"Okay, the test is simple. I have two bells here, and whoever gets one passes. The one who doesn't is going back to the academy. Which means only two of you will pass."

Luna, Ben, and Oliver all flinched as the man before them held up the two small items that could determine their fate. When their sensei Gill had showed up and told them to report to the training grounds, they thought they'd be doing actual training. After all, they had graduated from the academy. They were full-fledged ninja.

What they hadn't expected was the rather messy looking man threatening to send them right back to school. "Are you kidding me?! All that work we did and we could still be sent back? What did we even have a graduation ceremony for?" Luna asked.

Gill shrugged. "This was the plan from the get go. We have to make sure only the best of the best make it through. This is the leaf village, we're not sending out rookies who aren't worthy of making the cut," he said as he put the bells on his belt loop. "Now I want you to come at me with everything you got. Like you're trying to kill-"

Ben suddenly rushed forward, pulling the rather large sword off of his back. He swung the butcher like blade downwards and sliced Gill right in two. Luna and Oliver both gasped as Ben smirked. "D-dude!" Luna said in disbelief.

"What?" Ben asked. "He said to come at him like we're trying to-"

A hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, and Ben was flipped off of his feet and slammed onto the ground. Gill stepped on his back, pinning him down. Luna and Oliver both stepped back. They had just see this man get cut in two. They both glanced back and saw a split log in the place where his corpse should have been.

Gill pressed his foot down harder causing Ben to grunt in pain. "I didn't say start yet…" he said yawning. "But I do appreciate the killer intent. And what a nice blade. The Executioner's Blade, one of the seven Shinobi swords, correct? A keepsake from your mother I assume?" he asked looking over the blade.

Ben glared at the mention of his mother. "Shut up…"

"Ben Brittle. Your father is from the Brittle clan, but your mother was from the Kalo clan, right? She had to be. Those eyes of yours are unmistakable. I also heard you have both bloodline traits. Does that make you a hybrid, or a half breed?"

Ben growled. "I said shut up!" Gill, Luna, and Oliver all jumped back as the spear shaped tattoos on Ben suddenly shot out from his body. They looked like bladed chains.

Gill landed with a smirk. "There it is, the living tattoos."

"Hey! Watch it dude!" Luna shouted.

Ben frowned as the tattoos slowly returned back into his body. "Sorry, but only two of us get to pass, and I'm not about to be the first Brittle send back to the academy." He charged after Gill and began swinging his sword once more. Gill easily dodged the attacks.

Luna watched them closely. "This doesn't look good," Oliver said worried. "Should we-"

"He's right, if only two of us get to pass this then we need to go all out," she said before sprinting forward. She performed a few hand signs before taking a deep breath. "Matatabi…"

What do you want girl?

"I need your help. I have to snatch a bell from this guy, so give some of your chakra."

Does you think your petty little test concerns me?

"Oh come on, please? We can eat a boat load of fish later?" Luna offered.

I very much down you have it in you to eat an entire boatload… but you can try, so very well.

Just as Oliver was about to ask who in the world she was talking to, Luna smiled and opened her eyes, which were now somehow catlike. One of them was blue, while the other was yellow. There was blue fiery chakra surrounding her body. "Whoa…" Oliver said stunned.

"Those bells are mine dude…" Luna said before jumping off with enough force that almost knocked Oliver off of his feet. She headed straight for Gill who had his back turned to her as he dodged more of Ben's attacks. "Gotcha!"

She reached out to snatch one, only to have her wrist grabbed. "Maybe don't yell 'Gotcha' right before you try to sneak attack someone," Gill suggested before he turned and threw her towards Ben. The boy panicked and moved his sword out of the way before she crashed into him.

They both groaned, and Gill smirked at Luna. "Luna Loud, third eldest from the Loud clan and the Jinchuriki host for the two-tails. I hear you actually managed to gain some control over it. That's impressive for a girl your age."

Luna glared at him. "Matatabi is a she, not an it. And I don't control her. We're partners," she said as she rolled back up to her feet. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Luna took a deep breath before she spit out a blue blast of flame from her mouth, and Gill jumped out of the way. "You two are both equally bulled headed and rash. No wonder they put you on the same team."

"Shut up!"

Ben ran at him again and swung, and Gill jumped up into the air. Luna leapt up after him as the chakra surrounding her arms changed and turned claw like. She swung her arm at him, but he leaned back avoiding the blow. "Not quite little lady."

Luna growled and went for another swing, but he reached out and poked her headband. Suddenly she went flying back and crashed back into the ground. She winced and looked back up to see Gill standing on the water. "What was that?" she asked.

Gill smirked. "If you manage to get the bell, I might just tell you. But from the looks of things you don't… hmm?" He looked down and noticed the ground was shifting. Suddenly some of Ben's tattoos came shoot out from below him. He stepped back avoiding being cut, but one of the chains managed to cut the bell off.

"Got it!" He looked over and saw Ben about to snatch the bells. Gill suddenly pulled his hand back, and the bells went flying back to him. "What?!" Ben shouted in disbelief.

He landed on the ground face first and then glared up at him. "You're kidding me…" Luna said in shock. He just made them float right back to him. What type of technique was that?

Gill sighed. "That was a close one. You almost managed to pull one over on me. I think it's about time I started getting serious." He began performing a few hand signs, and both Ben and Luna frowned.

Before Gill could finish however, a large stone wall suddenly shot up from the ground, separating them from their teacher. Ben and Luna looked behind them and saw Oliver with his hands on the ground. "Earth Style: Earth Wall."

"What are you doing? How are we supposed to get the bell with-?"

Oliver stomped his foot. "We're never going to get the bell from him! Not if we keep on trying by ourselves! We have to work together or else we're all going back to the academy!" Oliver shouted.

Ben and Luna shared a glance, and then turned back towards him. "But only two of us get to pass anyway. So what's the point of working together? The second we get the bells-"

"I'll go back," Oliver said sternly. They both looked at him surprised. "If it seriously comes to that then I'll volunteer to go back. But with the way things are now none of us are even going to get close. We have come together if we're going to beat this guy."

They stood in silence of a second, and then Luna sighed. "He's right. No way are we going to be able to beat him on our own. We'll work out who goes back later. For now, let's just get the bells," she said looking towards Ben.

Ben scowled. He hated to admit it but even with all that training with his brothers and aunt, this guy was way out of his league. Even if he broke out every technique he'd only end up wasting his chakra. "Alright, let's do it. You got a plan?" he asked looking to Oliver.

The boy gulped, but then nodded. "Y-yeah. He's obviously got some type of magnet style jutsu, so even if we knock the bells off he'll pull them right back. We need to immobilize him. It's a little risky but…"

Gill stood on the water humming to himself. It looked like the Oliver kid had finally decided to make a move. Of his three students Oliver was the one without any real notable background. He parents weren't ninja, he didn't have some great family lineage, and he hadn't done anything that notable during his time in the academy.

He was objectively average. But Gill knew better than anyone that the one you let your guard down around tended to be the most dangerous of the bunch. "Maybe he's talked some sense into his teammates," he muttered.

"Got you this time!"

He looked up and saw Ben had leapt over the wall and was swinging his sword down at him. "Or maybe not…" He moved aside easily dodging the sword. "You really don't learn do you kid? You're every bit as stubborn as your aunt."

Ben smirked and suddenly held up his hand. "Damn right. Stubbornness runs in the Brittle family," he said before doing a few hand signs.

"One handed hand signs. Nice."

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

The water before them began shifting, and suddenly a large dragon made of water rose up and began making its way after Gill. He jumped back making his way away from the attack. "A pretty advanced technique for a genin, but still no- Hmm!?" He looked back and saw Luna standing behind him.

"Fireball Jutsu!"

Another blast of blue flames came towards him, but he jumped up into the air. The attacks collided, and once fire and water came together a cloud of thick steam appeared. "They're blocking my vision, hoping for a sneak attack…"

"That's right!" Gill grunted as he felt someone grabbing onto his back. Oliver smiled as kept his death grip on his sensei's back. "Earth Style: Weighted Boulder Jutsu!"

Gill grew wide eyed as they suddenly began falling back towards the water with great speed. He'd increased both of their weight, and they were falling to the ground like rocks. They splashed into the water and quickly began sinking under. Oliver still wasn't letting go as they sunk deeper and deeper into the water.

"Is he planning on waiting until I pass out and then taking the bells? He's in for a surprise. I can hold my breath much longer than he-"

Something suddenly wrapped around them both. Gill grew wide eyed and looked around to see Ben's tattoos tying themselves around them. Oliver smiled before releasing the jutsu, then they were both pulled back up. Once they got to the surface they saw Ben and Luna smiling at them.

"Nice job man!" Ben said making sure to keep his grip on them.

"Got to admit, that was a heck of a plan dude," Luna complimented.

"Thanks…" Oliver said blushing slightly.

Gill chuckled as Luna bent down and snatched the bells. He could have broken out of this and kept going, but there was no point. They'd gotten the lesson. "Nice job you runts. You worked together and overcome a difficult obstacle. Now, who's going to be going back to-?"

"None of us," Ben said sternly.

Luna tossed the bells up and down. "Yeah dude. We did this together, so we pass or fail together. If one of us goes back, we all do."

Gill nodded. "That's a good answer. You all pass."

"Yeah we- wait, really?" Ben asked.

"Yes. The goal of this exercise was to see if you three could overcome the odds and work together as a team. You clearly have managed to do that, so-"

"Are you kidding me?!" Luna said in disbelief. "This was a 'work together' challenge? What a load! You could have just told us that from the beginning!"

"That did seem like a long way to go for a simple lesson…" Oliver said frowning.

"But then you wouldn't have learned to value of teamwork…"

Ben glared at him. "Oh, the value of teamwork huh? Here's some teamwork for you. Oliver, hold on there a little longer. Luna, draw on his face."

Luna pulled out a marker knelt down in front of him. Gill scowled. "Hey! Don't you draw on my! Hey, knock it off! Get away from me! Gah!"

And thus, team seven was born.

A/N: Finally got that ninja AU out! Hope you guys enjoyed it. I thought about making Ben the Junchuriki of the eight tails, but eventually I deciced to make it Luna. Her and Matatabi just seemed to fit more, and Ben had enough going on already. Oliver having the weighed boulder style just seemed to fit too. Let me know what you guys think.