You scared me. I went and checked my emails when I got in after work and I had loads from . I thought I'd released another chapter early but then realised I hadn't uploaded it into the system yet. It was strange though there were about the same amount as when I release a chapter, anyway it's long again. 16 pages on word. Team assignment time I think lol.
Please enjoy it, lol.
Thank you for the alerts and reviews.
Naruto = flash back
'Naruto' is thoughts/thinking
"Naruto" signing/sign language
"Naruto" speaking.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto just some DVDs and games.
Puzzles and teams Chapter 12
Naruto ran through his stances in the empty clearing, he paused holding his stance and catching his breath he stayed perfectly still. He could sense someone nearby in the tree line. A small girl who had been walking through the forest suddenly found herself drawn to the figure in the middle of the clearing, she watched as he stilled and quickly flung herself behind a tree as he turned to look in her direction. A heavy blush spread across her face as she realised that the boy in the clearing wasn't wearing a shirt and his slender but toned upper body was pulled tauntingly in his movements. 'I didn't know Naruto looked like that under his shirt' Hinata thought blushing profusely, she pointed her fingers together nervously glancing back up at Naruto in the clearing her blush increasing when she realised that he was staring right in her direction. Gasping quickly she kept very still as he shrugged and grabbed his top and left the clearing. She released the breathe she had been holding with blush still in place and continued to walk through the forest looking for herbs and flowers she could press.
(Line)
An ash brown haired boy with blue eyes walked through the streets carrying bags of groceries. His tanned arms barely containing the overflowing bag, he paused briefly in his walk to get his bearings back as several of his items attempted to make a dive for the pavement below. A slightly tanned hand caught the melon as it managed to escape to the floor. Looking up the boy found himself staring into the turtle shaped mask of an ANBU.
"You want a hand with those groceries?" he asked. Nodding the boy handed over two bags so that he could now see past his remaining groceries. Hikaru looked back at his companion carefully analyzing him; he seemed so familiar but he didn't know why. The boy realising he was been watched looked up and smiled a shy but genuine grin at him. Hikaru looked closely at the boy's clothing then to make sure his suspicions were correct. The boy was dressed in a blue hooded top with a green scarf sat around his neck, blue trousers and black ninja sandals. His eyes widened when he spotted the goggles sat on top of his head.
"Naruto?" Hikaru whispered.
Naruto's ash brown head nodded as a laugh bubbled out. Hikaru chuckled as they continued their way through the market place.
Arriving at Naruto's house they started to put the groceries away. Hikaru sat down as Naruto pottered around the kitchen area.
"So why are you using a henge?"
"I like to see how long it takes for people to realise it's me" he said handing over a glass of milk. Hikaru removed his mask and drank the milk as Naruto continued to bustle around the kitchen while drinking his own glass of milk.
"And how many have realised that this is you?" he gestured to the still dark haired Naruto.
"Well without my blonde hair and my whisker marks completely gone I guess I'm completely unrecognisable so just you so far. I call it my Sarutobi henge because it reminds me of them".
"Hikaru you wouldn't happen to know who my sensei is would you?" Naruto pried sitting down and eating the breakfast he had made.
(Line)
Naruto took a seat in the classroom full of the students who had passed the genin exam. He sat quietly for a while till he decided it would be far better if he immersed himself in his book. He'd been reading for a while before someone noticed he was in the class room.
"Huh? Naruto what are you doing here? Only those who pass are supposed to be here."
"I'm wearing a forehead protector am I not?" Naruto stated eyes flicking over the top of his book.
"Hey will you let me through?"
"Sakura-chan"
"Naruto move your ass! I want to sit the other side of you."
"Huh?" Naruto looked to his left to find the most popular kid in school sat next him. Sasuke Uchiha.
"What?"
"Sure whatever Sakura" Naruto said standing up to leave when Sakura practically squashed him to get closer to Sasuke.
"Sasuke-kun can I sit next to you?"
Naruto somehow found himself sitting on the other side of Sakura who was getting glared at by most of the other girls. 'she's probably planning on stealing his first kiss' Naruto thought looking between the two sighing he searched for his book which had been knocked from his hands when Sakura had squashed him. He spotted his book lying on the desk in front of the Uchiha. Sighing he got up to collect it walking along the desk till he was at his book he knelt to collect it.
"Hey Naruto! Get out of Sasuke's face"
Naruto looked up realising that he was now positioned so that he was face to face with the Uchiha.
"Sasuke-kun kick his ass"
"Yeah yeah"
Naruto was then knocked forwards into Sasuke by the Iruka looking boy sat in front. The entire room went quiet as Naruto fell into Sasuke. Figuring out what was about to occur Naruto did the one thing he could to get himself out of this situation. He switched places with the chalk board eraser appearing at the front of the room as Sasuke took a mouthful of chalk. Naruto swiped the sweat from his forehead he did not want his first kiss to be with that Uchiha he'd rather kick him in the balls than kiss him. A shudder went up his back ominously he turned to see Sakura glaring over at him.
"Naruto you're annoying" she glared cracking her knuckles.
Naruto's bruised body slumped in his seat as Iruka began his speech.
"Beginning today all of you are real ninjas. But you are still merely rookie 'genin'. The hard part has just started. Now you will soon be assigned duties by the village. So today we will be creating the three man teams. And each team will have a 'jounin' sensei. You will follow that sensei's instructions as you complete the assigned duties.
'Pft... Three man teams? That's just more people to get in my way.' Sasuke brooded.
'I have to be with Sasuke-kun' Sakura stormed in her head.
'well they'll probably make another ino-shika-cho so uncle Asuma will probably be their teacher, I'm technically the dead last and my score should have to balance out the team so I'll be put with Sasuke crap' Naruto thought.
"We've tried to balance each team's strength."
-What- the class chorused
Iruka proceeded to list names from his clipboard finally reaching team seven.
"Next team seven. Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. Sakura's down cast expression turned to one of glee from being paired with Naruto to being on a team with Sasuke.
"Wait Iruka sensei why does an outstanding ninja like Sasuke have to be on the same team as that bum Naruto?" A girl from behind them asked
"Sasuke's grades were first among all 27 graduates, Naruto's were dead last. We have to do this to balance the teams understand?"
"Just don't get in my way. Dead last." Sasuke smirked attempting to get a rise out of Naruto.
Iruka sighed 'I'm sorry Naruto but this is the way it worked out' he thought.
"Okay this afternoon we introduce the jonin sensei's so take a break until then." Iruka smiled.
(Line)
Naruto sat on the roof looking out over the academy he knew why he was on Sasuke's team but he also suspected it was a way for him to become a genin. There was no way that a jonin would fail a team with the Uchiha on. He sighed looking up at the sky Hikaru hadn't told him who his sensei was going to be. But he knew about the test that the jonin's would perform and he guessed that out of the three to become actual teams would be the ino-shika-cho combination and Shino, Kiba and Hinata's team which meant if his team didn't screw up royally that it would be the clan heirs that continued on as genin out of all their class mates. He just hoped his friends didn't find out about his team placement.
(Line)
"You need to change Naruto's team. He'll be smothered where he is. They don't like him they'll never agree to work with him". Ume argued storming into the Hokage's office followed by many of her year mates, interrupting the meeting with the various jonin senseis. There were quickly more arguments about Naruto being moved when the Hokage vein twitching on his forehead slightly, he slammed his hands down onto his desk causing the sleeping form of Nami to rise up in fright.
"Enough, Naruto was placed on that team for a reason. He graduated on a fluke. Not the exam therefore his exam was placed last." The Hokage shouted Nami's eyes narrowed glaring at the ninja. Moving gracefully Nami moved to sit on the Hokage's shoulders making sure to dig its claws in. The Hokage winced slightly as Nami climbed up his shoulders.
"There is no way Naruto failed." Asuma said easily taking the younger ninjas' side in the argument watching as Nami glared at the group of ninjas in the room.
"He's failed every attempt he's ever taken." The Hokage countered raising his hand to stroke Nami attempting to placate the cat.
"Not true, half of us copied his exam the year we graduated. Why do you think there was such an up roar when he didn't pass?" Riku stated as others around him nodded in agreement.
"He's not the most liked individual especially at the academy." Kenta replied easily giving the clues needed to put the pieces together.
(Line)
Sasuke walked up to Sakura as the time neared for them to meet their new sensei.
"It's time to go, where's Naruto?"
"Who cares about Naruto? I mean he doesn't even have any parents. He can do whatever he wants. If I acted like him my parents would get so mad at me. He's so lucky all alone, parents never getting on his case. That's why he misbehaves so much...
"All alone...
...the sadness of having a parent yell at you is nowhere near what he feels.
"What's this... ...all of a sudden?"
"You're...
...annoying." Sasuke smirked. "He had family once remember" he stated before walking away.
(Line)
Sasuke found Naruto on his way to the meeting point head buried in that book again.
"A good ninja doesn't need a book to tell him how to do things dead last." He smirked shoving past him into the classroom. Glaring Naruto wondered where Sakura was.
Sakura was still sat on the bench where Sasuke had left her. Thinking about what Sasuke had said to her. 'Maybe I could be a bit nicer to Naruto'.
(Line)
The Hokage was sat in Naruto's apartment as a masked jonin with wild silver hair looked around the place.
"So this is Naruto's place?" the jonin said picking up a discarded pint of milk.
"Yes." The third replied
'This went off a while ago besides the milk everything else seems fine' the masked jonin with wild hair thought.
"Naruto's a special case so I think giving him to you is best. Also you'll have Sasuke of the Uchiha clan on your team. Good luck."
"Yes Sir" the silver haired jonin replied.
(Line)
Naruto looked up when he smelt smoke he watched as the door opened and Uncle Asuma walked in followed by a dark haired woman with red eyes He watched as Shikamaru, Choji and Ino left with his Uncle who ruffled his hair as he went past and Akamaru licked his hand pleasantly as he followed Shino, Kiba and Hinata had left with the woman who cast a curious eye over him. Shrugging he returned to his book as the classroom continued to empty.
(Line)
Iruka excused himself from the classroom leaving team 7 alone, making his way to the staff room he made his way over to the filing cabinets which were found in the room adjacent to their circular tables in the centre of the room. He searched for the cabinet which contained the files for his recently graduated class, locating the correct cabinet he began searching for Naruto's record. Walking back from the meadow Naruto had let it slip that he already knew the shadow clone jutsu which is why Shikamaru had asked about the clones, Iruka realised then that someone had to of known that Naruto could do the shadow clone and wanted him to fail, which is probably why he was instructed quite clearly that only a standard clone was allowed for students to pass the exam. He went through the entire cabinet twice before he stuck his head out of the door way.
"Hey has anyone seen Naruto's record? I can't seem to find it." He enquired, watching as some the occupants of the room froze as others just shrugged their shoulders at him he frowned. "I'd really like to review it please" he asked.
"You should just drop it Iruka" was harshly whispered at him from an older shinobi
"You won't find it here" another smugly stated.
Iruka was outraged at this blatant disregard for Naruto, perhaps his close eye needed to be closer. Huffing he walked out of the room anger boiling up inside of him, he couldn't believe them, they either sat back and did nothing or tried to cause problems for the boy. Perhaps the Hokage would have the file; a second file was normally kept in the Hokage building.
Arriving at the building he found that the Hokage was for once not doing paperwork in his office and he was in fact out of the office now Iruka was at a loss as to where the file would be kept.
"I have already informed you that the Hokage is out of the office presently" the secretary snivelled
"Well I was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of the genin records" he asked shyly.
"Don't you have your own records at the academy?" she asked condescendingly
"Yes but the file I'm looking for appears to be misplaced" Iruka admitted sheepishly
"The files for all ninja are kept in the records room on the next floor" a deep male voiced answered as the female secretary was about to speak. Turning Iruka came face to face with Ibiki the head of torture and interrogation at ANBU. He gulped as Ibiki glared down at the secretary. "if you'll follow me I'll accompany you there I have some files I need to return anyway" Ibiki stated silencing the secretary. Walking away the two shinobi made their way past the put out woman and continued through to the records room.
"Who's file were you looking for?" Ibiki asked raising his eyebrow subtly.
"Umm, Naruto Uzumaki's. For some reason it has disappeared from our records but I would prefer it if I could get hold of everything since he started the academy" Iruka stated dropping his head.
"Can I enquire why that is?" Ibiki now stood facing the tanned brunette.
"I've known for a long time that Naruto is more clever than most and it's been bugging me for a while now but I think something is amiss" he said rubbing his scar sheepishly " I said I would keep a closer eye on him but I must of let something slip" he muttered the last part.
"Well if you require any help I would be happy to oblige" Ibiki said moving towards the door.
Locating the correct cabinet he searched through until he found Naruto's name pulling out the file he was dismayed to find that the information he was looking for was not present.
Slamming the draw shut in frustration he tried to recall if there were any more places that the files he was looking for could be found. He looked round when a purring sound was heard. Hunched down on the floor was Ibiki stroking Nami the Hokage's cat; Nami was rubbing its head eagerly against the scared ninja's hand.
"Nami you wouldn't happen to know where I could find all of Naruto's old test papers could you?" Iruka asked feeling silly talking to the cat.
Nami's head tilted in a familiar manner, meowing Nami turned away from the human stroking it to find the items Iruka had asked for.
"What was I thinking asking a cat if it knew where things were" Iruka muttered exasperatedly. He looked up at the cabinet when he saw the files dropped in front of him. With a very pleased Nami sat in front of him, gathering up the files he looked through them pleased to see that they were indeed the files he wanted. He affectionately stroked Nami's head causing the cat to purr.
"Thanks I thought I was crazy for a while there" Iruka laughed, before rushing out of the room.
(Line)
He looked up from his book when their sensei still hadn't turned up. Even Iruka had left as well as all the other teams. 'Surely the Hokage wouldn't place them with him.' Naruto thought. Sighing he made a clone which found the chalkboard eraser from earlier and decided to place it in the gap at the top of the door as the original Naruto continued to read.
"Hey what are you doing Naruto?" Sakura scowled at him.
"That's what he gets for being late." Naruto's clone summarised.
"I'm not involved" Sakura muttered. 'I actually love these types of things!' Inner Sakura shouted.
Naruto paused briefly in his reading as he felt a chakra signature approaching the door shrugging he dispelled the clone.
"Pft. Like a jonin is going to fall for such a simple booby trap, dead last." Sasuke glared as a gloved hand pulled the door open and the chalkboard eraser fell on top of the tall spiky white head of hair that was poked through the door. The masked jonin looked around the room at the waiting genin.
"I'm so sorry sensei I tried to stop him but Naruto's trouble and not one to be trusted" Sakura glared at the blonde 'that was better than I imagined' Inner Sakura called.
'What's he planning?' Naruto wondered still reading his book.
Sasuke glanced up from his hands to stare at their sensei 'this is really a jonin? He doesn't seem very reliable.' He thought.
"Hmm how can I say this? He moved his hand to his masked chin "my first impression is...
... I don't like you guys!" Sasuke and Sakura's faces dropped. "Meet me on the roof" he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Grumbling under their breath the three students made their way up on to the roof where their teacher was lounging against the railing.
They were sat on the roof facing their new teacher. Naruto opened his book back up and tried to blend into the background.
"So let's start with introductions, your likes, dislikes and dreams for the future" he lazily chirped
"Why don't you start sensei" Sakura said.
"Oh me? Well my name's Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you about my likes or dislikes. My dream for the future ... well I have lots of hobbies." He eye smiled at them.
"So all we learned was his name" Sakura stated.
"Okay your turn from the left" he pointed to Sakura.
"My name is Sakura Haruno the thing I like" She blushed "well the person I like is" she blushed again. "Umm should I say my dream for the future?" she shyly glanced at Sasuke "oh my! My hobby is..." she blushed again "I hate Naruto!" she shouted effectively ending her introduction.
'Great a fan girl who hates her team' Kakashi thought. "Next!"
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike and few things I like" his eyes strayed to Naruto briefly "I don't want to call it a dream more an ambition. The resurrection of my clan and...
... To kill a certain man"
'Cool' Sakura thought
'Itachi' Naruto thought
'Just as I thought' Kakashi summarised
"And finally the book reading one" Kakashi called point to Naruto.
Naruto looked up from his book and opened his mouth to begin when Sakura butted in.
"My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I like cup ramen! What I like even more is the Ichiruka ramen that Iruka sensei treats me too. I dislike the three minutes it takes to wait for the ramen to cook and my dream is to be hokage!" she imitated Naruto's voice shrilly crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Naruto.
"not going to add anything to that?" Kakashi questioned the boy.
"His hobbies include being a dobe" Sasuke baited.
Kakashi looked at Naruto waiting for a rebuttal and was met with Naruto sighing and with a shrug of his shoulders returning to his book. 'He gives in quite easily.' Kakashi decided.
"Okay enough of that. Now we are going to do something with just the four of us"
"Just the four of us?"
"Survival training"
"Why are we doing training?" Sasuke muttered
"We did enough training at the ninja academy." Sakura stated. Naruto closed his book looking closely at their sensei.
"This training is different. I'm your opponent." Kakashi then started laughing.
"What's so funny sensei?" Sakura asked
"Hmm well you guys will probably flip when I tell you. But okay of the 27 graduates only nine become genin, the rest get sent back to the academy. This training is a super difficult exam with a failure rate of 66%."
Sakura's face dropped "What the hell! But we worked so hard. What was the point of graduating?"
"It's a way for people to select those that have the chance of becoming genins. The actual exam after is where the final decision is made" Naruto stated leaning back on his hands while looking up at the sky.
"Shut up Naruto just because you can't be sent back to the academy doesn't mean you can start acting all smart and cool like Sasuke. Sakura shouted.
'So he does talk' Kakashi mused "Anyway Tomorrow you will be graded on the training field. Bring all your shinobi tools. Oh and skip breakfast you'll throw up. The details can be read on this print out" Kakashi said handing over the sheets.
"Throw up! It can't be that tough?" Sakura shouted. 'If I fail this I'll be separated from my Sasuke kun' Sakura thought
"See you tomorrow bright and early." Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Don't get in my way dobe" Sasuke said as he got up and headed down the stairs.
"Yeah Naruto stay out of Sasuke's way!" Sakura echoed "wait for me Sasuke" she screamed running after him.
Sighing Naruto turned towards the tree he knew his sensei to be sat in and with a mock salute jumped off the building.
(Line)
Iruka had spent the rest of the day going over Naruto's files. He had found that Nami had brought him Naruto's school work which included tests, how the cat knew where they were he didn't know but he was glad that he would be able to hopefully fix this slip in judgement if only he could figure out what was wrong with these papers. Ibiki. He'd offered to help and he might be able to find whatever it was that Iruka couldn't see.
Tracking Ibiki down wasn't that hard but getting to him was. As a chunin Iruka didn't know how he could gain access to the head of interrogation and torture he stood looking up at the building he knew Ibiki to work in.
"Iruka sensei, why are you timidly staking outside my office?" Ibiki's deep voice sounded from behind Iruka. Jumping and turning Iruka was faced with said head of T and I holding a steaming cup and a familiar turtle masked anbu. Ibiki looked at the files that had been scattered on the ground when he had called the young chunin. 'Naruto's work?' Ibiki processed. Iruka scurried round collecting the papers as the two ANBU looked on.
"I was hoping you'd be able to help me look these over I can't seem to place what it is that is wrong with them but I know it's there." Iruka stated finally after collecting them back up and showing them to Ibiki. Hikaru disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Ibiki and Iruka were going through all of Naruto's old work with a fine tooth comb. It was well into the next morning when Ibiki found something odd. Ibiki gathered his chakra and released it on to the paper, which then started to change from minimal answers to a full page of answers in great detail. Iruka quickly did the same to his paper and the same thing had happened. Naruto hadn't failed, he'd been sabotaged. They quickly gathered the papers and teleported to the hokage's office, where he was in the middle of talking to Ume and her team who had just returned from a mission.
The two waited with baited breath as the Hokage realised that his early morning mission brief was being interrupted. Ume who had caught sight of what it was they were holding stopped what she was about to say. Nami stretched and moved from its curled up position on the desk causing all ninja to flick their attention to the now sitting cat watching their every move. The third who had stood in his outrage that they would interrupt a mission debriefing was stopped when Ume walked over to them.
"Finally found out what's been going on with Naruto's exams then." Ume asked.
The hokage looked at the occupants of the room and sighed reclining back into his chair he motioned for them to explain seeing as this team would not be leaving anytime soon. Ibiki placed the papers on the desk and showed the two newly revealed papers either side.
"And?"
"They're all Naruto's papers. But if you push chakra through the paper..." Iruka said leaving the rest of the sentence hanging as the third watched carefully by the occupants of the room did just that causing the papers to dispel and reveal their true contents. His rising anger from earlier returned.
"He failed because of a genjutsu!" The hokage shouted in anger.
(Line)
Naruto was sat in the forest clearing where he usually practiced his stances. He was waiting for a certain Hyuuga heiress to stalk onto his path. Just as before the young heiress stopped behind a tree as she noticed Naruto, peeking out from behind the tree she was shocked to come face to face with Naruto.
"Hello lady Hyuuga" Naruto smiled. Hinata jumped away blushing. "No don't be scared I'm sorry."
"N...n...Naruto" she stammered pushing her fingers together in her typical nervous action. "I'm not scared."
"Good cause you know I've only just built up the courage to speak to you, I'm not used to interacting with people my own age so..."
"Y... you were scared to talk to me?"
"Yeah. Umm I know that you follow me and for some reason you always blush around me, and I wondered if you wanted to be friends, or I could help you train or collect flowers with you" he started to speak quickly in his nervousness
Hinata smiled "I would like very much to be friends with you Naruto" she rushed out
"Really? Great so what did you want to do?" Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
(Line)
Naruto was sat under a tree with his sketch pad open as Sasuke and Sakura stood with arms crossed waiting for their sensei to turn up. Sakura had arrived after Sasuke and promptly asked Sasuke out on a date only to be shot down straight away. Which is why they were both stood with their arms crossed he was annoyed at having to wait while she was annoyed that he had turned her down again.
"Hey guys good morning" Kakashi waved as he walked into the training field.
"You're Late" Sakura shouted she looked round to find that she was the only one shouting.
"Naruto you baka you were meant supposed to shout with me" she turned to where she expected Naruto to be
"Stupid idiot isn't even here yet" she glared holding her fist in front of her face and shaking it.
Kakashi placed an alarm clock on one of the three posts behind the children.
"Naruto's there" Kakashi said pointing to Naruto who had moved up in between Sasuke and Sakura. He placed his hand on the alarm "okay its set for noon." The clock read 11:10. The students looked confused "here are two bells." He jingled the two bells "your task is to take these from me before noon. Those who cannot get a bell by noon get no lunch. I'll not only tie you to one of those stumps but I'll eat right in front of you."
'So that's why he told us not to eat' they all thought.
"You only need to get one bell. There are only two, so one of you will definitely be tied to a stump. And the person who doesn't take a bell fails. So at least one of you will be sent back to the academy. You can even use your shurikens. You won't succeed unless you come at me intending to kill me."
"But! You'll be in danger." Sakura shouted.
"Hmph he's a jonin." Sasuke muttered
"I mean you couldn't even dodge a black board eraser. We'll kill you!" Sakura worried.
"In the real world, those with no talent often bark the loudest. Although I expected the dead last to say it, well we'll start when I say." He said glancing at Naruto. Quick as a flash Naruto spun a kunai into his hand intending to throw at the jonin he watched as the jonin moved behind him and grabbed his hand with the kunai in one hand and his head in other hand and manoeuvred the hand with the kunai in it so that it was pointed at the back of his head. Kakashi's eyes widened when he felt a kunai at his back 'when did he make a clone' Kakashi thought kicking the clone so that it disappeared he returned his attention to the Naruto in front of him.
"Slow down I haven't said start yet." Kakashi stated.
'No way I couldn't even see...' Sakura thought
'So this is a jonin...' Sasuke thought
'he's going to be awkward' Naruto thought
"Well it seems like you're prepared to come at me with the intent to kill. So you've finally acknowledged me? Hehehe seems like I'm beginning to like you guys. Okay let's get going. Ready. START!" the three genin disappeared kicking up a cloud of dust.
"The basics of a ninja are to hide yourself well" 'even Naruto has hidden himself' Kakashi concluded. Naruto stepped into the clearing in front of Kakashi. His arms crossed and his face displayed a thoughtful look.
"Got this, a little backwards haven't you?" Kakashi chuckled
"They won't work with me." Naruto said definitely "the point of this test is to work together as a team to retrieve those bells but one of us would still have to be tied to the stump right?" on seeing the jonin's eye widen and the subtle nod he retreated into the bushes completely vanishing from view.
'He's a confusing character, but he's right his teammates won't work with him, so how does he plan to get the bells from me' he pulled out an orange book 'Now who do I go after first? The girl she's far too obvious' he decided and headed into the bushes searching for his would be students.
Sakura ran through the bushes looking for Sasuke she stopped as she spotted their sensei in front of her, she dropped down into the bushes behind him. She was just wondering if he had spotted her when he called out.
"Behind you Sakura"
Sakura turned to come face to face with Kakashi as he performed a hand sign and disappeared in a spiralling swirl. When she regained her senses from becoming drowsy she looked around in confusion. 'What was that? And where did sensei go?' she thought.
"Sakura"
"That's Sasuke kun" she turned happy to have found her Sasuke-kun.
"Sakura help me" Sasuke's body was covered with kunai and shuriken sticking out of his body and blood spilling from his numerous wounds. Her face dropped in shock before fear took over and her eyes filled with tears as she let out an almighty scream.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"I might have gone a bit far" Kakashi said continuing to read his book on a tree branch as he watched over Sakura.
"That scream, Sakura" Sasuke concluded.
"Shinobi lesson number one genjutsu. Sakura easily fell for it" Kakashi said.
"I'm not the same as them" Sasuke said turning to face Kakashi who was now leaning against a tree.
"Say that after getting a bell" Kakashi challenged. 'The strength of the village's number one, the Uchiha clan, this should be interesting.'
Sasuke quickly moved his hands into his back pouch and flung out a well aimed shuriken. Kakashi dodged "such obvious attacks are pointless" he saw Sasuke smirk as a shuriken cut through a hidden rope "a trap?" he dodged again as the knives flew into the tree that he had just been stood in front of. As he landed Sasuke performed a spinning jump kick to Kakashi's head, quickly he brought his hands up to block and grabbed Sasuke's leg. Sasuke then with his current momentum moved to punch his head only to have that grabbed by the other hand. Spinning so that his final leg came towards Kakashi's head he angled his body down so that he could reach the bells. Kakashi seeing this pushed his torso away as Sasuke touched a bell and threw the boy away to create distance between them.
Meanwhile Sakura had woken from her slumber and remembered the state that Sasuke had been in she screamed out "Sasuke-kun don't die and leave me behind. Where are you"?
Naruto however had been watching Sasuke fight and was waiting for the right opening to join in.
"Well I'll acknowledge you're different alright" Kakashi stated.
Sasuke was getting fed up, he performed the hand signs horse and tiger and took a deep breath "Goukakyuu no jutsu"
What, a genin shouldn't have enough chakra to be able to use that jutsu' Kakashi was shocked, as a massive fireball came towards him. After the fireball had consumed Kakashi Sasuke looked around.
"He's gone. He's not to the side. Above? Where?"
"Below you" as a hand shot up from out of the ground. "Earth type inner decapitation jutsu" And Sasuke disappeared into the earth with only his head above the ground. "Shinobi lesson two, ninjutsu, well you're already heads above the others in this area." Kakashi crouched down to speak to Sasuke's head. "They say a nail should be hammered in hehehe... Now where's Naruto?" Kakashi began walking off.
Naruto jumped out of the trees aiming a kick at Kakashi's head. Kakashi blocked pushing Naruto away.
"Ninja lesson three taijutsu I'll teach you about it" Kakashi stated pulling out his come come paradise book.
"You expect us to acknowledge you yet you don't seem prepared to do the same for us." Naruto stated darting in for a quick punch to the jonin's head. Kakashi ducked flipping Naruto into the air, Naruto landing a fair distance away. Kakashi still crouched down was then attacked with a quick uppercut to the jaw as the jonin rose into the air Naruto's hand reached out for the bells. Kakashi quickly replaced himself with a log to stop the bells being taken. He closed his book and looked at the boy before him.
"You're better than I expected" Kakashi smirked rubbing his jaw. 'I didn't expect to get hit, quite an achievement for a genin' he mused
Naruto threw a punch at the jonin who appeared behind him.
"A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind" Kakashi said crouched behind Naruto fingers posed in the tiger stance. "A thousand years of pain"
Elsewhere Sakura had stumbled across the still buried up to his head Uchiha linking the skewered image from earlier she screamed "HIS SEVERED HEAD!" and fainted once again.
"Use that on me and I'll slit your throat" Naruto commanded as Kakashi stilled feeling the kunai poised at his throat. '
"ninjas aren't supposed to get caught from behind right Kakashi sensei?" the Naruto behind Kakashi stated, pushing the kunai harder against the jonin's neck. The Naruto in front turned glaring at the jonin, it sent shivers down Kakashi's spine that look. Naruto reached out for the bells just as his fingers touched them causing them to jingle the Jonin disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 'Kawarimi jutsu again'
'That command was cold and haunting just then, almost like...
...the fourth.' Kakashi realised. 'But when the hell did he make a clone?' he repeated.
Sasuke had finally managed to get himself out of the hole that he was in and was just waking Sakura up when she latched herself onto him.
"You're alright" she squealed
"Stop! Don't hug me" he tried to command. Finally she let go. "There's not much time left before lunch. I'm going"
"You're still going after the bell Sasuke-kun"
"I already touched it once besides the dobe's the only one left who hasn't been caught"
"He's probably cowering somewhere in the forest" Sakura smirked
Kakashi set up a trap leaving a bell on the floor hoping that Naruto would take the bait he watched as Naruto reached down for the bell as he was swept up by the rope and left dangling in a tree.
"Didn't think you'd fall for such an obvious trap. A ninja must be able to read beneath the underneath."
"I know" Naruto said disappearing into smoke. Shuriken came flying out of the bushes hitting Kakashi in the face before he too disappeared into smoke. Kakashi who had hidden behind the bushes pinpointed Naruto's position from the shuriken he had thrown. Naruto dropped out of the tree setting off the second trap before again disappearing into smoke, causing Kakashi to realise that he had taken the bait on purpose.
"Well ...you know... there isn't much time left so... ... we don't have to push ourselves there's always next time" Sakura suggested in her fan girlish way.
Sasuke glared at her causing her to stop in her tracks. He began walking away.
"There's a man only I can kill" Sasuke muttered
"Oh" she was shocked "you mean Kakashi sensei?" she was confused
"That time crying" he was getting lost in his memories.
"Crying?" Sakura questioned
"My" Sasuke continued.
"What do you mean?" She finally asked
"I am an avenger. I have to become stronger than that man. So I can't just stay around here. Especially not with Naruto around" he mumbled the last part. Sakura remembered then what he said in their introductions "I must kill a certain man".
"I could have taken the bells from you ages ago Kakashi" Naruto stated reaching to take the bells as he emerged from the ground when the timer went off allowing Kakashi to disappear as Naruto pulled back.
Sasuke and Sakura arrived to find Naruto tied to the stump and sat down either side of him.
"You guys look really hungry" Kakashi stated "you should know that there's no need for you guys to go back to the academy."
'All I did was pass out and that was enough' Sakura thought 'Love wins hell yeah' Inner Sakura screamed.
"All three of you should quit as ninjas!"
It's getting harder to write now as I catch up to the actual series so it might take longer than usual but I will try. Hopefully it'll mix well.
Did you see I named this one? I would like to know you favourite part. Like from this chapter. And /or the other chapters. Or even altogether. Right off to puppy proof the house.
Please review and let me know what you think.
Thank you very much
Also I'm getting a puppy so they probably will come out slower no matter what I do lol.