With one final kick, the tree came toppling down, the remaining wood connecting the trunk to the base snapping loudly. The goliath of a plant had been shoved half a meter from its place and, gravity doing what it did best, it lurched to the side and spun slightly as it was pulled to the ground. It landed with a powerful CRASH that made the ground around it tremble. Naruto followed the tree soon after, landing on his sore legs and huffing whilst propping his arms on his knees to keep himself upright. He let out a few coughs as he tried to catch his breath.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto leapt at the new voice, reaching for the weapons on his back; however, he relaxed when he realized it was his other male teammate, who was now leaning against a tree and fixing him with another glower. It took the blond a moment to remember he had been asked a question, and after catching his breath, he replied. "Just getting in a workout, I need to keep my stamina and strength up, you know?"

The other male remained silent for a while, though he did eventually take his hateful stare off Naruto and focused his attention on the toppled tree. He raised an eyebrow. "You kicked that down?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

"Nah," Naruto said as he took a seat on the stump. "It's taking a nappy."

Sasuke's response was a dry stare and an aggravated sigh. "Idiot," he grumbled.

"Well, "ask a stupid question" and all that."

The other kicked himself off from his leaning spot and moved to inspect the fallen birch. "Haven't seen someone break a tree with a kick before," he observed.

"Wait… you think…" the other male barked with laughter, slapping his knees and letting out a few dry coughs. "No, I didn't just kick the whole tree down. That's absurd. Most of the damage was done by these babies," he pointed to the two swords on his back and grinned. "I swear I haven't felt anything cut like they do."

Sasuke studied the tree carefully, mentally noting the smooth slashes in the wood; however, he also found, strangely enough, cuts that were jagged which left splinters and sawdust. He turned his attention back to the blond and his weapons and raised a skeptical brow. Surely no weapons could withstand that kind of abuse and still be left in working condition… though the thought of weapons like that did intrigue him. He held out an expecting hand and spoke firmly. "Let me see them." Once again, he was answered with a bout of laughter. His face twitched in irritation at being laughed at once more by the brainless teen.

Naruto had to use his arms to keep himself up while he let out his loud chortles. He wiped a tear from his eye and stood to stretch, letting out a few more giggles. "Ah, that's funny…" He saw no mirth in the other boy. "Oh shit, you're serious?" the glare he got confirmed that. "No… Kami no. Can you hold Hana and Tsumi? Are you mad?" Despite the Uchiha's seriousness, Naruto's tone still held its humor as he spoke. "Of course you can't, you silly bitch. These are sacred artifacts to my people. Human's aren't meant to hold these. It would be irresponsible, like handing a child a bomb and a match."

Apparently, the Uchiha did not share in the humor. His eyes were set into an intense scowl and his nostrils were flaring. "Don't you dare disrespect me," he snarled.

"Why should I give you any respect at all?" Naruto dared, standing to meet the approaching teen.

The other nearly chocked. "I'm an Uchiha," he retorted.

"And?"

Sasuke's head crooked back in both shock and confusion. Eventually he regained his fury and took a step forward, bringing the gap between the two to half a meter at most. "You claimed to have traveled a lot, and yet you've not heard of the Uchiha clan!?"

Naruto shrugged and picked at his teeth boredly. "Not really," he said with tremendous apathy. "My guardians only talked about you briefly… I think I heard you had a spinny-eye-thing-"

"Sharingan!"

"Right," Naruto deadpanned. "Anyway, I spent most of my life with my own kind, and we don't give two shits about your human clans. There are a lot of shinobi clans. Hell, Konoha is host to at least six other clans. What makes yours so special?"

The other male balked at the sheer gull his "teammate" had to talk with such insolence. "We formed this village, idiot."

"So did the Senju clan," the other retorted. "And only one of them had any special abilities." He sighed and rubbed his forehead with his palm. "Look, if I let you see my weapons, will you drop this? History gives me a headache." He wrapped his hands around the hilts and gave a soft tug, dislodging the blades a few centimeters out.

Sasuke was about to protest, but held his tongue as he saw their argument would go nowhere… at least nowhere that didn't end with Naruto in the hospital. He slumped his shoulders and exhaled. "Whatever, sure," he grumbled. The other boy nodded and removed the weapons, pointing the blades a few inches from each of Sasuke's sides. He didn't react to the close proximity to the katanas' edges. Instead, he calmly bent over to examine the craftsmanship. The first one looked like any standard katana he'd seen before, though the steel was tinted deep ebony. It had a smooth edge that curved at the tip more than standard, making it an ideal slashing weapon. The second, however, was unlike any traditional katana he'd seen. First of all, it was a brilliant ivory shade to contrast the other. Second, its saw-toothed edge was lined with thin, long points that became larger towards the guard. He peered up at Naruto and huffed. "This one's useless as a sword," he commented.

Naruto snarled and sheathed the weapons. "Of course you had to be an ass about it," he grunted. "Tsumi's not meant to be used like other katanas. It's used to lock and jam bladed weapons and leave devastating wounds. Hana is better suited for effortlessly slicing through flesh… maybe bone if I use the right amount of force."

"Whatever," the other stuffed his hands into his pockets and found another tree to lean against. "You'll probably end up breaking them."

"Kami, I hope not," Naruto uttered. "They can take a beating but if they broke…" He visibly quivered as the mental image of Leena's grimace directed down at him followed by some sort of awful threat that she would follow through on came to mind. "I'd probably get the broken end shoved up my…" another shiver.

"You're not what I expected."

"Hm?" the blonde looked up to see the other boy, once again, giving him a cross expression.

"Werewolves," Sasuke explained. "I thought you'd be… different."

"Different how?"

"Less… like you."

Naruto deadpanned. "That doesn't give much to go on. What do you mean by "less me?" Like, less good looking?" he flashed a broad grin. "Less awe inspiring?"

The other boy huffed. "I thought you'd take being a shinobi seriously."

"What?" Naruto cocked his head with a raised brow. "I take it seriously. If I didn't, I wouldn't have become one."

"You don't act like a ninja," Sasuke stated flatly.

"Why, because I have a sense of humor? Sorry to ruin your idea of us, but I actually enjoy having fun." He huffed and sat cross-legged. "At least you act like what I thought an Uchiha would be," he grumbled. Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say.

The other boy stormed over with another furious look. "What was that about clan Uchiha?" he asked in a low, cold tone.

"You act exactly what I thought an Uchiha would," Naruto repeated. "I said my guardians talked about your clan shortly, and what they told me was that you're clan was one of many prestigious and respected groups in the shinobi world, especially within the Fire Country." The other male nodded in confirmation, something of a smile nearly threatening to tug at his lips. "But," Naruto stood to meet the boy's gaze, despite being a few inches shorter than him. "They also said that a good many of them were arrogant. The clan head, your father, was not talked about nicely."

That was defiantly the wrong thing to say. Sasuke wordlessly reared his leg and delivered a powerful kick into Naruto's ribs. The blond was sent rolling a few meters. When his world stopped spinning, he brought his hands to clutch at the wounded area. He heard the Uchiha was violent, but he didn't think he'd actually attack a teammate. Though he supposed it didn't help that he flat out mocked his dead family. 'Shit,' he thought bitterly. 'I'm actually in the wrong here… aren't I? Fuck. That means I have to…' He hadn't noticed that his attacker was slowly making his way over, possibly getting ready to give him another kick. "Right," Naruto grunted out through gritted teeth. "I deserved that." He moved into a sitting position, carefully nursing his side. "That was a shithead thing to say… sorry."

Sasuke didn't react to the apology as he took out a kunai and knelt down, his armed hand resting lazily on his knee. "I saw them die," he whispered hoarsely, gripping the blade tight. "I was betrayed. Now I'm the last of my clan."

"So am I," Naruto said painfully.

The other male finally showed some reaction when his eyes widened, only to turn quizzical. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

Naruto gave him something of a melancholy expression somewhat veiled behind a smile. "Werewolves have Packs," his voice was low and held a hint of heartache to its tone. "That's the equivalent to your ninja clans. Mine is… was known as the Burning Stars. We once numbered in the hundreds, but most of them died of… of a problem we have. The rest were wiped out by W-" he paused momentarily to think. "By someone we trusted," he sighed. "Only my father survived and he… he died shortly after my birth." Naruto closed his eyes to allow himself a better way to picture his guardians and let his smile turn genuine. "I can't say I know what it's like to grow up alone. It had to have felt overwhelming, I'm assuming. I was raised by two of my own kind. I don't know if they were as loving as parents should be, I've never really had any, but they were good people. But even though they're sort of like family, I can't shake this feeling of emptiness when I think about my situation." He opened his eyes and became thankful that his assailant had put away his weapon.

Sasuke leveled Naruto with a studying look, trying to search his body motions and eyes for any falsehood. He was surprised to realize that the blond was speaking the truth, or he was a good liar. 'But why would he lie about something like that?' he thought. 'He has no reason to make something like that up…' He grunted when standing up and wordlessly headed back to a tree to lean against. Right now, he needed time to think.

Sakura eventually joined the two in the field, greeting them both with a shout and a wave. It didn't take a genius to see something was up between the two males, as they were both purposefully sitting facing away from one another; however, she shook the thought off and approached the raven haired male first. "Hey Sasuke," she said with deep blush overtaking her cheeks. The male of her dreams grunted and looked off into the distance. Sakura's confidence faltered before she continued. "Do uh… did you want to grab something to eat after this?"

"No," he said coldly, not moving his attention from whatever he was glaring at.

She deflated and nodded solemnly. "Oh… okay, maybe next time." She tried to look at what Sasuke was staring at, but all she saw was thick forest. "What're you looking at?"

"Nothing," he replied in the same detached voice. He made something between a grunt and sigh and turned his eyes to her momentarily. "Why don't you go bother the idiot?"

"I heard that!" called the aforementioned idiot.

Sasuke didn't look over as he replied. "Good."

Sakura looked between the two once more and cocked her head. "Is everything okay?" She received no reply. Her chest heaved with a heavy sigh and she trudged over to the other male, squatting down to meet his eyes. "Is everything okay?" she repeated the question.

Naruto shrugged. "Not really, we just don't get along."

"I can see that."

"Well, he's easy to hate with his general assho-" WHACK! "OW!" he cried, rubbing his aching head. "What was that for?!"

"Baka," she hissed. "Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that!"

Naruto fixed her with a stern glare. "Sakura," he said lowly. "We're two teenage males with careers fraught with fighting, we're not gonna get along some, if not most, of the time. You're gonna have to get used to he and I arguing with each other. Look," he let out a tired sigh, "I get it, you like him-"

"Love." She corrected in a tight whisper.

"Riiiight," he deadpanned. "You love him, I get that. Well, I don't, and it's hardly fair for you to chastise me for treating him the way I would someone I don't like. And you especially shouldn't strike me. I eat most of my food alive or just after it's died. Would, it be fair if I were to hit and shout at you if you showed disgust with my eating habits?" He stood up and stretched his back out. "Look, I like you. You've got a lot of potential for a human and despite what you may think, you're one hell of a cook. You're also fun to talk with occasionally. I'd like to be not just your teammate but your friend, but it's kinda hard if you can't give me any wriggle room when we talk about him.

Sakura's face lost its harsh features and drooped into a shameful frown. She looked at the ground and kicked at the dirt. "Sorry," she murmured. "You seem like nice person too… but I really don't like hearing you bash someone I love." She looked up at him and her expression softened. "Just… try not to be so… explicit when you talk about him in our conversations. I get the whole, "male dominance" thing, but please don't go too far with it. I'd hate to have to pick sides, because I-"

He cut in. "I know."

She seemed to gauge him for a moment before smiling and nodding. "Alright, I'll try to hold my temper, and maybe try to avoid the subject if I can, and you try to lighten up on attacking Sasuke-kun." Sakura held out an open hand. "Deal?"

"Deal," Naruto said, accepting the hand.

Sakura gave him a firm shake that for some reason made him bite his lip and whimper. "You okay?" she asked. He responded with a nod while nursing his hand. She shrugged and took a seat on a newly cut stump. "What's with the tree?" she asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes and laughed. "Well…"

Two hours. They had been waiting there for two hours with no sign of Kakashi. The midsummer sun had long since risen, and yet there they sat – or in Sasuke's case, leaned – waiting for their instructor. It wouldn't have been that bad had they all gotten a nap in that time, or at the very least, something to eat! Their stomachs nearly growled in unison every now and then. This would result with the two sitting members clutching their bellies and giving one another grim expressions.

"Fuck it," Naruto said, standing. He immediately regretted it as the blood rushed from his head. A dizzy feeling over took him for a moment too long and he had to stabilize himself on his knees before he could get his bearings. "Gah," he let out a gob of spit and squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm going hunting, do you guys want anything?"

The other two gave him quizzical looks, but it was his female teammate that said what they were both thinking. "We're not supposed to eat."

Naruto slowly rose back up and let out a grunt. "Yeah, and he was supposed to be here at five, guess we're both bad at sticking to rules. Now, I repeat: do you two want anything?"

Sakura kept her confused expression. "Like what," she questioned.

"I spotted a whitetail in training ground five on my way here," he moved towards the dense thicket. "Figure I'll be a half hour to an hour."

The other balked and shook her head. "I don't think I could eat a third of a dear."

"You wouldn't," he corrected. "I'd get the lion's share since I'm the one hunting. Now, can you start a fire while I'm away? I'd offer to let you come along… but…"

"But?" She repeated.

Naruto scratched the back of his head and took a step backwards into the woods. "You two would probably slow me down." His two teammates gave him nasty looks and he held up his hands defensively. "I'm a lot faster than you two in my bestial form."

Sakura's expression changed to one of shock. "Whoa whoa wait. You're going to change? As in, you're going to change your shape?"

The blond gave her a puzzled look and nodded slowly. "Yeah… why?"

"I'd like to see it," Sasuke said, breaking his two hour silence.

Naruto raised a brow at that then shook his head. "Nah, I want our first time to be special," he said with badly contained humor in his tone. His team returned to glaring at him, though he paid it little heed as he gave them a quick wave. "Be right back."

True to his word, Naruto returned to the training area in an hour's time, dragging behind him a large, brown animal which left a trail of blood in its wake. To his pleasant surprise, Sakura had indeed set a fire up and was in the middle of tending it when he emerged from the brush. She greeted him with a smile that immediately vanished when she saw his blood caked face. He only realized what she was looking at after tossing the lifeless animal a few feet from the fire. "What?" he asked in a tone that suggested offence. "I'm a Werewolf; can't I grab a few bites before dragging it back?"

"That's not the problem, idiot!" she shrieked. "Your mouth and jaw are covered in blood!"

Naruto placed a hand on his face and noted when he took it back that it did indeed have red on it. "Oh," he said. "So it is… well, let's dig in."

"Aren't you going to clean yourself off first?"

"Nah," he waved. "I'm only going to get my face dirty. 'Sides, there's a stream a few yards off. I'll clean up after I've had my fill. Now… where's the ass- er, Sasuke?"

Sakura pointed behind her into another heavily wooded area. "He said he'd get some more firewood. Seriously though, you should clean your face."

"Why?"

"I don't want to have to look at that when I'm eating!" she hollered.

"Sakura… almost all of the food I eat is raw," he deadpanned. "That's the way I like it."

"Oh," she covered her mouth as if to hold back something she was about to say. "Well… well, I just thought since you enjoyed my cooking so much that you…"

"Don't get me wrong," Naruto said, squatting in front of the animal with a knife, quickly slicing it from crotch to sternum and proceeding to skin it. "I love cooked meat as much as the next guy. But we, Werewolves, are wild animals at heart. That means we've grown accustomed to raw meat."

"Couldn't you… I don't know, just eat cooked meat instead?" She asked hesitantly.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess…" he gave her a slightly saddened face. "Does it bother you so much that I'd have to give up raw meat?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No, it doesn't. It's just a little… unsettling to see your face like that."

"It's gonna be like this a lot," he replied dryly. "We're shinobi now. Not everyone likes to admit it, but at some point, we're going to have to kill someone else. It'll probably be other ninja." His expression turned more melancholy as he paused in his actions to think.

A strong silence fell over the area, only broken by the crackling fire and the occasional sound of Naruto's knife scraping against bone. Sakura was staring at her male comrade with a concerned look. He sounded so far away when he spoke, like he had… "Naruto?" He bobbed his head to indicate he was listening. She swallowed a small lump that had grown in her throat as she thought how to ask this. It wasn't something you ask anyone. "Have… have you killed someone before?"

Naruto once again stopped cutting as his body visibly jolted by the question. It was a long while before he replied. "Yes." It came out so quiet and horse that Sakura didn't know whether he had said anything at all. "I have," he spoke a bit louder. "Last count was… eight. The last one was well over a year ago."

"Who-" she clasped her mouth shut and screamed at herself for asking.

"A Genin," he answered. "He and a Jonin left their village. Don't know why. They never said. They saw us on the road and figured we were civs, and thus easy targets. My guardians took the Jonin, I went after the Genin." He paused to look Sakura in the eyes. His seemed more dull than they had been the last time she'd seen them. "Iwagakure trains their ninjas young, Sakura. He was… donno, twelve at best."

"Oh Kami…" She felt a sickness in her gut at hearing that. "Do you… do you ever get used to it?"

He shook his head and returned to slicing the flank. "I wouldn't say you don't get used to it so much as you just sorta… grow numb. You stop feeling anything during the act, which can be real scary at first. Not everyone feels the same about it, though. But personally? I just don't care anymore. My guardians saw to my desensitization towards ultra violence long ago. They said that with time, killing other people will be just another chore, like taking out the trash." Naruto stood with two particularly choice cuts and turned to face his teammate. It was then that he noticed Sakura was sniffling and had a sickened look about her. 'Shit,' he cursed himself. 'Way to bring down the mood, dumbass. Gotta think of a change of subject. Something a little less depressing…' He sat opposite to her and began to skewer the meat when an idea came to mind. "You ever go hunting?"

"Snhuh?" The sound she made was an odd combination of sniffling and confusion that sent a pang of guilt through Naruto's gut. "Um… yeah. My mother took me outside the village on a few trips."

"Oh yeah, what'd you hunt?" 'Yes, change the subject to something less depressing.'

Before she could answer, a pile of loose twigs and branches plopped next to the fire. The two looked up to see Sasuke greeting them with another apathetic stare. He took his seat before the collected wood and held his hand out expectantly towards Naruto. The blond caught on fast and handed him the skewered meat.

"Mostly rabbits," Sakura continued. "Though we did get the odd deer." She continued to talk for a while about her time hunting, a topic Naruto took some interest in as he occasionally went to tear a piece off his kill.

Two more hours passed before Kakashi finally showed up. The way he entered had to be with the use of some sort of Genjutsu, since none of the three shinobi had seen nor heard him approach until he spoke up. He had appeared - or maybe he had been there the whole time - between Sakura and Sasuke by the fire, orange book in hand and single eye lazily examining the area. Needless to say, the three teens nearly had heart attacks at the sudden appearance of their Sensei.

Naruto was the first to speak something other than a startled yelp. "What the fuck?!" he exclaimed. Unlike his teammates who had the luxury of having nothing stopping them when they stumbled back onto their feet, Naruto had decided to keep his food close. This resulted in him attempting to roll back onto his feet, only to fall into a pile of half-eaten deer guts.

Kakashi gave the group a slow once over before resting his gaze on the blond. "I see you got something to eat despite my suggestion," he commented.

The other male grunted as he pulled himself from the hollowed remains with a sickening "shlorp!" and fixed his sensei with an intense glare. "Yeah, well, you were supposed to be here at five," he retorted whilst trying and failing to brush the gore from his body. "Guess we're both bad at taking orders."

The Jonin didn't seem to react to the blatant disrespect. He simply kept his gaze on the boy and replied, "Well a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way." The excuse went as well as one would think, as the two other Genin joined Naruto in glaring. "Well…"Kakashi awkwardly coughed into his fist. "Let's get started, shall we?" He placed a small clock on the broken stump and held up a pair of bells on string. "Your final test is to take these."

"Final test?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi nodded and pressed the top of the clock, making it begin to tick. "That test at the academe is only meant to weed out those unfit to become shinobi."

"It does a piss poor job at doing that," Naruto commented.

"However," the Jonin continued. "Each team is given a test with a Jonin to determine whether they are ready to become ninja. Each Jonin gives a different test. Mine requires you to take these bells from me. You have one hour to do this. By the end of that hour, whoever is holding a bell will pass, those without one will be sent back to the academe for another six months."

"Wait," Sakura said with a puzzled tone. "There's only two bells, and three of us."

"That's right, Sakura," Kakashi said, giving the bells a little shake. "Only two of you will pass, the other will have to go back to the academe. Now, I'd suggest you come at me as if you intended to kill me, otherwise this will be a quick test." He gave them a strange look that may have been a smile. "You can start whenever you're ready, the clock is ticking."

The three Genin gave each other quick glances before speedily leaping into the underbrush on opposite sides.

Kakashi shrugged and moved to grab his book once more; however, his hand ceased its movement when a low growl emitting from the undergrowth reached his ears. He had just enough time to look up to see a massive gold furred beast wrapped in leather armor barreling out from the trees and making a mad dash towards him. He let out a sigh and clasped his book pocket. "I didn't think you'd come out this soon," he said with heavy disappointment. The snarling beast closed the short distance between them and brought its claws up to slash out the Jonin's chest. Kakashi quickly stepped to the side and took hold of the animal's wrist and forcefully brought his free hand in a fast uppercut to the creature's gut. The beast's eyes went wide with pain and it fell to the ground, letting out a dry heave before emptying its stomach full of meat and guts. "I told you you'd throw up," he chastised.

"Shut up," Naruto rumbled in his low tone. He let out a few more coughs before standing up, only to have the back of his skull hit with a sudden pain as Kakashi brought his elbow down on him and proceeded to send him soaring back into the woods with a swift kick to the chest. Naruto barely managed to find his bearings upon his landing when the Jonin appeared at his side. He tried to bring his claws up once more to slash at anything, but the experienced Shinobi once again moved aside, grabbing him by the wrist once more and hurling the teen over his shoulder and into a tree hard enough to crack both the wood and Naruto's spine.

"You're supposed to fight me with the intent to kill," Kakashi drawled as he slowly approached the boy. "Obviously, it would be unfair if I did the same against Genin just out of the academe, but you can take a lot more abuse." At the last word, he reared his foot back a few feet and prepared to send Naruto flying once more; however, his leg was caught mid kick by a scruffy hand protruding from the ground. Naruto - another Naruto - sprung from the earth, yanking on his teacher's ankle and pulling him to the ground and away from the injured beast opposite him. Naruto opened his mouth to say something as he brought Kakashi under him, but stopped as a Kunai was driven into his chest. The beast immediately vanished with a puff of smoke, leaving a slightly winded Kakashi lying on the ground, gripping a knife tightly. He pushed himself up and turned to see Naruto missing. "Clever," he whispered to himself.

Several hundred feet away, nestled uncomfortably in the underbrush sat the real Naruto and a second Clone. The latter was tending to the quickly healing wounds of the former. "What took you so long?" the injured teen whispered hoarsely. The collision with the tree had done far more damage than he had thought, as multiple vertebrae were shattered by the impact. While most broken limbs could repair themselves fairly quickly, bones located in nerve heavy areas - such as the knees, fingers, and elbows - took a great amount of time and chakra to fix properly. It was because of this that Naruto required another Clone to drag him off as he could not use his legs.

The Clone shrugged as he carefully wrapped the bleeding wounds in bandages. "I took the scenic route," he replied.

This response earned him a moment of slack jawed shock from Naruto, which was promptly replaced with a look caught between confusion and anger. "Took the scenic route?!" Naruto hissed. "That psychotic bastard broke my spine and sent me barreling ass-over-teakettle, and you took the scenic route?!"

"I wanted to check where Sasuke and Sakura had hidden," the Clone replied calmly.

"I could have figured that out," Naruto shot back. "The plan was to circle around and attack him from all sides, not dick around looking for the humans."

"If you're going to be a shithead about this then I'll just leave." The Clone stood up after tying up another bandage.

Naruto balked at this. "Leave? Leave whe… asshole, I made you. You can't leave!"

"Sure I can," the other countered with another shrug. "What are you going to do? It'll be a while of healing without medical aid to get back up to full strength, unless you want to burn the Chakra to speed it up, but we both know that's not smart. I'll win this thing without you."

Naruto gave the other a harsh look. "No, you shitheel, you won't. I can dispel you if I want, and you can't take a hit like I can." He used his arm to shift his weight so he could lay on his side. "Now, if you're done acting like a dick, can you pop my spine back in place? I think he dislocated my tail."

The Clone grunted but did as requested, carefully placing pressure on the afflicted area. As the bones cracked and popped into place, he caught something in the corner of his eye. "I don't believe this…"

"What?" Naruto craned his neck to try and see what had distracted his Clone. The other simply pointed off into the clearing in the training ground. His eyes widened in wonder as they set upon a tiny bell resting at the base of a tree.

As if sensing his "master's" thoughts, the Clone whispered, "A trap."

Naruto made a sound like a grunt and nodded. "No doubt Kakashi's waiting nearby to mock me if I fall into it."

"It's probably a noose trap, given the close proximity to the tree. That, or a well hidden pit."

"Exactly," Naruto nodded. "As soon as I'm up and good, you head underground. I'll play along, get caught, then you can grab the bell from the ground." He didn't receive a reply, though it was safe to assume it agreed with him as it immediately took to the underground.

He shifted onto his stomach and focused on the task of repairing the damage. The thought of Kakashi's brutal strikes hung in the back of his mind like a bad tang in his mouth. He wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating the Jonin again. Not unless he wanted another shattered disk.

Once he regained movement, he pushed himself from the ground and twisted his body left to right in hopes of alleviating the tight pains that ran through his healing back. Several uncomfortable cracks told him he wasn't going to lessen the pain anymore, making him grunt with indignation and make his way towards the obvious trap. As soon as he entered the clearing, his nose picked up his comrades' scents. Sakura was a good distance away north to north-east, or that's where the faint smell was coming from. Sasuke, on the other hand had his scent all over the place, making it difficult to figure out his position based on smell. 'Must be trying to stay out of sight from me and Kakashi… clever, Uchiha.'

"Looks like Kakashi dropped the bell," Naruto announced. "Well, guess I'll be passing this silly little test." He knelt down to grab the bell, which by now he could see was a silver painted acorn. It was unlikely Kakashi would use the actual bell as bait on the off chance Naruto actually retrieved it. As he expected, something tightened around his legs, slicing into his fur and flesh and hoisting him ten feet into the air. "What?!" he shouted in surprise and pain. "A Wire trap!? The fuck is wrong with you, Sensei!? What if Uchiha or Sakura stepped in this!? I can feel the wire on my bones, you sick bastard!"

"You really shouldn't talk like that to your Sensei," Kakashi said from bellow. He looked up at Naruto's dangling form with what was likely a smile as the teen shouted more profanities at him. "Honestly, Falling for a trap lik-" his mocking tone was cut off when another Naruto grabbed his ankles from underground and yanked him down to neck level.

"What was that you were saying?" the Naruto from the tree said smarmily. "I couldn't hear you over you falling for my trap!"

"That was lame," commented the Clone. "I expected him to catch me."

"Whatever, just help me get down from here will… y…ou…"

"What?" the Clone asked. "Do I have something on me or… oh shit, he's behind me, isn't he?" When he received a nod, the Clone ceased to exist as a kunai entered his skull, leaving nothing but a puff of smoke that drifted off into the wind.

"I'll admit," Kakashi said, twirling the knife in between his fingers. "I didn't expect that. I thought you'd get down to try and attack me, which is why I sent a Clone out in my stead." At this, he looked to the now smoke filled hole his Clone had occupied.

Naruto snarled at the cocky man. "Eat. My. Di-"

Shthunk!

He had been interrupted when several shuriken came flying from the canopy and pinned Kakashi to the tree from the side, having come in on the Jonin's blind spot. From the trees appeared Sasuke with a kunai in each hand making a dash towards the tree.

"Kami, Uchiha," Naruto shouted. "I think you killed him!"

Sasuke ignored his teammate's commotion. He skidded to a stop where he had seen Kakashi, only to see a log with his shuriken embedded into it.

"That log had a family," Naruto said through his smile. He received a glare from the other boy which made his grin widen. "Your expression helps me power through the pain of having razor wire slicing into my legs, and I think you can take comfort in tha- hey, where're you going? You can't leave me up here next the scene of a murder! For Kami's sake, man, at least give him a proper burial! It's the least you can- and he's gone…" He let out a huff as he twisted himself upwards to cut the wire around his legs. This proved to be a mistake as his head met a particularly large tree root, making his world go black.

When he eventually came to, Naruto found his vision blocked by some sort of wet fabric pressing on his face. He reached to pull it off, but was halted when a set of hands firmly held his wrist. "You'll want to give it some time," said a voice he recognized, though his rattled mind was having trouble pinning a face to the sound.

"Head hit," he mumbled. The words were difficult to say, coming out slow and breathy. "Tree Kakashi." Another failed attempt at speech made him resign to wait for the pounding in his skull to cease.

"Yes, you fell from a good height after Kakashi-sensei trapped you," the voice replied. The wet fabric was removed and immediately replaced with a soothingly cooler one. "Your uh… your head was… open and bleeding. I managed to carry you off while Sasuke-Kun fought Kakashi in the other clearing. I… I don't think they noticed us."

That was right. He had walked into Kakashi's trap knowingly, then his own trap failed and Sasuke had attacked what seemed like Kakashi before running off. Then Naruto cut the wire holding him and… "Ow," he whispered.

"Yeah, it still looks pretty sore," the voice agreed. Sakura! That's why it sounded so familiar.

"Thanks," Naruto said through his teeth, trying in vain to sit up.

"You should give it some more time, the wound is still tender."

He shook his head, though stopped doing so after another pang ran through his skull. "Jus need to focus on healing it." He looked down to let the towel flop onto his lap and tensed when he saw he was still in his bestial form. "You dragged a one hundred and eighty six kilogram werewolf by yourself?"

Sakura shook her head at the question. "Kami no! Dragging someone with a head injury would be awful! I carried you after placing a brace made from twigs and cloth on your head and bandaging the injury."

"You carried me?!" he balked, wincing as his head reminded him of the pain still present. "How'd-" his answer became clear after looking to his teammate's arms. The muscles and skin above them were reddened and twitching in odd spasms that, if her facial expressions were any indicator, were causing a great deal of pain. "You… you bolstered your strength using Chakra, didn't you?" the shameful nod he received made his heart sink. "You do know using Chakra to enhance your body has serious drawbacks, right?"

"It's one of the first things they teach us in school," she replied. "It's fine, Naruto, I can take the pain. It's not the first time I've had to do this."

"Do you normally use enough to cause inflammation and muscle spasms?" he pressed. His expression softened, however, when he noticed the shameful look she had. "Sakura, it's fine to use in small amounts when your body can handle the pain, but you can't do something that foolhardy for my sake. I can heal from sever muscle damage, you can't. I don't want my teammates getting themselves hurt or, kami forbid, crippled trying to help me when they don't need to. Just… just drag me or leave me next time, I can take it, alright?" his companion gave a nod, making him smile. "Good… you're taking your first time seeing me like this well…"

Sakura replied with a nervous laugh and looked off anywhere but at him as she admitted, "Actually… I kind of… almost screamed when you came out of the woods after Kakashi-sensei."

Naruto's ears flattened against his skull in embarrassment. "I can change back," he offered.

"Could you? It's hard to talk to you when you're like… this"

He nodded and stretched himself out. "You might want to plug your ears, the sounds can be unpleasant." She took the warning and closed her eyes and crammed her fingers in her ears, opening them moments later when he tapped her shoulder. Naruto had returned to the ragged teen she had been used to seeing. "Now… when you're ready, go get Sasuke and bring him here. We need to form a plan of attack if we want those bells."

When Sakura returned with her other male teammate, Naruto burst into laughter at the sight of the dirt covered teen. "He got you with the same trap I tried on him! And you fell for it?!" his guffaws went on and on until he received a swift flick to the ear by Sakura, making him wince and glare at her. "Fine, fine… let's forget about "the great Uchiha" falling into a trap I showed him only momen- ow! Okay, I'll stop!"he pushed himself up to sit before his teammates, rubbing his sore ear. "Look, we're getting nowhere fighting him one on one. What we need is a carefully coordinated plan of attack; keep him surrounded and unable to escape. I've an idea, but I'll need both of you to work with me on this"

"I can do it on my own-"

"Uchiha, I am not having your shit right now," Naruto interrupted with a snarl. "We could deal with him if he was another Genin, but he's not. This is a hardened Jonin trained by the forth Hokage. You're strong, but you're not that strong." His words didn't seem to sink in with the other male, so he breathed out to try and calm himself and try again. "Look, what do either of you know about Werewolf Packs?"

Both looked at each other in confusion, wracking their brains for an answer. "They can come in groups of three to ten?" Sakura offered.

"Yes, but that's not what I was getting at. A Pack is similar to a Ninja team in that both are strongest when the group as a whole works together flawlessly. In the Pack, it's never you versus the enemy; rather, you're part of something larger and greater than yourself while fighting the enemy." He fixed them with a stern look of conviction so as to give greater effect to his next words. "Whether I like it or not, you're my Pack and I'm not going to see us fail. I refuse it." A silence hung in the air for the longest time as the words sunk in, the meaning and sincerity behind them hit hard. For a moment, it seemed things had become awkward between them as Sakura and Sasuke looked from one another to their other teammate.

However, the quiet was finally broken when the two looked at Naruto with renewed understanding of the situation, and Sakura replied, "Alright… so what's the plan?"

Kakashi stood on open ground near a set of logs embedded into the ground. Last he'd checked, the timer had fifteen minutes left until noon. If his students couldn't figure out how to get the bells by then, he'd give them another hour or two after lunch. Hopefully they'd understand the point of the test before then, though his faith in that actually happening was dwindling every time one of them came out to fight one on one. 'Speaking of which,' he thought dourly when Naruto appeared in his line of sight. The boy had forsaken his larger form and taken to using his odd weapons as he charged. Kakashi groaned internally at the teen and sidestepped his attempt to cut at him… then Naruto exploded in a puff of smoke that filled Kakashi's lungs and clouded his eye. "Really?" he complained, rubbing the smoke from his eye. "That's a little juvenile, even… for… you…" his words became difficult to say as his returning vision revealed an army of Narutos, Sakuras, and Sasukes surrounding him. "What-" was all he could say before the horde charged him with weapons drawn.

Eight Narutos came at him from the front while four Sasukes and six Sakuras rushed him from behind. A simple Kawarimi no Jutsu allowed him to switch with one of the Narutos and make a dash for the forest. His plan was squashed, however, as more and more came running from all directions. One of the Sakuras had managed to get under him to reach for a bell, which he responded to with a swift kick to the chest… that went through her as if she weren't there. Just like with Naruto before this madness began, she erupted in a puff of smoke. 'KAge Bunshins and regular Bunshins,' he realized. 'Which ones are the real ones? Only way to find out…' Kakashi went to reach for his headband, only to be stopped when the swarm came in with intent to impale him on their swords and knives.

"NO CHEATING!" the horde shouted as they fell upon what used to be Kakashi, but was now a well destroyed log.

Kakashi had never had to use the Kawarimi this many times in combat before in his life. Whenever his feet found purchase, it would be short lived as he'd replace himself with another chunk of wood or a Clone. The swarm gave him no rest, changing direction as soon as he reappeared. If he had even a second of time to spare, Kakashi could concentrate on replacing himself with something further away, or even create some clones of his own. Using the Shunshin wouldn't work without room for him to move through, and the mass of Clones kept him from gaining any wriggle room.

Eventually, through the grace of the divine, an opening presented itself in the form of three seconds of time to plan when the horde left an opening. Kakashi took this advantage for what he could, and immediately tossed several exploding tags out around him, then promptly replaced himself with one of the many Narutos. The explosions rang out, ripping up the earth and Clones. With a large chunk of space left open, Kakashi wasted little time getting there before the gap was closed. Another Kawarimi and Shunshin got him in the center of the torn area. All he needed to do was lift his headband and-

"Surprise!"

The ground around him tore itself asunder as several copies of his students burst upwards, swords and knives ready. Sadly, for them, their surprise had come a bit too late, as Kakashi's crimson red eye showed itself, and he was gone in a puff of smoke. Their teacher weaved through the horde as if he were the wind itself, striking those he knew to be either Shadow Clones or his real students and ignoring the regular Clones as they dispersed at the lightest touch. To his surprise, most of the swarm that had tried to envelope him were regular Bunshins. With this knowledge, making his way to open ground was easy. Occasionally his students would come from the earth, but the Sharringan allowed him to see them coming before they even broke the surface.

Eventually, he had made it to an open area that allowed him more than enough time to prepare a Jutsu; however, when he turned to meet the oncoming mass, a loud beeping rang out through the area, making the Clones' shoulders slump in defeat. Time was up, it was now noon. The horde dispersed, leaving three dreary looking teens. "Fuck!" shouted Naruto, eyes turning yellow and claws tearing up the nearest tree bark. "We were so close! Cheating bastard!"

"How do you have the Sharingan!?" demanded Sasuke.

Sakura was silent, torn between wanting to break into tears and joining Naruto in his anger.

Kakashi was taken aback. "You actually worked together?" he asked, placing his headband back down. He didn't receive a reply for some time as the blond member of the team continued his tantrum on the nearby flora while his teammates watched, so Kakashi asked once again loudly.

Naruto stopped his little rampage to turn his attention back on his teacher. "Huh?" Kakashi repeated the question once more, receiving confused looks from the team. "Well, fighting you one on one wouldn't work out," Naruto explained. "So I came up with a plan-"

"Your plan was awful," Sakura cut in. "You wanted us to fight him without thought or strategy!"

"Fine," Naruto grunted. "We came up with a plan. And it almost worked until you cheated."

"Again," Sasuke spoke up, still glaring daggers at Kakashi. "How do you have the Sharingan?"

"Later," Naruto interrupted, and then returned his resentful glower back at his teacher. "Then I suggested I use a ton of Clones, which Sakura proposed I make them look like all of us to confuse you. The Meat," he nodded his head towards Sasuke, "said we could send some underground after you, keep you on the move so you couldn't use Jutsus or cheat."

Kakashi was once again shocked at his students. Despite the way the two boys argued, they managed to work together on a coordinated plan. However, this didn't mean they had come to understand to point of the test. Yes, they worked together, but that didn't mean they'd do the same when in an actual fight with robbers or other ninja. He needed to make sure they understood the lesson Obito taught him. "I'll tell you what," he began. "I'll give each of you another chance to take the bells, an additional two hours." That got their attention. "I'll let you eat lunch for half an hour, then we'll try again."

"I have a better idea," Naruto said as he and his teammates smiled, each revealing three sets of sharpened teeth, then burst in three puffs of smoke. Kakashi's eye widened at the sight. He tried to step back, only to find himself held down at the legs. Naruto and Sasuke had gotten behind him pinning his legs, the latter holding a knife to his inner thigh where the femoral artery laid and the former with his teeth positioned to tear a chunk from the calf he held. Behind the boys laid a small pit of what appeared to be sand. He was going to chastise their odd attempt to attack him when the ground under him erupted in a light shower of rock and dirt. A pale hand shot from the small opening and grabbed hold of the bells and tore them from his belt, then returned to the underground. Moments later, Sakura crawled through the hole behind Naruto and Sasuke, who let Kakashi go and joined their teammate.

"Nicely done," Naruto declared happily.

Once again, Kakashi was surprised, though it was not long lasting as he cleared his throat to get their attention. His brow was knit with frustration as he tried to think how to address them. Yes they got the bells, but they were too late and he still had doubts that they actually learned the lesson. "You realize," he began while pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. "that just because you managed to get the bells-"

"You're gonna say that we were too late, right?" Naruto finished. Kakashi simply nodded and continued to keep his hand to his face to try and ease the irritation. Naruto kept grinning, then walked over to the clock, picked it up, and brought it over to his teacher. "Check the time."

Kakashi pried his eyes open slowly to see the time. His eyes then widened in shock as the time keeper read, "11:58." "What?" was all he could think to say.

Naruto's humorous grin persisted as he explained. "We reset the timer to go off five minutes before twelve," his voice barely restrained the laughter waiting to escape him. "See, the Clones were actually meant as plan A, whereas plan B was to get them to herd you towards our trap. Sasuke suggested I use my Earth Jutsu to soften the ground so we could get you from behind without having to "explode" from the dirt. Sakura stayed close by to listen where you'd be held down so she could take the bells. As soon as the timer went off, I popped my head out nearby to wait for you to put your headband back so we could move undetected underground."

"You changed the timer…" Kakashi couldn't believe what he was hearing. Never in the bell test had anyone actually messed with the clock. No one had managed to get the bells on the first run either. For a moment, he was at a loss for words. That is until he remembered something vital to the test, and he had to repress the need to smile back at the cocky teen grinning at him. "Well, looks like you did it," he said calmly. "Now… who gets the bells, and who goes back to the academe?"

The smiles on the teens' faces vanished in an instant, replaced with shock. Both boys turned to their female teammate holding the bells, making her jump. Sakura's stomach churned as she realized the decision she had to make. She could give a bell to her friend Naruto, or to Sasuke, the boy she loved. The sickening feeling in her gut intensified as she looked between the two trying to think of another way. Her eyes burned with frightened tears as she had to decide to betray a new friend, or ruin her chances of being with the person she loved. Sakura's mind raced trying to think up a solution, some way for all of them to be together. She wanted to stay with this team after seeing how well they did together, but now… now she had to send one of them off. "I…" she choked, tears rolling down her face.

Naruto sighed, though it didn't come off as frustration with her indecision, but more like him understanding what would happen. 'She can't choose, and it's tearing her up inside to even think about betraying us…' He walked forward with a grim smile on his face. He knew what he had to do. 'Good luck, Sakura, Sasuke,' he thought as he approached Sakura. "Sakura, I-" his words were halted when she handed him a bell, then she gave the other to Sasuke. Both boys' stared bewildered at their female teammate who continued to shed tears.

"It's okay," she said shakily, wiping her face with her forearm and giving a forced grin. "We did pretty awesome together, like a Pack! I got to be part of something bigger and greater than myself and th-" her voice cracked, causing her to cough to try and clear her throat. The coughing awkwardly transitioned into small bouts of laughter that made the two boys uncomfortable. Eventually, she stopped her titters and tried to continued while her eyes were drying up. "That was fun. I loved working with you guys, planning and sneaking about like… like real Shinobi. But I won't be able to keep up with you two, an- and I don't want to make either of you angry. I might be alone… but I'll be fine at the academe." Once again, she forced an unconvincing smile on to hide the pain.

To say Naruto hadn't expected that would have been a massive understatement. There he was, ready to let her and Sasuke go on without him when she performs an act of self sacrifice that he'd never expected from a human. She was willing to let go of what was likely her dream so she wouldn't hold him or the one she loved back. Part of him wanted to thank her for doing this for her. But another part, the one that won out in his decision of what to do, screamed at him to do something else. Naruto smiled at the girl and tossed the bell to Sasuke. Both his teammates looked at him in surprise. "Aw ,quite crying Sakura-chan," he said happily. "I'm not gonna leave you to another six months of the academe hell alone."

"Bu-"

"We'll kick the ass of whoever they assign us next, an we'll do it like a Pack." He held his hand out to shake, however, he was surprised when the girl slammed rather painfully into him with a tight embrace and a slurry of several, thank yous. "'ts no problem," he managed to whisper out despite the crushing hug.

After Sakura released him from her grasp, they turned their attention to Sasuke. Naruto gave him his usual impish grin and said, "Guess we'll see you in six months."

For a moment, Sasuke felt content. This was the most desired outcome for him, after all. Without two others to hold him down, he could train under arguably the most skilled Jonin in the village alone, not to mention the fact that said Jonin had the Sharingan. It was perfect. He'd be that much closer to his revenge. He began to walk towards Kakashi, ready to take the next step of his journey. 'Probably for the best,' he thought. 'A team would just get in my…way…' At that moment, comprehension hit him like a blow to the head. The test using two bells, the way Kakashi seemed surprised that they worked together, and the fact that every ninja team recorded before now came in groups of three. He understood what Kakashi was doing with this little test of his.

The point wasn't to get the bells. It was to work together. The bells were meant to try and wreck havoc on the idea of the teamwork ethic that had been drilled into them at the academe. Almost every history book with mentions of ninja brought up how well they worked together. Iruka would often tell them the importance of teamwork, yet as soon as the test started, all that knowledge took a backseat while he focused on the false objective. If he claimed victory over the fact that he had the bells, it might mean failure… maybe. This was all just conjecture. For all he knew, the goal was to get the bells. But the closer he came to the Jonin, the more that niggling little doubt festered and grew in his mind.

He weighed his options. On one hand, he has a chance of getting the most ideal situation wherein he works without a team, but could also fail the "real" test and be sent back to the academe in shame. On the other hand, he could pass the "real" test and still be trained by the perfect individual for him, albeit with two tagalongs, or fail and be sent back with the other two for another six months of underwhelming instruction. It all hinged on what the negatives were of either option. Going back in shame because he failed the "real" test certainly wasn't ideal, and he wouldn't exactly endear himself to his teammates. Returning because he "chose" not to abandon his team would involve a bit less humiliation, and while he couldn't care one way or the other what the other two thought of him, he still wanted a chance to test himself against the only Werewolf in the village. He doubted Naruto would be up for doing something Sasuke wanted if he despised him, though the anger could entice him into a match, but that was another coin flip of possibilities he wasn't going to dwell on. Whatever his decision, he had to make it fast as he came to a halt before his teacher.

"Kakashi…" he began. The Jonin looked down at him with a neutral expression, waiting to see what the boy would do. Sasuke looked back at Naruto and Sakura who were smiling encouragingly at him, and he sighed in defeat. He held the bells out for the Ninja to take and returned to his team. "I'm not leaving my team," he announced. Part of him was screaming that this was a mistake and the theory on the "real" test was flimsy at best. "Either we all pass, or none of us do." The words hurt coming out. But this was it. Either his guess was right, or he made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.

"I see…" Kakashi said, one hand cupping his chin in thought and the other pocketing the bells. "Well… in that case…" he loved the occasional bit of drama. "You all pass!"

There was a moment of silence before two of the three shouted out, "WHAT!?" The third let out a breath of relief.

"You pass," Kakashi repeated with eyes squinting in what might have indicated a smile was under his mask.

"But the bells!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Were part of the real test," Kakashi clarified. "The point of this test isn't actually to see if you can get the bells, since no Genin could possibly hope to get them alone. Rather, the point is to get them to work together as a team."

"But we-"

"However," he continued. "It isn't enough to just work together. You have to understand the importance of being a team. A great man once said, "While those who break the rules of the ninja world are trash, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." I believe in this idea, as do many others. The Shinobi Rules dictate that one must put the mission first, and while this is often true, you will have to decide whether it is better to abandon your team to die for the sake of your mission, or risk the mission to save them. It will never be an easy choice to make, and you'll likely have to make it at some point in your career."

The mood seemed to drop with his words that weighed heavily on them. It was short lived, however, as Kakashi "smiled" and began heading off, beckoning them to follow. "Well, you passed," he said with half interest. "Guess we can grab a bite while we talk about training days." The three looked at one another, then to their new teacher before following after him.

Author's Note: Not a fan of the way his turned out in the end. I feel the quality dropped midway through, so I'm sorry if that's jarring for you. I'll try and keep it consistent in the next chapters. At time of writing, I've begun work on the next chapter, which won't be as long as this one. If you notice any mistakes or errors, feel free to mention them. As always, thanks for reading.

~ Dawning the Mask