Chapter Three

Sarutobi Hiruzen hummed thoughtfully as he surveyed the jounin gathered before him, noting with slight curiousity that Kakashi was on time for once. The one-eyed jounin stood at the far back, leaning against the wall with his nose buried in his ever present Icha Icha book. He raised an eyebrow but said nothing, turning his attention back to the jounin giving his report in front of his desk.

The man had been rambling on and on about his new team and it was starting to irritate even the most patient of the shinobi in the room.

"Matsuda-san, do you believe they have potential or not?"

The man blushed, sensing the slight irritation in his kage's voice.

"They do not, Hokage-sama. I don't believe that team six will pass their evaluation tomorrow."

The aged leader nodded and gestured for the man to step back.

"Hatake Kakashi, jounin sensei for Team Seven consisting of Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, and Uzumaki Naruto please step forward."

The former Anbu captain stepped forward through the throng of his peers, startling those that hadn't noticed his presence. The silver haired man took his place in front of the Hokage's desk with an eye-smile.

"Hokage-sama." He greeted and the man smiled.

"What are your opinions on Team Seven, Kakashi?"

The man hummed thoughtfully. "I think the academy reports on Uchiha and Uzumaki are wrong. However before I can fully explain why I must wait until after tomorrows evaluation. Haruno," He paused and frowned slightly, "she's smart, but only in a classroom sense. Her obsession with Uchiha impedes her growth as a kunoichi, but I think she has the potential to become one of the village's greatest kunoichi."

Sarutobi nodded. Kakashi wasn't one of his best shinobi for nothing. The man was one of the smartest people he'd ever had the privilage of meeting and he trusted his judgement almost as much as he trusted his own. He was, of course, curious as to what exactly he'd seen in Sasuke and Naruto that caused him to disregard the academy reports but he was willing to wait.

"Well done. Do you believe they have potential as a team?" He asked waiting for the jounin's standard 'no'. The man was silent for a moment and the others waited with baited breath to hear what the infamous copy-nin would say. Then, he smiled.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I believe they do."


"Breathe, Naru. Just breathe."

Naruto gave a shuddering breath before burying his face in his faithful taichou's chest. Sasuke wrapped his arms around the fragile blond, humming lowly to sooth the younger boy's frayed nerves. He'd known as soon as he'd awakened in the past that morning that his lover/ master wouldn't make it through the day without breaking down. It just wouldn't happen.

The blond vixen had such a fragile emotional state that he was honestly surprised he'd lasted this long, having thought he'd break down when he saw Kakashi. All this did was prove just how strong the blond truly was.

He smiled, pressing a gentle kiss to the smaller male's forehead as he began to calm.

"The bell test." Naruto murmured softly and the taichou nodded.

"Are we going to let it play out like it did originally?"

The blond pursed his lips, frowning thoughtfully. Then he wrinkled his nose.

"I really don't wanna be tied to the stump again."

His lover smirked at the memory, a small chuckle leaving his lips.

"We can always wing it."

The former kage sent him a look then sighed. "We'll figure something out eventually."

Sasuke hmmed in agreement, kissing him chastely before pulling the covers up over them.

"Agreed. Now rest, you've had a long day."

Naruto snuggled closer. "Night, teme."

"Night, dobe."


They were holding back.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as he fought against Sasuke, noting how the boy had a certain stiffness to his movements, almost like he was stopping his body's instinctive movements and replacing them with something different. He noticed the same thing earlier in the test when he'd fought Naruto, but it was more fluid with the blond, like he was used to hiding.

The Uchiha heir threw another punch and purposely overshot it, before jumping back with a forced scowl.

The jounin smirked, hiding the calculation in his gaze expertly.

"Is that all the power of the mighty Uchiha clan?" He taunted and something dark flashed in the child's eyes. A slow smirk crossed the boy's lips and he quickly made a string of hand signs and inhaled.

"Katon: Uchiha Daiendan!"

A blaze of flames left the raven's lips and Kakashi jumped out of the way, his one visible eye widening at the power in the attack. Sasuke's eyes widened as well, as if he hadn't expected the power either. Kakashi smirked.

"Perhaps you are interesting, after all."

The child smirked back.

"Perhaps."


Naruto was furious.

His blue eyes were blazing as he struggled against the rope binding him to the tree stump...AGAIN. Sasuke fought a snicker while Sakura smirked at him. Kakashi stood before them with a pleasant smile.

"Well the good news is that none of you are going back to the academy."

Sakura sighed in relief while Naruto continued to glare at the man.

"You should quit being ninja." The jounin finished and Sasuke faked a scowl. Sakura gasped.

"Sensei?"

The man's smile fell. "None of you managed to get the true purpose of the test. Instead you all decided to go off on your own thinking that you were all so powerful and only thinking about the reasons I gave you. None of you bothered to look underneath the underneath. Can any of you tell me what this test was about?"

Naruto suddenly calmed, eyes flashing with an emotion no one could name.

"Teamwork." He answered softly and Kakashi raised a eyebrow.

"When did you figure it out?"

The blond shrugged and looked away.

"Naruto." He prompted, not giving the boy a chance to opt out of answering. Sasuke glared at him but he ignored the raven haired boy. Naruto didn't look at him and he wondered just why the blond was trying so hard to not answer him.

""I figured it out while you were giving the directions." He finally answered, a soft blush spreading across his scarred cheeks. " I've only seen genin teams with four members; a jounin and three genin. I've never seen any teams with two members unless a member was killed or injured on a mission. Due to that your rules didn't make sense so I concluded that you only set them in place to distract us from the test's true purpose."

Everyone, even Sasuke, stared at the boy in shock and he bit his lip.

'Just how long have you been hiding, Hokage-sama?' The Uchiha thought amazed. He'd known that Naruto had figured out the true purpose the first time too, but this was the first time he'd ever heard just how he had done so.

Kakashi nodded, one of his theories confirmed. The blond jinchuriki was hiding. He was hiding his intellect, his skill, and more. He narrowed his eyes at him. He knew it.

Sakura just stared at him in shock. How the hell had the baka figured it out when her and Sasuke, the two smartest students in their class, hadn't. It just wasn't fair.

The copy-nin cleared his throat, saving the boy from further scrutiny.

"That is exactly right, Naruto. The point of this test is teamwork. If you knew that why didn't you try working with the others?"

Another shrug. "I don't know."

No one called him on the lie, but Kakashi saw Sasuke's eyes narrow at their youngest.

"...Okay. Since one of you managed to figure out the meaning behind the test I'm going to give you one more chance after lunch. Sasuke, Sakura, there are bentos right there. Naruto is not to have any."

This said, he shushined away. As soon as he was gone Naruto slumped in his bonds with a sigh. Sakura grabbed her bento and began to eat but Sasuke moved to sit beside the bound blond. He opened his bento and grabbed one of the onigiri inside, placing it to the younger teen's lips.

"Eat."

Sakura looked up at the command and blinked at her crush in surprise watching as her other team mate shook his head.

" 'm not hungry."

The Uchiha scion glared at him.

"Eat it, Uzumaki." He growled and the kitsune sighed, opening his mouth so that the older could feed him the food. Sakura moved over to them, a look of embarrassment on her face. The two boys stared at her and she blushed, thrusting her bento in Naruto's direction.

"Here, you can have mine too."

The jinchuriki smiled at her and his lips parted so that he could say thank you but thunder sounded before he could.

They all looked up to find Kakashi glaring down at them.

"You all...Pass."

Sakura let out a breath of relief while her comrades sent each other a look. Catching the look, their sensei cleared his throat and gestured to the memorial stone.

"This stone...let this stone serve as a reminder that team mate is one of our villages most important values. Everyone on this stone is a hero. A hero that fought to protect his village and to protect his team mates."

He gave them all a serious look. "Those who break the rules are trash, but those that abandon their comrades are worse than that. No rule or mission is more valuable than the lives of your team mates."

All three genin nodded in comprehension and Naruto stared at the beautifully inscribed monument blankly.

The last name to ever be inscribed on it in his time had been Kakashi's because the village had been destroyed shortly after the former Inu's death. However he could still remember every name on it, even those from generation before his own and he promised himself that he would never see another person he loved have their name engraved on the glossy black structure if he could do anything about it.

TBC...


Katon: Uchiha Daiendan- Fire release: Uchiha Great Flame Sphere