Chapter Three: Biting More Than We Can Chew

It's the next morning and Naruto is feeling more than nervous he looked over his alarm clock to see it's 10:30. He quickly got out of bed to take a quick shower and brush his teeth. Putting on the same outfit with a different pair of black pants and a white undershirt. The young boy bit his lip, he wanted to make a big breakfast.

The meal consisted of, toast, eggs, bacon, and sausage, with some milk to top it off. Finishing his food, Naruto quickly grabbed his gear and walked towards the door. Taking deep breaths he made his way to the training ground. He hoped he wasn't too late. He soon saw Sasuke and Sakura, the girl looked towards Naruto and sleepily waved.

"Morning," Naruto smiled a little. He hoped to have some conversations with his team. He didn't want to sit in awkward silence.

"You guys ate breakfast right," Sakura asked worryingly. She didn't want to be the only one who gets in trouble.

"I did, what about you Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded and said nothing else. He didn't want to talk to his teammates. He just wanted to get this test over with. On the outside, it may not seem like it but Sasuke is extremely nervous. Becoming a genin will either make or break him.

"What do you think the test is," Naruto asked, he wanted to see the opinions of his teammates.

Sakura tapped her chin as she thought about it, "It could be anything, maybe showing our skill sets or how will we work together as a squad." Last night Sakura read up her guidebook and saw that each genin team has consisted of four members and under certain conditions, there could be less or more.

"Maybe it could be both," Naruto suggested. It made sense, you would want to see if your future team could function like one. Jōnin are putting their precious time and energy into teaching.

"We should come up with a plan," Sakura quickly said. If they were to come up with somewhat of a concrete plan, maybe they have a chance of passing.

"That won't be necessary Sakura," Kakashi smiled. He hadn't expected this group of kids to be this close to finding the meaning of the 'bell test'. Good thing he came up with a plan b.

"You guys seem to have speculated the meaning of the test, but good thing I have another."

Naruto looks in Sakura's and Sasuke's direction. They also stared back, sharing a look of uncertainty. What is the point of the test now?

"You guys showed me you can act somewhat professional. There are still some trust issues and hidden anger. So we'll go around talking about our feelings, and maybe why we don't like each other," Kakashi was slightly amused at the thought this could go in the right direction or it could go very wrong.

Naruto and Sasuke tensed. Naruto doesn't want those two to find out about the Kyuubi. He hasn't even come to terms with it. The young boy has been avoiding the problem, pushing it to the back of his mind. His body started to tremble.

Sasuke hasn't opened up to anyone since his clan's massacre, he didn't think he'll ever be ready to talk about this. How could any of his teammates understand how he would feel. Naruto never had a family and Sakura still have hers.

"Sakura will go first, you're going to tell Sasuke and Naruto what you dislike about them," Kakashi ordered.

The pink-haired girl gulped and then look towards the boys. She then looked at Sasuke, she'll start with him, "Sasuke, what I don't like about you is…" She didn't finish her sentence.

She never thought about that before, Sasuke could be brutally mean. He also doesn't seem to care about any, not since his family, "Sasuke you can be really mean. Like unnecessarily mean, to people. Sometimes they're just trying to be nice and you're just rude."

That shocked Naruto and Sasuke. They never thought that Sakura would tell Sasuke to his face that he was mean. Kakashi nodded this was going well so far. He wanted Sakura to at least see that for them to work as a functioning team, she needs to be more aware of her teammates and herself.

Clearing her throat Sakura then turn to Naruto, "You can be completely selfish, and get in the way at times. You just live to annoy people and can never calm down. Also, you constantly ask me on dates when you know I only love Sasuke."

Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked to Kakashi. The silver-haired male then pointed to Naruto to go, he wanted to see what the boy have to say.

"Sasuke, you can be mean closed off. I remember when were younger and I tried to befriend you. You turned me away thinking you were better," Naruto said messing with the end of his sleeve.

Sakura never knew Naruto wanted to be friends with Sasuke. She always thought Naruto hated Sasuke. She thought Naruto had this intense jealously for Sasuke.

The blonde-haired boy then looks in Sakura's direction. He was going to pour his feelings, he was angry and he was going to finally let her know how he feels.

Iruka walked into the Hokages office after finding out about Naruto's soon-to-be sensei. He was anxious, Kakashi had never passed a team. He wouldn't even want to think about what would Naruto do if he couldn't be a genin.

Walking into the room he saw the Hokage sitting in his chair with his robes on and his pipe in his mouth. He looked like he was taking a break, and smiled once he saw Iruka.

"How are you Iruka," The old man asked, almost grandfatherly. Iruka doesn't answer and asked a question of his own.

"Hokage-sama, why did you allow Hatake-san to be Naruto's sensei," Iruka asked urgently. He had become quite protective of Naruto recently.

"I think they would be a perfect match. Kakashi does have a history with Naruto and his parents," The grey-haired man smoked his pipe.

"B-but he hasn't passed anyone. How do we know he's going to take care of him?!"

Seeing that the man was hysterical, he needs to calm him down, "Like I said he's known Naruto his whole life, just trust my judgment."

Iruka's jaw locks and he looks down, "It's getting harder to Hokage-sama."

"Sakura you are the selfish one. You tend to have this misconception of me. I don't like you romantically, I invited you to get ramen with me. I thought we could be friends since you were also bullied like me. But you became a bully, and you're just as mean as Sasuke. At least he isn't a hypocrite, you complain about me not leaving you alone. Sasuke doesn't like you," Naruto stopped to catch his breath, you could tell he needed to get more of his chest.

"You constantly belittle me, when I never had been mean to you. I try to be nice and you always hit me and I'm tired of it. You are a bully!"

Sasuke's eyes widen, along with everyone in the academy they all had thought Naruto was in love with Sakura. It seemed like it, but he guesses that isn't the case. He is grateful for Naruto telling Sakura that Sasuke doesn't like her.

Sakura's eyes water, she didn't think Naruto had all of this to say about her. She was a bully, what happened to her apologizing to Naruto yesterday. The fact that Naruto just wanted to be her friend, made her feel all the more guilty.

"Sasuke it's your turn," Kakashi coughed, gaining the kids' attention.

Sasuke paused, he guesses he'll start with Sakura, " Out of you and Naruto, you are the most annoying. You can't take a hint and you are so clingy. You don't take your training seriously and that could affect the team. I don't get why you're obsessed with me, but it makes me uncomfortable."

Sakura could hear her heartbreak. She never meant to make Sasuke feel uncomfortable. Nodding she looks down embarrassed, almost ashamed.

"Naruto, what I had thought about you. I don't think it's real, maybe there's something your hiding I don't know. But you were annoying and constantly loud," Sasuke finished. After watching Naruto for the past two days he can safely say that this Naruto feels a lot more natural. Like his personality before the exams were fake.

"Now that we got that out of the way, I'm going to each give you an assessment of which I just calculated on the spot. I can't say for sure if it's 100% accurate you'll have to correct me," Kakashi said, calmly. He honestly wanted to see this team pass, they're interesting and with enough proper training, they'll be great.

Clapping his hands looks to Naruto, "These last couples of day's everything have felt like a lie. You are now trying to discover yourself, and trying to see things from a different perspective. I admire it, you need to question things in order to get a clear answer. Now that we are a team, there is no need for you to have the mask you normally wear."

Sasuke and Sakura were confused, what had happened a few days ago? Is this why Naruto changed? And what mask is he talking about?

"Sasuke you need to learn how to be kinder and more open with people. We're here to help you become a better ninja not hinder your improvement."

Sasuke nodded and looked at Naruto and Sakura. Naruto tries to smile but it was a small one. Sakura still refused to look up, she was shaking and crying. Sasuke almost feels bad, but she needed to know that this isn't what he wanted.

"Sakura, I can see you have some serious insecurities that need to be handled. We're going to do that together, you also need to take your training seriously in order for this team to succeed. Also, we need to separate you and Sasuke for a while until you can see him without all of this."

Nodding Sakura wiped her tears, she wants to get better. She needs to get better and make sure she doesn't hold the team down. With newfound confidence, she smiled at her sensei.

"Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worst than scum. A friend told me that and I hope you guys can live by it too. Do you understand?"

Naruto looks at his two peers nodded with him, "We understand sensei."

With a closed eye smile Kakashi ushered his team up, "You passed, now let's go get lunch any suggestions?"

Naruto raised his hand hesitantly, "Can we get ramen?"

Looking to Sasuke and Sakura there weren't any objections, the team made their way to Ichiraku Ramen. As they made it the four made their order and ate in silence.

Sakura put her chopsticks down and turned to see Naruto taking small bites, "Um, Naruto I would like to apologize. I don't really understand you and I haven't been nice to you at all. I want to change that if you let me?"

"Maybe we can work our way into being friends," Naruto smiled at her. Sakura nodded and smiled.

Kakashi looked to see Sasuke watching them, almost studying their interaction. He hopes his team will do him proud. Soon Sasuke left and Sakura following after. Naruto wiped his mouth with a napkin and was going to get up when Kakashi stopped him.

"Maybe, I could tell you more about your parents?"

Naruto froze and turned to see his teacher smiling at him, smiling back Naruto nodded, "I would like that."

*a/n*

I think for now the story isn't going to have major changes. I don't think me changing the test is major because they still got the message of it. Getting into that, I wanted the test to be different because Naruto and maybe Sakura is thinking differently. I especially wanted those two to have some closure(next chapter she and Sasuke will too). I wanted Kakashi to see that this is what they needed and not the bell test. If they were to pass the bell test, there still would've been serious issues they needed to fix.

Also, for this fic, I didn't want to make Sasuke overly angsty and arrogant. Like you see in other fics. I want him to be confident in his skills but not to the point where comes of as annoying. He's not going to change overall. Mostly Naruto and Sakura are and maybe Kakashi?

The next chapter will go over their training and what skills they're going to have. Also might start the being of the wave mission. I want to at least build on their skills and so it's not like they're completely useless fight Zabuza and Haku. I want Sakura to also have some skills so she won't kinda drag the team down. Also, the next chapter will have some fight scenes, I can't say that they'll be really good, but there'll be some.

Thanks for reading! Have a good day/night!