The moment Kakashi said 'start' she dashed into the trees as quickly as she could, followed closely by Sasuke. The moment she touched down on the first tree branch she immediately turned to the left and kept going, circling the field where their sensei was standing. Crouching on a branch Hikari stopped, slowing her breathing and pulling her chakra closer to her core, concealing her presence as best she could. Sasuke wasn't far behind. Standing beside her on the branch he watched the field silently, muscles taught and ready for action.
"Hey! Let's have a match fair and square!" Hikari had the urge to put her face in her hands and sigh deeply but she didn't want to draw attention to herself. Beside her Sasuke muttered 'idiot' as the two of them watched Naruto. Standing in front of their sensei he had his arms crossed and a smug look on his face. From the field Kakashi addressed her blonde team mate. "Aren't you a little weird, compared to your classmates?" Naruto scoffed. "What's weird is your hairstyle!"
What? No, what? He had bright blonde hair that stuck up all over the place, but Naruto considered their sensei's hair to be weird? This absolutely baffled her. Was it some sort of bluff? Did he have any kind of plan? Or did he really think that shinobi just stood in fields and fought each other man to man? Next to her she could practically feel Sasuke's frustration.
"Chyaaaaaaaa!" Naruto yelled as he ran straight for Kakashi. Had he learned nothing from the first confrontation? He was no match for a jounin, what did he even think he could do here? Sensei reached into his bag and her heart thudded faster in her chest. Naruto stopped, defensive and wary. "Ninja tactic basics, number one; taijutsu. I'll teach you that first." From where she was hidden she could see their sensei bring out a book of some kind and Naruto's confused look. "What's the matter?" Kakashi asked. "Come and get me."
Sensei's body was entirely relaxed, as if he were ready to lay down on the grass and take a nap. She could sense no urgency, no wariness, no defensiveness whatsoever. He was entirely confident in his abilities to beat a couple of fresh academy graduates. "B-but, um, why did you grab a book?" Hikari was curious as well. From their first two encounters she was slowly building up an idea of their sensei in her mind. Earlier he had provoked Naruto into acting rashly so it was a safe bet that pulling out the book was to rile him up even more. "Why?" Kakashi stated in the same bored drawl as before. "I wanted to see how the story develops."
"Don't worry about it. It's the same whether I read this or not." That did it. Naruto was angry now. "I'm going to pound you into the dirt!" The blonde ran forward, one hand on his shoulder to steady the punch he was broadcasting like neon signs. Kakashi blocked the attack without looking, as if he were shooing away a fly. Landing on the ground Naruto pivoted his body and readied the next attack. "Grrr, roundhouse kick!" Sasuke's hand closed into a fist as Kakashi crouched without looking away from the little orange book. Naruto's miss sent him backward. Landing on the ground he corrected his stance and threw another bunch, all while yelling "damn it!" Repeatedly.
In the blink of an eye Kakashi was gone. Naruto was left standing there, arm extended forward and a dumbstruck look on his face. "A ninja should not allow his enemy to get behind him multiple times, idiot." His hands were on the closed book in his hands and for a moment Hikari was confused. She recognized the hand seal their teacher was forming. Tiger? Was he going to use a fire jutsu? She thought about warning Naruto but the logical part of her mind stopped her. Their teacher was testing them. He wasn't allowed to just maim them intentionally. Whatever he planned for Naruto would be to put him in his place and teach him a lesson. Sasuke tensed beside her.
"Konoha's secret taijutsu art!" She wasn't quite sure what happened next. Their sensei yelled "a thousand years of pain!" The next thing she knew Naruto was flying through the air holding onto his backside as if it had been burned. Well… if their sensei literally lit a fire under Naruto's behind she wasn't going to complain at the moment. As Naruto hit the water of the nearby lake Kakashi sensei nonchalantly stood and reopened his book to read. Taking out an inexperienced genin meant nothing to him.
Sasuke reached for his kunai pouch but stopped when she tapped his wrist. 'He's toying with us.' He glanced at her. 'No duh.' His eyes said. Hikari huffed quietly and started to sign. 'There is no way we can beat him by ourselves, he's a jounin. He's waiting for something.' That stopped her twin. 'Like what?' She shook her head, eyes uncertain. 'I don't know… he told us to get the bells, showed us two of them, and threatened to send one of us back to the academy.' But wait. What happened if they failed an even number of applicants? Genin were in three man teams with a jounin sensei. What would happen if there weren't enough genin? Konoha wouldn't just punish two of them for their team mate's failure by sending them to the Genin Corps. Not when they could potentially be useful. None of this was adding up.
While she was thinking it through two shuriken flew out of the water at their sensei. Sasuke tensed, hand on the hilt of his kunai. As they watched sensei plucked the shuriken out of the air, perfectly spearing them on his outstretched fingers. They spun down lazily and eventually stopped spinning. He never even glanced in their direction.
Naruto climbed out of the lake, spluttering and coughing up water. Kakashi watched him, one hand on his hip the other holding up the book. "What's wrong? You won't get anything to eat if you don't get a bell by noon." Shaking his hair out Naruto pouted. "I already know!" It came out like a whine. "You said you'd surpass the Hokages, but your actions say something else." Naruto cursed loudly at the taunt. "I can still fight! I'll get a bell, just you wait!" Kakashi gave a little half shrugged and walked off toward the center of the field again, paying the blonde no mind.
'What is it we're supposed to do here?' Naruto started to yell something again as six other Narutos erupted from the water, all grinning like mad. "Hah! You turned your back on me, thinking you'd won! Now face my greatest technique; mass shadow clone replication!" As they hit the ground they made an audible sound. Each one of them had weight to them, as if they were real and not illusions. Hikari had no idea what technique that was but she was a little awed by her team mate. Now if only he could start thinking a little they might actually be able to pass this test.
The group of Narutos ran toward their sensei, who stood there quietly waiting. Out of nowhere an eighth Naruto appeared and wrapped himself around Kakashi from behind, trying to grapple him. "A ninja shouldn't let his enemy get behind him, right sensei?" The blonde grinned. "I used the shadow clone jutsu and sent one of my clones to sneak out of the river and get behind you!" Hikari put her hand against her face and let out an aggravated sigh. Why was he explaining his plan? If it failed he could have tried again later. But now Kakashi-sensei knew more about Naruto's jutsu and the way he planned his attacks.
The group of Narutos all grabbed onto Kakashi and held him in place as one jumped up, readying an attack. "I'm going to pay you back for that attack to my butt!" If this actually worked Hikari was going to go rethink her life choices.
"I'm going to punch you!" She couldn't say when it happened, she wasn't paying as close attention as she could have been, trusting her brother to do it for her while she thought up a plan, but suddenly the group of Narutos began to brawl. They were screaming about how Kakashi had transformed into one of them and were fighting each other. Nearby sensei watched them with his head cocked to the side slightly. All at once the group of Narutos stopped and pointed at a random tree. "There you are!" They said at the same time. Kakashi chuckled sardonically as the miniature gang of Narutos ran off and started punching at random trees, the air, and sometimes each other. "You won't get away sensei!"
'Genjutsu.' She glanced at Sasuke, he knew it too.
*Kakashi*
'Now then…' Leaving Naruto to run around chasing the illusion of himself Kakashi homed in on the twins and inwardly sighed. Although they were hidden well for graduates the fact that they were right next to each other was a little disappointing. He knew that they would be trying to come up with a plan, both had excellent grades and from all reports they were quite good at strategizing. The problem was their psyche evaluations, which he'd looked into the night before. As a jounin-sensei he had access to any and all reports made on his students. Especially the psychological ones. He needed to know any potential triggers that could cause them to seize up during a mission, any unbalanced personality traits, and any potential for mental breakdowns. Their therapist, a Yamanaka by the name of Ito, had been very thorough in documenting their recovery after the fall of the Uchiha clan. According to him the kids were as stable as they could be under the circumstances. But Kakashi wasn't one to take chances.
With a single shunshin he appeared behind them, right between the two. Letting out the barest hint of killing intent had the desired effect of making the twins jumped away from him, in opposite directions. Perfect. Ignoring Sasuke for the time being he turned and chased after Hikari. Out of the three of them she was the hardest to read and some of her actions had him scratching his head. Trying to get into the mindset of a little girl was not something Kakashi was well versed in, and a couple of things on the evaluation had him worried.
At her core Hikari was a pacifist. Just like Itachi. Reading that had sent a shiver down his spine and a feeling of dread settling in his gut. The frivolous things she had spoken about in her introduction made him wonder if she was only aiming to be a shinobi to stay close to her brother, or to follow the wishes of her deceased family. Forcing herself to conform to fit in. Ito didn't think so. While he trusted the Yamanaka's judgment Kakashi was just too much of a paranoid jounin to ignore the possibility.
Behind him he felt a spike of killing intent and glanced back as Sasuke threw a brace of kunai in his direction. Ducking beneath the weapons he let himself fall. Catching the branch with one hand he swung up and kicked the boy in the stomach. Sasuke blocked the blow but it didn't stop him from being sent to the ground. Jumping down he landed a fair few feet away and watched the boy carefully. Ito had hit the nail on the head. The dark frown on his face and the determined look in his eyes was all Kakashi needed. It was obvious that the twins would never abandon each other, even out in the field. It was a risk. But one he was willing to accept.
Sasuke reached into his pouch and Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Attacking me directly isn't going to work, you know." With a 'tch' the kid threw out a bunch of shuriken. Dodging them with ease he was startled when a second set of shuriken appeared from behind him. 'Hikari?' She was hiding in the trees and lending aid to her brother. Kakashi dodged, right into Sasuke's oncoming attack. The boy had jumped toward him in a spinning kick, using Kakashi's own momentum against him. It was textbook, a perfect kick. Blocking with the back of his hand he reached out and gripped Sasuke's left leg with his left hand. Sasuke followed through with a punch, but Kakashi had been anticipating it and intercepted it with his free hand. Swinging up his right leg Sasuke brought it down in an axe kick. Kakashi let go of the boy's fist and blocked the strike aimed at his head. With a triumphant smirk Sasuke let himself hang upside down and reached for the bells at his waist. Kakashi's eyes went wide. Had that been their plan?
Shoving Sasuke away from him he retreated a couple of feet back, wary of an attack from in front and behind. Sasuke righted himself mid-air and landed on the ground with an annoyed look. 'He's not giving me any time to read. There's no wasted movements and their ability to work together is impeccable. I doubt they even have to speak to one another to plan their next moves.' Twins in the ninja world could be terrifying. If they didn't end up arrogant and relied too heavily on their team work, neglecting their own independent skills. Kakashi smiled under his mask. It was the kind of teamwork he liked to see.
"Well, I'll acknowledge that you're better than the usual crop of genin." A smug look crossed the boy's face before his hands started to move. Kakashi caught the symbols for horse and tiger. He cursed internally. 'There's no way he has enough chakra to do a jutsu of that level!' Sasuke breathed in deeply and raised his hand to his mouth before a stream of flames spewed forth, engulfing the place Kakashi had been standing. The fire was hot enough to burn the grass to ash in an instant and melt the packed earth beneath it, causing a small crater to form.
From the dark safety of the earth he wondered just how far the boy had pushed himself, and whether that sort of thing should be encouraged or not. Jutsu were very volatile and one mistake could end the user's life.
Reaching out of the earth he gripped Sasuke's ankle. 'Earth style; Head Hunter Jutsu.' Pulling the boy down into the soft earth he popped out of the ground and crouched in front of him. "Ninja tactic basics, number two; ninjutsu." Sasuke grunted as he tried to claw his way out of the ground. "How's that, hmm? Can't move, can you?" He watched the genin struggle for a moment longer before standing up and stretching lazily. "Well, you're already doing much better than the others." He muttered, pulling out his book once more.
As he was walking away he spoke loud enough to be heard. "They say that the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered, though…" Now that his play time with Sasuke was over, where was his sister?
*Hikari*
The moment Sasuke used his flames she knew that the plan was a wash. Kakashi was more formidable than her brother was giving him credit for. If there was one thing she could say about her brother that she didn't like; it was his bad habit of underestimating others. To others it looked like confidence but she knew it was his pride. As her brother was pulled into the ground she retreated. 'I have to find Naruto!' Alone her skills just weren't enough and she knew it.
Back in the field Naruto was still flailing around, fighting nothing but air. The extras were all gone, she assumed that the jutsu he was using had timed out, but he was still stuck in the genjutsu. Unsure if he would see her as an enemy or not she steeled herself. When she was a child her mother had taught her the basics of genjutsu, as part of her clan upbringing. Her mother had been a well known genjutsu mistress and Hikari had been excited to learn. She knew how to disrupt her own chakra in order to shake off a genjutsu and she knew that pain could also snap you out of it. In class the theory of pushing chakra into another person had been talked about, mostly to see if anyone was interested in becoming a medic-nin. But it was risky. You needed a high level of control to push chakra into someone without damaging them.
Leaping through the air she flipped and landed next to Naruto. 'This better work!' Gathering chakra into her palm she swung and slapped the blonde across the cheek, pushing her charka into him as she did so. "Kai!" She said fiercely under her breath. Immediately Naruto fell to the ground, looking up at her in confusion as he rubbed his sore cheek. "Ne, Hikari-chan! Why did you go and slap me?" She let out the breath she had been holding and held out her arm to help him to his feet. "It was the only thing I could think of. You were stuck in a Genjutsu." Naruto looked a little confused, then disgruntled, then angry. He opened his mouth to start yelling but she clapped a hand over his mouth. Raising a finger to her lips she shushed him.
"Listen carefully. We need to work together." Naruto's arms crossed over his chest. "Nuh-uh, I'm not being sent back to the academy!" He said angrily, though she was glad to see he was being quieter than before. "You won't have to go back to the academy. We'll talk it over once we have the bells. But if we don't work together and none of us get a bell then we all fail." The blonde's eyebrows came together as he thought about her words. "If…" she swallowed hard, "if it comes down to it I'll go back to the academy." Blue eyes wide Naruto gaped at her. "Wh-what?"
Hikari closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm not as motivated as you or Sasuke. If we get the bells then I don't mind going back to the academy to learn more. I want you guys to succeed." Naruto's eyes narrowed and he looked at her skeptically for a moment before his face split in a wide grin. "Okay then! What are we gonna do?" Hikari let out the breath she had been holding. "Okay, first we need to save Sasuke. Do you think your clones could dig him out of the ground while I distract sensei? Kakashi-sensei did… something and he ended up buried to his neck." Naruto snorted and she glared at him. It wasn't very funny.
"Alright Hikari-chan, leave it to me! Where's the basta- ah Sasuke?" He was lucky that he'd stopped himself and switched what he was about to say. "In that direction, about two *Ri." Naruto nodded and raced off into the trees. That dealt with Hikari checked her surroundings before setting up a few simple, but effective, traps.
Finishing the last trap she was moving to a better position when a shadow above her alerted her to the presence of another person. Kakashi leapt at her suddenly, from seemingly nowhere, and she started. As his fist came toward her she lost her hesitation and quickly redirected the attack with her arm. As a kunoichi she knew she would never be as physically strong as the boys. But physical strength was moot if you never landed a hit. She had trained with Hinata for years and while she wasn't allowed to learn the gentle fist style she had adapted some of her best friend's movements and incorporated them into her own style. It was all about redirecting attacks and using an opponents momentum against them. Kakashi's one eyebrow raised in surprise and Hikari felt a sense of accomplishment. She didn't know why but she felt that he was looking down on her for some reason, and it irked her.
Twisting away she came up just under his guard and aimed a kick at the back of his knee, an incapacitating move. Placing a hand on her head he used her as leverage and jumped over her kick. With a smile he flipped over her and kicked her in the back, driving the wind from her lungs. Landing on the ground she coughed, her body trembling with the need for oxygen. "Your teamwork is good but your brother is far ahead of you in terms of physical conditioning." She clenched her teeth rather than respond. It wasn't a sore point with her, not really. She was confident in her intellect and she trained as hard as her brother. It was only her youth and size that made her unable to keep up entirely.
Silently she got to her feet and fell into a defensive taijutsu stance. She knew she couldn't win in a straight up fight, she was too outclassed. But that was what the traps were for. Kakashi vanished from in front of her and appeared right in her face, his one eye staring right at her. 'He's fast!'She barely had time to dodge, bending back at the waist and pushing off her hands as she kicked upward. Kakashi shifted to the side and her feet just missed him by a hair. Leaping back she pulled out a kunai and threw it. Sensei side-stepped it, giving her a disappointed look. Suddenly dropping to the ground was the only warning he had as kunai came flying toward him from behind.
Without missing a beat he deflected them all, his eyes never leaving her. 'Aw crap!' Getting to her feet she ran for the trees but he was right on her tail. He appeared in front of her and she had barely any time to react as he swept her legs out from under her. As she fell she threw a shuriken at the next trap trigger but sensei caught it in mid-air, twitching his finger back and forth making a tsking sound. "I won't fall for that again." She landed on her back the way they'd been taught in the academy, a way to minimize damage, and rolled away.
Hair covered in grass, clothes dirty, and breathing heavily she watched the jounin in front of her and hesitated to make a move. Kakashi took a step toward her and she threw kunai at him, trying to stall until Naruto and Sasuke returned. Kakashi shook his head almost sadly. "If you don't try to actually hit me you'll never get one of these." The bells jingled from his hip and she frowned. Opening her mouth to ask him what he meant she stopped when the clear sound of the alarm bell could be heard. It was Noon, the test was over.
Kakashi gave her one last look before he turned and walked away. With a heavy heart Hikari followed behind him.
As they came up to the posts she saw Naruto tied up and looked over at her brother in confusion. Sasuke glared at the ground. Like her his clothes were covered in dirt. Unlike her he didn't have a nasty bruise appearing on his arm. Looking up as she came closer he glanced at her arm, where she was trying to cover the bruise with her other hand. Turning his gaze to Kakashi he glared daggers at the man.
Hikari sat down against the post next to Naruto and let her head fall back against it. They had failed. She had failed. Hikari never even had a chance to try and get them to work together before the stupid alarm had gone off. By now what little they'd had to eat had been burned through from all the exercise and she could hear a low grinding sound from the boys. Sore, tired, hungry, and defeated. It was not a good day.
"Now, now. Don't look so downcast. There's something about this test I didn't tell you guys about." Lifting her eyes to their sensei she watched him carefully, wary. He'd baited Naruto, forced a confrontation with her brother, and then toyed with her like she was a rag doll. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him. What was the point of it all?
"There's no need for you to go back to the academy." Huh? Was he joking? Naruto didn't seem to think so. "Yahoo! Then that means the three of us-" Kakashi smiled and interrupted the blonde as he started to celebrate. "Yes, you three… should stop being ninja." He said it with such finality that Hikari felt her heart sink.
Naruto kicked his feet against the post, struggling against the ropes. "Quit being ninja? What the hell does that mean!" For the second time her brother seemed to agree with Naruto and grunted in response. "We didn't get the bells and all, but why do we have to quit?" Kakashi put his hands on his hips and watched them with an apathetic expression. "Because you're all brats that aren't qualified to become ninja."
That insult was too much for her brother, with his pride already bruised from earlier. Dashing forward he attacked their sensei, intent on proving himself. "Suke!" She called after him.
She didn't even see him move. One minute Kakashi was standing there without a care in the world and the next he was sitting on her brother's back, pinning one arm and pressing his face into the dirt with a foot. Jumping up from the ground she finally snapped. "Don't sit on my brother like that!" She yelled, making Naruto look at her with wide eyes.
"Do you kids think that being a ninja is easy, hm?" Her body shook as he looked them each in the eyes. "Why do you think you're doing this exercise in teams?" She knew. She already knew that! "It's as if you kids have no understanding as to the true nature of this test." Naruto looked lost. "True nature?" Kakashi nodded.
"Yes. The answer that determines whether or not you pass this test."
Hikari was about to retort when Kakashi began speaking again. "Are you guys brainless, or what? Don't you not get the meaning of a three man squad?" Naruto thrashed about again. "So what? So what if we're in teams of three!" Kakashi turned his attention to the blonde. "It's teamwork." Her sensei looked at her in mild surprise. As did the two boys. "We're genin, no not even that. We only just graduated from the academy. There's no way we'd be able to fight a jounin one on one. We were told in school that if we ever met a foreign jounin that we should run away. Why would Konoha jounin be any different?" After all her elder brother had been a jounin and he'd taken out their entire clan… Blinking at the stares she was getting she let out an aggravated sigh. "We have someone who is unpredictable and clever as well as someone who knows advanced taijutsu on our team. We just need… to work together."
Kakashi looked pensive as he stared at her. It was like a heavy weight and she shifted nervously on her feet. "Well, it doesn't matter. Even if you get it now it's too late. You might have been able to get the bells if you three had worked together." 'Might, he says…' She knew that the only way they would get the bells was if their sensei allowed them to. But this was a test, not a do or die situation.
"But, but, Kakashi-sensei! There's only two bells! You said someone would go back to the academy!" Naruto whined from the post. Kakashi sighed, sounding annoyed for the first time. "Of course. It was a test meant to see how you would act when faced with this kind of decision. To see if you would prioritize working as a team instead of selfishly fighting amongst yourselves." Naruto blinked and looked over at her. "Th-that's…" She shook her head and Naruto's mouth clamped shut. 'It doesn't matter, we failed.'
"You all acted like fools." The words were harsh and she felt them all the way in her bones. "Naruto! You ran around, acting on your own with no regard for your team mates." The man shifted his foot, pushing Sasuke's face further into the dirt. "Sasuke, you prioritized protecting your sister and facing off against me over helping your team mate when he was defenseless." Sasuke's fist clenched and he glared up at the teacher, struggling for a moment before Kakashi's hand gripped tighter around his wrist. "Missions are carried out in squads! Make no mistake, ninja need to have unsurpassed individual skills, but team work is considered more important than that."
"Hikari," she flinched as Kakashi turned to look at her. "You abandoned your brother." A cold shiver ran down her spine at the near anger in his voice. She choked on her reply, too upset to speak coherently.
"Hey, wait! Kakashi-sensei, that's not fair!" The man turned to look at the blonde, and so did she. "Hikari-chan came to get me so we could get Sasuke out of the dirt! She even said she didn't care if she got one of the bells or not, she wanted us to work together!" Sasuke and Kakashi looked at her in surprise. While their teacher was contemplative, maybe even pleased, her brother was scowling at her. Biting her lip she nodded, looking at the ground. 'Even if I wanted us to work as a team, I messed up. We were too late anyway…'
*Kakashi*
Kakashi watched the three of them carefully, judging their reactions. Naruto was too much of a knucklehead to lie well, especially when angry like he was now. So he trusted his words. But what about Hikari? Had she lied to Naruto to ensure her and her brother would pass? Sasuke certainly looked none too pleased to learn his sister was willing to give up a spot on the team to the blonde. But the Uchiha's surprise was genuine. That only left Hikari.
It was easy to see where her mind had gone as her shoulders drooped and her eyes found the ground. Failure was a cruel teacher. But better to fail now than to fail later and risk death. Being a shinobi was dangerous, deadly. Getting up off of Sasuke he stood and turned his back to them. "The life of a shinobi isn't a game. Every mission is a life risking assignment." Walking over to the stone monument he looked down at it, a familiar feeling of guilt and loss rising up like bile in the back of his throat. "Look at this monument. Every name engraved on this stone is a ninja who is called a hero by the people of this village." Naruto made an excited sound behind him and he had to hide his flinch.
"Cool, I like the sound of that!" He took a deep breath to calm himself. 'He doesn't know, he doesn't know…' Sasuke got up from the grass behind him and walked over to his sister as the blonde continued to speak. "I've decided! I'm going to have my name engraved on there! I'm not gonna die like a dog, I'll be a hero!" Turning to look back at the kids he continued, trying to ignore the nonsense coming out of the blonde. "But they aren't just any heroes…" Naruto had a wide grin on his face but Hikari and Sasuke were watching him silently. "Really? Then what kind of heroes are they?"
Kakashi couldn't keep looking at that wide, ignorant, smile. He turned his back to them once more. "They are heroes who were killed in action."
"Killed… in action?" Naruto asked, confusion plain in his voice. "People who died on missions, dobe." It was rare for Sasuke to be the one to explain things to others. Glancing back he saw the faint shine and redness around Hikari's eyes and bit the inside of his cheek. He could not go easy on them. There were horrors out there they could never imagine… or maybe they could. He wanted to kick himself. Of course the twins would understand. They had lost everyone. They had almost lost each other as well. Kakashi reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.
"This is a memorial. The names of my friends are also engraved here…" The silence was nearly deafening. A gust of wind rustled the boughs nearby and he made up his mind.
"You three, I'll give you one more chance." Before they could celebrate he turned and regarded them carefully. "However, it will be a much harsher battle. If you want to continue you can eat those bento and gather your strength." At Naruto's grin he held up his hand, pointer finger in the air. "But, you cannot let Naruto have any." It was an unreasonable request, he knew. Naruto pouted and complained loudly. "You have the most to learn from your mistakes, this is a punishment. If either of you give him any I will disqualify you on the spot." When Naruto looked ready to argue again he dropped his voice lower, into a growl. "I am giving you a second chance. I make the rules here, understand?" The blonde nodded, clamping his mouth shut.
Kakashi left them, vanishing into the trees to observe them without them knowing.
'Now, what will you do?'
*Sasuke*
Sasuke was torn. Naruto was an absolute blockhead but… he had to admit he was relieved when the blonde showed up to help dig him out of the ground. The fact that he hadn't gloated much was surprisingly tame. Shoving another mouthful of rice past his lips he was glad that Hikari had convinced him to have some toast and nuts that morning. Otherwise the hunger would have been unbearable. Glancing over at his sister he could see the same torn look in her eyes and huffed. It was clear she wanted to help the blonde, Kami knew why. He still hadn't forgiven the blonde for kissing her. She was a proper lady and a hardworking kunoichi, not to mention his precious little sister. Having the class idiot around her aggravated him more than he wanted to admit. Especially when he remembered some of the things that had been said about her behind her back. 'Dammit, Kiba.'
While he couldn't deny he wanted her to stay at home, so she could be safe, he trusted her to make her own decisions. If she wanted to be a kunoichi then he wasn't going to stop her. In fact if anyone got in her way they would have to answer to him.
Naruto's stomach growled loudly and they both looked over at him. He blushed, embarrassed, before putting on a brave face. "Grr, I'm fine eating no lunch! No sweat!" Another growl. "No sweat..."
A feeling that he was being watched fell over him, but it wasn't malicious. Looking at his sister quizzically he saw her smile for the first time since they'd failed. It was almost mischievous. "I'll be right back!" Setting her bento on the ground she ran over to where they had stored their packs and started to rifle around in them. A moment later she had returned with a thermos and a small lunch box. Kneeling next to Naruto she opened the thermos and poured out warm miso soup.
As she held it up to Naruto's lips and smiled Sasuke hissed. "What are you doing?" He asked her quietly. She shushed him. "Sensei said those lunch boxes. He never mentioned the ones I made at home. Besides, if he's hungry he'll be distracted. Not to mention that loud grumbling is a dead giveaway." The grateful smile on Naruto's face as he sipped the warm liquid was almost disgusting. "Thanks Hikari-chan!" She smiled back.
Grudgingly he accepted his sister's logic and while she fed Naruto the soup he opened the other lunch box and picked out a small dumpling. Naruto eyed him a little warily for a moment but ended up eating the morsel anyway. "Just hurry up."
An explosion of wind and smoke in front of them had him dropping the box and grabbing a kunai. In one swift motion he was on his feet and standing in front of Hikari and Naruto, intent on protecting his sister… and the dumb blonde. Since he couldn't defend himself currently.
"You three!" Kakashi yelled as wind whipped past them. "You defied the rules, so you know what comes next." His hands blurred into motion and dark storm clouds gathered above them, thunder booming and lightning crackling along the edges. "Do you have anything you wish to say?" He demanded, looking down at them.
A trembling hand touched his shoulder and he knew it was Hikari. She was frightened. "But Sensei… y-you said…" Naruto stuttered behind them. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"You said that these guys are…" Sasuke's eyes flicked back to the blonde before they went back to their Sensei. "We're a three man squad, right?" Hikari tensed behind him. "If... if we're going to work together and be a team we need to help each other out." Her voice was clear but her breathing seemed a little strained, it was worrying. "That's right! We're a team!" Naruto yelled.
"Is that right, you're a team, eh?" Kakashi lowered his hands and stalked forward. Instinctively his hand clenched tighter around the kunai. "Well then… you pass."
'Wait… what?'
*Kakashi*
Kakashi smiled at the three of them. Their startled faces were pretty amusing right now. Their expressions silently screaming for an explanation.
"You guys are the first." He started. "Up until now I was only given idiots who were cowed by my threats and meekly obeyed everything I said." The sky started to clear as his hold on the jutsu dissipated. "A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world those who break rules or codes are seen as trash. But those who abandon their comrades… they're worse than trash." Hikari collapsed back onto the grass, her face bright with a surprised smile. Sasuke put his kunai away, a smug smirk playing across his face. Meanwhile Naruto began to blubber and muttered something about him being cool, though it was hard to tell with his broken speech pattern.
"That's it for the exercise, everyone passed. Tomorrow we start our first mission as Team Seven!" He gave them a thumbs up before he started to walk away. "We'll meet here in the morning, at oh-seven hundred hours. This time make sure you eat something." He chuckled.
Behind him he could hear their excited chatter and smiled.
'These three are good kids.'
*End Notes*
Ri is a measurement of distance. 1 Ri is about 3.9 kilometers or 2.4 miles.