are you doing?" Sakura Haruno, a pink haired girl screamed at Naruto, the village pariah.
Naruto looked back at Sakura, "But Sakura-chan~ our Sensei is late so I wanted to prank him!" Sakura crossed her arms. "Then don't pull me into this when our Sensei catches you!" The blonde grinned. "You have nothing to worry about Sakura-chan." Inwardly though, Inner Sakura, a mental projection of Sakura with an opposite personality yelled, "Serves that lazy Sensei right, Cha!"
Sasuke looked at the two impassively, "Does that dobe really think he'll be able to catch our Sensei off guard with that third class trap?" He scoffed. "Although, whoever is to be our Sensei is getting on my nerves."
Just as Naruto and Sakura took their seats, the door to the class opened and a figure with silver gravity defying hair stepped inside.
The chalkboard eraser balanced on top of the door fell. Naruto, Sakura and even Sasuke looked on to see if it would fall on top of this masked man's head or will he catch it.
Before it could touch even a single hair of his, Kakashi caught the eraser and flicked it towards Naruto at high speed, just barely missing his face and grazing his whiskered cheek, getting blood to flow out from a newly formed cut.
"Ow!" Naruto hissed out. Sakura was too shocked to say anything and Sasuke looked at Kakashi with excitement. This man would give him the strength to have his revenge.
Kakashi studied the three young genin. Naruto was cradling his bloody cheek while Sasuke sat their looking at him. Sakura was back to fawning over Sasuke, both not caring about their injured teammate.
"My first impression of you is that I hate you all." Their faces fell hearing that. "Anyway, meet me at the roof of the academy." Kakashi disappeared in a shunshin leaving the three genin.
"Well then, let's go." Sasuke walked ahead with Sakura right behind him. Naruto scowled and rushed after the two. His cut already healed, unknown to everyone.
Kakashi sat Infront of the three genin. "Well then, introduce yourselves. Start with your likes and dislikes and your hobbies and dreams."
"Sensei, why don't you start first." Sakura suggested. Kakashi nodded.
"My name is Kakashi Hatake. I like many things and dislike some. My hobbies are none of your business and my dreams… well if I had to say I have a dream, it would be to make you three strong enough to survive in the ninja world."
"All we learned was his name." Sakura voiced. "And his dream!" Naruto added.
"Now, you go pinky." Sakura scowled. "My name is Sakura Haruno," she emphasised her name, although Kakashi paid her no mind. "What I like is…" she glanced at the Uchiha. "I-I mean the person I like is…" she again glanced at Sasuke. "M-my dream for the future is…" she turned red and started to stutter.
"And your dislikes?" Kakashi questioned. "Oh, I HATE NARUTO-BAKA!" Kakashi saw Naruto flinch and narrowed his eyes. He'll have to fix this soon.
"Moving on, it's your turn now." Naruto grinned, although it felt slightly forced.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen, especially Old man Teuchi's ramen! I like Iruka-Sensei and the old man too! I hate the time you have to wait for Cup ramen to cook and I hate arrogant bastards like Sasuke-Teme! My hobbies are pranking and my dream.." Naruto glanced at the Hokage monument where all the faces of the Hokages were carved on the side of the mountain.
"My dream is to be an even more amazing hokage than the fourth! Dattebayo!" He grinned. Sasuke scoffed from the side, making Naruto glare at him. "What's your problem, bastard?!" Sasuke glared at him back. "A loser like you will be lucky to get to chunin much less the title of the hokage." Sakura cheered from the side, "Of course Sasuke-kun can become the Hokage!"
Kakashi sighed at the team's dynamic. He was 90% sure they would fail the test tomorrow.
"Sasuke, it's your turn." The Uchiha nodded. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like tomatoes and training. I don't have any dislikes nor do I have any hobbies. I don't have a dream, just an ambition, one which I will make a reality… I will kill a certain person." His eyes darkened as a vengeful expression came upon the last loyal Uchiha.
Sakura looked at Sasuke with dreamy eyes while Naruto scooted away, afraid Sasuke was talking about him.
"Well then, now that we all are introduced," his lone, visible eye curved indicating he was smiling, "I suggest you three go home and rest since tomorrow we'll be holding a survival test."
"Survival test? We took loads of those in the academy!" Kakashi nodded at Sakura's words. "You certainly have, however, this will not be a regular survival test." Naruto looked at Kakashi with curiosity. "Then what's it about?"
Kakashi pretended to be contemplating something, "I don't know if I should tell you. I don't know if you guys are ready."
Naruto grinned, "Come on, try us Sensei!" Kakashi nodded. "Well for one, this test is compulsory and is taken by every new genin team. Secondly, this test has an average 66% failure rate meaning only three genin teams will remain out of all the chosen teams, and even then it's not guaranteed, and finally, those who fail will be sent back to the academy to repeat a year."
Shocked, the three genin could not say anything. "I suggest you don't have breakfast tomorrow unless you want to get sick." Before the young genin could get a word in, Kakashi waved his hand and disappeared in a shunshin."See you tomorrow!"
All three stared at the spot where Kakashi was before. Sasuke quickly recovered from his shock and left with Sakura behind him, trying to ask him out on a date.
Naruto looked at the two for a moment, almost longingly before he ran off.
Unknown to the three, Kakashi was watching from atop a tree branch, a piece of paper in his hands.
"If I am going to do this," he clutched the paper in his hand, "I might as well do it right." He was serious.
Tomorrow would determine whether Team 7 will be formed or whether it will never come to be.
Hello! this is my first Naruto fanfiction. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter and will stick around for more!Any criticism will be appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to read my book!Peace Out!