Will of Fire

Disclaimer: Naruto is a product of Masashi Kishimoto, so I don't own him.
Legend: "": quote, "italic": thought, italic: Japanese word, (): translation/explication, underline: techniques (check the end for invented techniques).

Chapter 2: The War of Bells!

The sun had just risen when all three members of team 7 presented themselves at the designated test field. Naruto not being an early bird was still drowsy, Sasuke was stiff as usual and Sakura was still a bit tired due to yesterday's training. She didn't like to admit it but it was possibly her longest work out ever. She was still glad she did though. It gave her some new insights about Naruto, whom she barely knew. She now knows enough to believe that when it came to fighting, she was the weakest link amongst the three. Something even her inner-self would not have believed if she had not been there.

Naruto on the other hand wasn't glad she trained with him. Not because of her participation it self but rather what came after it. He had to escort her back to Konoha, because Sakura was not a night person. It was her first night outing without her parents and she really wasn't a night time person, thus she was a very bad guide after dark. He wouldn't have mind doing the service if he wasn't afraid of getting falsely accused by her parents again. Then again that counted for most of the other kids as well, it was always the parents that were his problems. Luckily he didn't have to go all the way to her doorstep; the entrance to her street did the job. After which he bailed faster then a speeding bullet.

In the end, he was a little bit happy that he got to learn the pink haired kunochi a bit. He found out that she wasn't quite the clueless Sasuke-kun follower as he thought she was. She worked hard but obviously she needed help, she didn't know how to kick or where to kick, her speed was worst then Chouji, whom he considered the slowest guy in class and she didn't have any techniques on her taijutsu. Basically, she was a bookworm, but she could turn out to be a great teammate, if she ever got over her delusions of the last Uchiha that is. At least she was more dependable then him.

Given that they still had ten minutes, Sakura tried to give a small briefing about Naruto to Sasuke, who ignored her again by saying that he didn't need to know the details. He already knew enough on him, which was basically that Naruto was a useless moron. His attitude pissed of Naruto, who felt sorry for the poor girl to get ignored so brutally even though she was telling on him, but he didn't intervene for the sake of the team. Of course, when it came to ignorance he was no better then him, well especially in the morning. When Sakura tried to talk to him about his views and strategies on what they could be tested on, he asked her if he could use her as his pillow till Kakashi got here. That earned him a slap from her part. Clearly he was still half a sleep.


If there was one thing Naruto was really bad at it was social skills. He wasn't anti-social like Sasuke, he was sociable, but given that he hardly had any social experience, he didn't know how to talk to people, especially to girls. To him, girls were guys with a different physical anatomy. He never even bothered to ask himself why they were physically different. This always led him to make stupid comments, especially if he is drowsy. So to him asking Sakura to be his pillow was act of camaraderie. Everyone apart him knew what it really meant to ask a girl such a question. Thus it can be said that he was socially an idiot or for better term uncultured. Add this with the fact that he was also very forgetful about trivial stuff and you can pretty much see why he is considered so lowly in term of intelligence. It throws all his better qualities in the drain.


Sakura was so furious about his comment that she didn't talk to him for the next hour. She found it derogatory and it made her think that he also thought she was weak and useless. Well she was going to show him who is weak when the test starts. Thus all, three stayed in their corner and quiet till Kakashi appeared which happened to be four hours later, at 10 A.M. By which time Naruto was well awake and somewhat hungry like the two others.

"Sorry, I was lost on the road of life. I had to help an old lady cross the street", said the jounin.

This got him yelled at by both Naruto and Sakura, who duly reminded him that it didn't take 4 hours to help an old lady cross the street. Sasuke on the other hand brooded something, which Kakashi assumed was a reference of himself being an idiot. The jounin duly noted to come out with a better catch phrase next time and proceeded to explain the test.

"It is called a bell test and as you can see I have two of them on me. Your goal is to come at me with everything you got and try to take one of them from me. If you fail to do so you fail the test and will be automatically sent back to the academy. Consider this as your final test to be considered worthy of the genin title. Think of it also as a mission to prove to me that you are worthy of my acknowledgement. You have until noon to complete this task", explained Kakashi.

All three understood that the one who would fail to get a bell would be the failure since there were only two bells on Kakashi and proceeded to go solo. Thus when Kakashi started the match both Sakura and Sasuke went immediately into hiding to come up with their own plan to defeat the jounin. Naruto however had other ideas he challenged him to a fight right on the spot. This made all the other members shake their heads as it was clear that he was a total dumbass.

Naruto attacked Kakashi with basic taijutsu attacks. The jounin having read each of their academic files and having a fair assumption from it was unfazed by the mediocre attacks. Sasuke thought the same, but he was glad Naruto was doing it as it helped him gather information on Kakashi. Only Sakura doubted his actions. He clearly wasn't trying to be at his best, considering what she saw him do yesterday. So it became clear to her that he was faking it, to either test Kakashi's reflexes or playing the game of deception. She quickly approached Sasuke and tried to convey her beliefs, but the Uchiha just wouldn't listen. He was too busy with his own plan and told her to back off. Thus defeated Sakura once again returned to her original hiding spot and concocted her own strategy to apply against the jounin.

Unknown to her, Sakura was right. This was all a decoy put up by Naruto to lower Kakashi's guard. He figured that given his academic records and the fact that everyone considered him an idiot would certainly make him look weak in the jounins eyes, so why not drown him with it. Then he can exploit him to the fullest just when jounin would leave himself open. He will wait for that opening and then strike at full speed and steal one of the bells. It was a great plan, except he had forgot one thing that is Kakashi was most likely planning his own assault upon him.

First, Kakashi irritated him by trying to read his favorite book 'icha icha paradise' while blocking his attacks. This was a sign to show him that he considered his attacks a joke, but unfortunate for Kakashi, Naruto knew what type of book that was, a perverted book. This gave the boy a future backup plan if his coup failed, after all he knew very well that Kakashi was now an easy victim, for his orioke (sexy centerfold), a jutsu that he uses to exploit perverts. He kept that in mind and kept on his initial plan.

After five minutes of blocking lame taijutsu attacks, Kakashi got bored and decided to teach this hard headed student of his a lesson in public humiliation. Unfortunate for him, the moment he decided to give the boy an ass poke, which he called sennen goroshi (thousand years of pain), was also the same time he left an big opening to which Naruto sped up and grabbed one of his bells. The end result was a Naruto flying into the stars with a bell and an ass in pain and a smirking Kakashi unaware that he was missing a bell. He had just technically helped the boy on his breakaway, while keeping the two others away from the assumption that Naruto successfully succeeded his mission. As far as they could see the poor fool had received the utmost humiliation and proved once more what a moron he really is.

That being said thanks to his collected data on Kakashi, Sasuke was ready to get his own trap in action. From his point of view, Kakashi was fast but not that fast, had a blind spot thanks to his left eye which is covered and on top of all was underestimating all of them, especially him. If only he knew how wrong those assumptions were.

Sakura being the less stealthy of the two was now on Kakashi's radar. He knew were Sasuke was too and was somewhat aware of his plan but decided to play along with Sakura. He would keep the Uchiha for last. He went a head of her and gave her an opportunity to sneak up upon him, which she tried but ultimately failed as he got behind her.

"It is dumb to sneak up on a jounin with only a kunai in hand, little Sakura: magen narakumi (demonic illusions hell viewing). See what happened to Sasuke when he did it", said Kakashi, as he put her in a genjutsu which gave her an illusion of a murdered Sasuke and her being powerless to save him.

The scene was too intense for her and she screamed her heart out before fainting. Far away, Naruto who had recovered from his pain and now had decided to wait it out heard her screams, as well as Sasuke. He pitied the poor girl thinking that she must have gotten the same treatment as him from that pervert. Sasuke on the other hand had just finished setting up the final touches of his plan and was now about to check on her. He wasn't much interested on what happened to her, but he did need to go there to attract Kakashi into his trap. He was somewhat disappointed she got defeated so quickly, he was expecting her to be more resistant.

Then again he had already guessed that he would be the only one to get a bell. It may sound arrogant from his part, but considering that Sakura was nothing more then a bookworm and Naruto an idiot, he couldn't phantom the idea that any of these two would manage to complete such task. He on the other hand was different he was an Uchiha, the last Uchiha. As the survivor of the most powerful clan in Konoha, he had to prove to Kakashi and to himself that he was above and beyond their levels, even if that meant he had to take the jounin out permanently. After all, Kakashi did say come out with all he got and if he couldn't assume such possibility then how could he take the role as the avenger of his clan? So yes, he was cold to his teammate but that is because it is the only way for him to force himself on working harder. Now he was going to test that power by defeating Kakashi.


However before Sasuke could go and lure Kakashi in, the jounin made the trip for him by presenting himself at his stage, forcing him to go into hiding once more. Sasuke noticed that the jounin was too close to his traps, if he sees them before they are used then his hard work would go to drain. So he diverted the jounin's attention by throwing a few shurikens towards him. Like a pro Kakashi evaded the shuriken with ease and had enough time to locate Sasuke. Just then another set of shurikens stroke him from the left side, forcing him to escape with kawarimi (body switching). Sasuke then revealed himself to attract the real Kakashi. He needed to do that to have the jounin's back facing his traps to increase their efficiency.

"You are good at deceiving people I will give you that but unlike them I am far different. You should not take me so lightly because I won't fall into your tricks. Reveal your true self Kakashi". Said Sasuke, as Kakashi appeared before him.

"Speaking like a true number one rookie, I guess that can't be helped. After all, when you are number one, it is tough not to become ambitious and arrogant. I still don't think you should rank yourself that high considering you haven't managed anything either", replied back Kakashi.

"That is what you think, but before you go in one of your long speeches, how about revealing your true self and not this clone of yours? I mean last I checked you weren't reckless enough to set yourself in front of a visible exploding tag. Here allow be to dig you out", said the Uchiha, as ignited the trap.

The trap exploded from four fronts, the upper tree, the ground and the surrounding tree, all in all four explosions, which forced Kakashi the real one to show himself.

"A bold move young Uchiha that was indeed a nice plan to dig me out. However, you left yourself open. I could have very well used all that time to strike back at you", replied back Kakashi.

"I wouldn't think that way. You see as far as I can see you are playing with us and given that you are testing our abilities, you are being very lenient. If you were half as serious as you say, you would not have resulted in insulting us, but rather knocking us out instantly from the start. That will be your weakness because unlike you I fully intent to take this game very seriously", said Sasuke, as he threw a few kunais at him.

"Nice deduction, you seem to be a very good reader but such futile attempts like throwing kunais won't work with me", said Kakashi, as he parried the kunais with his own kunai.

It was then that he saw what Sasuke had planned for him. He wasn't shooting kunai just at him but also using them to shoot some behind him. These kunais were meant to cut the ropes that worked as activators for his traps. Instantly, Kakashi found himself covered by a net from above and showered with kunais and shurikens from all sides. The boy wasn't lying when he said he was serious. Kakashi quickly used kawarimi again and then replaced himself with a tree trunk then he switched himself with a kage bunshin (shadow clone) and went back into hiding. He was certain this wasn't the last of the Uchiha's traps and he didn't want to take the risk. Just as he thought the shadow clone was soon attacked by another set of projectiles which ended with an explosion tag tied around one of the kunais which exploded on it. Seeing that he had given the jounin enough time to switch place with a kage bunshin, Sasuke cursed himself for his novice mistake.

"That was some impressive work, as expected on an Uchiha. I will give you credit for keeping your words, you really tried to kill me and more then once. Unfortunately, your arrogance will be your doom. By showing me this you now allow me to use lethal force against you. Then again, I wonder if I should, after all you still didn't manage to get a bell or get a scratch on me and you openly defied me, which is not smart for a genin. You basically did the same thing as Naruto and Sakura, just that you were a bit flashier. Lat I checked that wasn't a requirement to pass this test. Too bad, you just failed to prove me that you aren't any different then them. So I guess that makes you a failure like the two others", said Kakashi with a smile.

"Why you, I will show you, how wrong you are", said an angry Sasuke, as he charged towards the jounin.

The Uchiha first threw a few more shurikens at him then attempted to kick him from being, which the jounin blocked with his right arm, then grabbed with his left hand. Sasuke followed it up with a right hand punch, which Kakashi grabbed with his right hand. Sasuke then attempted to kick him with an upside down kick with his remaining leg, which the jounin blocked by trapping it between his shoulder blade and neck. This put Kakashi in a compromising position as he now had his hand full while Sasuke still had one hand free. Free to grab one of the bells, only to realize there was only one bell left on Kakashi. That small second of distraction cost him the last bell as Kakashi used it to kick him away.

"What, how come he is missing a bell? Don't tell me one of those morons actually managed to get one before me. No that is impossible, most likely he dropped it while he was having fun or using it as a trap. Either way, I must get this one at all cost", thought Sasuke in anger, as he started to perform a set of seals.

"Damn that was close this guy is really good as he claims. I never thought I would have that much trouble handling a genin. What the hell that set of hand seals… he can't be using that jutsu… a genin shouldn't have the knowledge and even less the chakra requirement to do that jutsu", thought Kakashi, as he saw the hand seals performed by the Uchiha.

Just as Kakashi had feared Sasuke unleashed a giant stream of fire upon him, the katon goukakyuu (fire element great fireball). Much to the Uchiha's chagrin he had missed the jounin once more. He knew this because he found no trace of him after the fire had cleared. Just then he felt a hand grab his leg from beneath and before he could react, he found himself buried in the ground up to his neck and unable to move.

"Doton shinjuu zanshu (earth element inner decapitation), a shinobi must never let his guard down, or he will lose his head. I must admit you are different from the others. You have surprised me the most, but then again you are Uchiha. Having said that you are still too arrogant and reckless, that along with your elitist personality makes you an easy target. See how you allowed me to easily gain advantage on you with a simple taunt? Nobody likes a snob Sasuke, certainly not in a team", said Kakashi.

"Again with your damn lectures, instead of trying to preach how about paying more attention in battle? You were so much into having fun nagging us that you didn't even realize you are missing a bell or are you using that to trap someone?" replied back a frustrated Sasuke.

"What? Damn, you are right. I must have dropped it while pulling that genjutsu on Sakura. Oh well, time to pay her a visit again… anyway remember what I said. If you want to pass this test, remember why you were put in a team and better luck next time", said Kakashi, as he disappeared in search of the missing bell.


From the distant bushes Sakura had watched the waging battle. She had woken up a bit earlier thanks to all the explosions. As a spectator she was bedazzled by the Uchiha's coolness and abilities. She was somewhat fearful of him now. He did try to kill their sensei more then once. She was almost certain he had gotten one of the bells after those cool taijutsu moves followed by that fire attack, but alas that did not happen. He was still the prime candidate to pass the test, something she could not say for herself, as she has barely been able to do anything compared to him. When she heard Kakashi mentioning about her, she immediately retried towards location she was last victimized for finally getting her chance of retaliation. She knew Naruto hadn't shown his trump cards yet and figured that if she managed to succeed in surprising Kakashi now, she would still be in contention for that second bell. Sasuke on the other hand was in heavy reflection.
"Damn, I have to come up with a better plan. God this jutsu got me good, I can hardly move it is so tight that it will take me a lot of time getting out of it alone. Something still doesn't make sense though this test is way too hard for any single genin to get a bell alone. Unless… damn I should have known. The bells are nothing but a distraction. He used them to make us fight amongst each other for it, thus dividing from attacking him together. After all he asked me why we are put in a team and that is to work together to overcome opponents and obstacle who are stronger then us, someone like him. Gah! How could I have missed such an easy hint like that", grunted Sasuke, as he tried to free himself.
Meanwhile, Sakura was acting unconscious as Kakashi approached her. She had planned to keep this act till he would have his back turned on her, then she would leap and stab him from behind with a kunai and then slow him down with a few more projectiles. Of course when the opportune moment came, she froze after realizing that she didn't have any chance against him. She cursed herself for seeing Sasuke in action against him. She had a very low self-esteem, she had worked hard on it over the years but it still wasn't ready to have her face this challenge. In her mind, if Sasuke-kun couldn't do anything to him then she was doomed to fail. Thus she decided to keep pretending to be the knocked out girl, wait for Kakashi to clear the scene and go help Sasuke. That way at least she was assured to have some success and even potentially get the second bell from Sasuke as a present for her assistance.
Kakashi was now distraught, the bell wasn't near Sakura either and that meant he must have dropped it when he was fighting Naruto. He duly noted that Sakura was awake but disappointed that she had not attacked him while he gave her an opportunity. This meant that either she was intelligent enough to realize she could not do it alone or she chickened out, thus the dilemma of his disappointment as he could not guess which one. He figured he would have to see her next action to decide that outcome. As he reached his last destination, he found Naruto standing there and waiting for him. Clearly the brat hadn't learned his lesson from his last humiliation.

"Looking for this? I thought you would have figured it instantly but I guess I was expecting too much off you. Then again you did ground the two others, so now I can start giving you the pounding you deserve for the humiliation you caused me without having to worry of exposing myself", said an serious Naruto while showing him the bell.

The tone of the boy's voice made Kakashi realize what had actually happened in their last encounter. His action made sense now, he was a prankster and only one of those would be able to deceive him that much from the onset. He forcefully lowered his abilities to make himself look weak and effectively played the role of the loser of the class to fool him. He waited for an opportunity for him to open up and when he did he accelerated to catch the bell. That opportunity was when he tried to set him up for the ass-poke, so both of them exploited it to execute their plans. As a result, he, Kakashi was to busy ass-poking to realize he was robbed while Naruto was too busy stealing the bell to realize he was being humiliated.


Now it all made sense, why Sandaime asked him to be careful with this boy. The rumor that he was the one to turn Mizuki into a bloody pulp was true, yesterday. His next question was how did Naruto do it? According to the rumor, Mizuki suffered broken abdominal and pectoral ribs and a severe head concussion, so bad that he was bleeding out from the inside. Luckily, he got executed in the morning rather then to be left alone to die slowly and painfully, which was imminent given the graveness of his crime. Now that he recalls, Sandaime also warned him to not get angry or there would be price to pay and he guessed Mizuki's injuries were that price, which meant it was most likely a powerful taijutsu attack. But then again it could be anything. It was clear now that this boy would make him work for his money, because all previous data on him were invalid. It is easy to hide your stats if you truly wish too and being a prankster which is synonym for being very deceptive, that door was wide open.

Finally coming to a conclusion, Kakashi gave him an assessment of what he thought the boy had done, during which he also added how he thought the boy managed to fool him. Naruto pretty much agreed to the whole review apart his assumption that he purposely got poked to escape unnoticed. Kakashi congratulated on his cunning plan, but added that he was on to him. He wouldn't fall for it twice. Naruto reminded him that he didn't need to fool anymore, he had completed his original task and had the bell and all that remained was now Kakashi's punishment. He assured him that he had no idea what a horrible mistake he had done by ass-poking him, saying that the blond haired shinobi leaped into action.


This time the battle was much different from what Kakashi expected. Naruto rivaled Sasuke in speed and his taijutsu was far advanced and unpredictable. It was most likely an unorthodox version he created by himself as it didn't match any one style he, Kakashi, had seen. The best he could come up with was shaolin kempo, as some of the stances looked like coming from its tiger, leopard and dragon forms. But then some of the movement looked more like monkey form, then wolf form, heck it was one bizarre fighting style as far as he was concerned. This made his job ten times harder as now he basically had to go by each sequences at a time. Also considering that Naruto hits harder then Sasuke, he was feeling the pain. However, all being said he was still managing to avoid 50 of the attacks as his speed was still far greater then the blond haired shinobi.
Once again Sakura found herself as a spectator. She was about to join Sasuke when she heard the cry of a new battle, this time it was Naruto versus Kakashi and her teammate was definitely showing his thing now. It was clear that she was also a victim of his deception as he was clearly much better then he was in front of her yesterday. It made her feel even lower about herself, as now she felt that he didn't trust her enough to actually reveal himself to her. In fact, he must have been probably mocking at her taijutsu yesterday. Then again she really could not complain after all, she did start their day badly and she did mock at him. Now the joke was on her. He was holding on his own pretty well, but just like Sasuke, he also seemed to lack that extra pairs of hands to take Kakashi down. If she could manage Sasuke to side with him, all three or at least them two can finally overwhelm their infamous sensei. Thus without wasting anymore time, she rushed to free the Uchiha, while she prayed Naruto could hold on till they join up.
On the battlefield however, Kakashi was starting to wish he didn't poke this beast. Even thought Naruto was slower and having a lot of misses, it was clear that if this kept on he would lose by default, since when it came to stamina it was who Naruto had the edge. If this keeps on he would most likely have to use his sharingan, an outcome he really didn't want. He also did not like to be on the defensive, a situation that the boy was constantly putting him on. He was so much in the defensive that Naruto hardly ever needed to escape him with kawarimi, which he only did when Kakashi would try to stab him with kunai while he is unarmed or throw shurikens at him from a bad angle.

All seem well till the point Naruto realized he had forgotten to take off his training weights. So when he began to take off those 100 pounds of additional weight and his jacket which had some more, Kakashi really started to swallow his fears. This simply wasn't his day. Round two started hard, as Naruto was much faster then before and the pressure was building on Kakashi's side. Now the boy was hitting him 80 of the time, as his unorthodox and irrational taijutsu style was getting the better of the jounin. Seeing no option but to convince the boy peacefully or reveal his own secret weapon, Kakashi opted for the latter. The best way to do that is to acknowledge him or so what Sandaime told him. He just hoped the old man was right, because even with sharingan, he wouldn't last long due to his stamina strain.

"Naruto, I will admit you have managed to surprise me greatly, but even you should know that this is pointless. I am much faster then you, even if your taijutsu is very high, you still won't be able to knock me out. I am an elite jounin after all. Besides, you aren't supposed to be bulldozing your way here. You are supposed to find the most efficient way to take me out. You should team up with the others and try something new together", said Kakashi, as he pushed him back to take a breather.

"Don't know about you but to me it seems that the elite jounin is getting pretty tired up. Besides, I have completed your test already now I am just enjoying myself. I haven't had this much fun ever. You sure you don't want to give up yet?" asked a smiling Naruto who stopped his attack.

"God, you are as much a pig head as Sasuke. It must be my lucky season to find two of you in the same team. When will you guys think before you attack and realize that the main goal was for you three to team up and attack me together? The bells are here to simply sidetrack you from that goal. Think logically, I am a jounin you are a genin, if I was the bad guy do you really think I would be toying with you guys or go for the kill? This isn't a game, you dumbass", yelled Kakashi.

"Hey enough with the insults already, I am not like that bastard Uchiha, besides it only makes me angrier you know? Didn't Sandaime tell you that already? Hmm, so that was the plan huh… well I hate to break the ice to you Kakashi-sensei but it would take you a miracle to get us teamed up together, well Sasuke and me that is. That elitist show off thinks he is too good to team up with Sakura even less me who he considers a loser. In fact, I am certain that he would rather have his head explode then to admit that I am better then him in taijutsu and speed. He clearly isn't a team player. Did you know that yesterday he purposely sent Sakura to remind me that I was weak and shouldn't do anything stupid to ruin his test today? Not to mention that he used her like a dog to spy on me? I guess that cannot be helped she is so full of him but then again, he goes one level below and totally ignores her", replies Naruto.

"… I guess I must have bragged Sandaime a bit too much this week. Either this is my karma or it's his punishment for always being late. You two are the worst possible combination any jounin can get as students. On one side, I have Sasuke, whose past forces him to act stronger then he is, not to mention the inability to admit that there maybe other kids stronger then him. On the other side, I have you, whose past forces you to hide your powers for your own sake. When you do start to show off he will pull a tantrum and it will turn out to be a clash of titans between the two. Finally there is Sakura who has some potential but she is too obsessed with her honeymoon rather then her job. Yup this is definitely a punishment for all the times I have been late during my career", said a depressed Kakashi, who just realized the big mess he got himself into.

"Yeah, aren't you a lucky bastard. You get to be the first to experience such a grateful experience. Hey, do not worry. You got your job simplified a bit. I promised Sandaime to not use my powers except in dire moments. At least till I understand it fully. Till then you got the time you need to prep Uchiha boy about his superiority complex or he gets a brain cramp and explodes. I mean he is on borrowed time you know? I was about to whoop his ass yesterday for sending Sakura to me like that", laughed Naruto, as he patted his poor sensei.

"You are not being funny Naruto", said Kakashi.

"I know, I know. Let's make a deal, you help me control my abilities and I will try to make that bastard look good in battle, while looking dumb okay? I mean it suits me well I get the advantage of being the underdog and I don't like the 'power spotlight' much", proposed Naruto.

"Are you sure about this? This isn't going to be a walk in the park you know. You will have to make plenty of hard decisions on when to use it or not", asked Kakashi.

"Hey, as far as I am concerned I wasn't supposed to know about my inner-demon if it wasn't for that bastard gym teacher anyway. So it is the best approach, I promised to use it at dire moment and I will. At the moment it is useless counting on it, since I don't have much control over it and given my position I rather play it safe then get leached like a dog", said Naruto.

"Alright then I guess your proposition is fair enough. Now tell me what seems to be your problem. I didn't really understand what Sandaime meant when he said to not get you angry. Is this why you almost killed Mizuki yesterday, because he got you angry by revealing that secret?" asked Kakashi.

"Well it is hard to explain since I don't pretty much understand it myself. According to Sandaime, my anger is the key to unlock the powers given by Kyuubi, which he thinks are immunity to fire and ability to control its hot fiery aura. I can somewhat control this aura by focusing my anger to my right arm for this jutsu I am trying to create, but it lacks something else. I mean I can gather it, but I cannot seem to control it once released, which he says I can. As for Mizuki's case, I don't recall using that fiery aura but I do recall being very angry when I hit him with my janken rendan (rock-paper-scissors combo). I usually use my normal aura for that attack, but I might have overdone it a bit", explained Naruto.

"This aura you speak of is it your chakra?" questioned Kakashi.

"Erm, what's a chakra?" asked a confused Naruto.

"You don't know what chakra is? I thought it was one of the main things they teach you at the academy. You know that energy like aura that surrounds you when you perform a jutsu?" asked Kakashi, who was astounded this boy didn't even know what chakra was.

"Sorry, I hardly paid attention to my classes. Ah so that is what chakra is? Yes, that's my aura I am talking about that is what I use for janken rendan (rock-paper-scissors combo). But the one I am talking about is different. It feels hot and is red, like a fire", Naruto tried to explain.

Kakashi took out his notebook to review at Naruto's academic record once more and clear enough he found the reason what this boy was talking like this. He had very poor knowledge and no chakra control, which is why he doesn't know what chakra really is. In other words, what Sandaime wanted him to do is teach him about controlling his chakra. Since he doesn't have that knowledge he releases his on impulse, hence why he said he thinks he hit him too hard due to being angry. He had no control so he due to his emotional state me must have unleashed a hefty amount of it when attacking Mizuki. As for the fiery aura he speaks of, it must be Kyuubi's chakra, who is possibly releases a lot of heat since he is the god of fire. This means that Naruto most likely has two different chakra systems, which would make him unique of his kind or so what he, Kakashi believes. It's either that or that it is still his chakra but he can turn it to a fiery mode with anger. Either way, the thing he must first do is start learning to control his chakra.

"Okay, Naruto. I know how to help you for that missing part. I will explain it to you later in detail, but for now I want you to show me that janken rendan of yours. Put back your weights on before doing so, it will make it easier for me to see through", asked Kakashi.

"You sure you are okay Kakashi-sensei? It's still very painful you know?" replied Naruto.

"I know it is that is why I will be using a kage bunshin to take the hit. Just hit it with much anger as you possibly can. I want to test it the solution I am going to propose for you is the correct one", said Kakashi, as he created a shadow clone after eating a solider pill.

"Wow, cool jutsu, you made a double of yourself. Why can't they teach something like that in the academy", said the boy at the sight of the shadow clone.

Naruto was oblivious to what Kakashi wanted to test but obeyed anyway. He dressed himself to his full attire, which included the training weights and prepared himself to attack. When Kakashi signaled he released a huge amount of his chakra and charged head on at the clone at maximum speed.

"Here I go. Take my iwa (rock)! Feel my kami (paper)!" yelled Naruto, as he did his first two blows.

"Ouch that got to hurt badly. Hey isn't paper supposed to come last and scissors before it or are you skipping on of the steps?" asked the observant Kakashi, which got the boy confused.

"Huh? I always thought paper was the second step. Wait let me review: paper beats rock, scissors beats paper and rock beats scissors. So scissors always comes after paper, not the opposite! Stop confusing me and you stop running away you damn clone. Eat my chouki (scissors)! You lose, janken rendan", yelled Naruto, as he gave the final blow to the running shadow clone making it puff in thin air.

"Hmm, I was right. Just I figured what you lacked and what Sandaime asked you to train is your chakra control, which you confuse sometimes with your anger", answered a smiling Kakashi.

Naruto was now even more confused and he displayed it with the typical scratching behind the head like a monkey, much to the chagrin of the jounin, who realized he would need to come up with a simpler explication for this monkey to understand what he just said. Sensing the arrival of both Sasuke and Sakura, Kakashi quickly asked Naruto to pass him the bell, as part of their deal, which the boy did, since it no longer had any value for him. He promised to give him a better explication later at night.


The two arrived about a minute later, but before they could act, the timer rang signaling the end of the test. Sasuke was furious at himself. It took him way too much time to get out of that hole, even with Sakura's help. On their way, Sakura revealed to him that Naruto was trying to hold off the jounin by himself, which got him even angrier. To make things worst, they found that the easiest path was barricaded with traps, which they believed was the work of Kakashi. This forced them to make a detour, which cost them some precious time. The true perpetrator of these traps was of course Naruto, who wanted to ambush Kakashi there, till he realized that the jounin had taken an ulterior route. By now however, he had totally forgotten about ever placing them.

So when they arrived and found both Naruto and Kakashi sitting there waiting for them, Sasuke had a hard time controlling his emotions. First, because he had told Sakura that there is no way Naruto would be able to hold off Kakashi and that when they got there they would probably find him passed out. Second, their rush failed on a route taken by him instead of the one Sakura proposed to him. Third, Naruto was chatting with Kakashi and there seemed to be almost no serious battle on the field, which meant that he had used lesser effort then him and understood that the key was teamwork faster then he did. That was three huge blows to his ego, as all three of his predictions came false. His only success was that he was able to deliver the true objective of the test to Sakura before she fully realized it. That again was a small victory since she was possibly the first to realize without Kakashi's assistance that they needed to work as a team.

Naruto seeing the Uchiha's facial expression was savoring the moment internally, while on the outside gave him the 'I failed like you' expression. He was seriously enjoying the pain he was causing to this elitist bastard, if he only knew how much. Sakura on the other hand was simply glad the test was over. She admitted internally that she clearly wasn't ready for it. All of them then gathered around the memorial site for debriefing and where their supposed lunch should have been served.


"Man you three are a pain in the ass you know that? All you had to do is work together and you would have all passed. If you cannot understand the purpose of being part of being of a team then why bother forming one?" asked Kakashi.

The three explained that in the end they did understand what they had done wrong and given another chance they would fix their previous mistakes. Kakashi wasn't letting them off the hook that easily. He was playing hard ball with them. He knew most of them understood their mistakes and probably wouldn't repeat them for a second time, but he needed them to prove him that this was a lesson they would never forget. So he set up his new trick wisely by giving them a long lecture. In this lecture he pointed out each of their weakness. That is Sasuke's arrogance and ignorance, Naruto's carelessness and impatience, and finally Sakura's lack of confidence and obsession.

He also pointed out that this test was the closest simulation each of them would face to the reality of a real mission. He reminded then what made Konoha one of the strongest villages in the 5 great nations: Their dedication to the concept of teamwork over the concept of self-interest. He also explained what role the members of the team played and many such little details mixed with gibberish to evaluate their attentiveness later.

"You see this monument behind you? On it are the names of the heroes of this village. All of them believed and respected what I just told you and each gave their lives to uphold these beliefs. They are the true shinobis the ones who risked their lives for the sake of others to form the bonds that protect this village. These rules must always be upheld no matter the consequences. I will give you one more chance to prove yourselves. This time I will make it much harder. Consider this a lesson for forgetting that a shinobi must always be able to read underneath the underneath and remember if you my rules you won't simply fail this test, you will be banned from ever becoming a shinobi", declared Kakashi.

Having self his plan straight, he then dropped two containers of food and ordered Naruto and Sasuke to eat them. He forbade either of them to pass their food to Sakura, who will be the victim of their punishment. He reminded them again that breaking his rules would ban them from ever becoming shinobis and left stating he had some business to attend to with Sandaime and would be back in half an hour.


Naruto and Sasuke began eating their lunch while Sakura tried painfully controlling her hunger, but her stomach still grumbled loudly. After waiting for a minute, Naruto handed his lunch to Sakura and insisted she eat her share.

"What the hell are you doing, Naruto? Didn't you listen to what Kakashi-sensei just said? Do you want to get banned or what?" yelled Sakura.

"Shut up and eat Sakura, you clearly need more food then me. If you didn't you would have realized by now that this is another of his tricks to divert up from teamwork. Remember what he said, a shinobi must always be able to see underneath the underneath. After all that long speech about teamwork and bonding why would he give a rule that goes against it? It's just like the bell test. Besides, if that is his rules then I rather go with the rule of the heroes then his. At least I will die knowing that I didn't break what they gave their life for. Any way you look at it you will have to eat, because I cannot eat knowing that the person next to me is starving", replied Naruto.

"Naruto is right Sakura, this is just another of his obstacles he purposely put to weaken us. He knows that if you are hungry then it is assured that he will have a two versus one, because you are the one who is most hungry amongst the three of us. So here have some of my share too. Don't worry, I don't sense his presence nearby, so we are safe for now", added Sasuke.

"But feeding me won't help. I am bad when it comes to physical confrontation. I won't be able to help you guys. I am the weakest link here", countered Sakura.

"There are already two of us handling that section you don't need to worry about it. I am sure there are things you can do that both of cannot. You were put in this team for a reason you know?" replied Naruto.

"You are right, I do have better knowledge then both of you and I do know about genjutsu a bit more, well at least how to counter them", said Sakura.

"See there you became useful again. You can help us cover those sections when Kakashi-sensei tries to pull on of his fancy tricks. Now eat or else you will really become our weakest link", laughed Naruto, as he passed his share once more.

"That has me thinking, during the test, he pinned us at our strongest points. That is ninjutsu on me, taijutsu on Naruto and genjutsu on you, Sakura. Now he says he will make it harder for us, which most likely means that he will use our weakest point to pin us. So that would make you the most important member of the team Sakura since you are the genjutsu user of the team and we both are at our weakest at that", reflected Sasuke.

"Erm, Sasuke-kun, I have been trying to tell you for the whole day. I don't think Naruto really got pinned. He was trying to deceive him the first time and Kakashi sensei nearly fell for it. I know because I saw him train yesterday and I kind of saw a little sequence of their second bout", said Sakura, as she tried to jam her face with food.

The words gave Sasuke another low blow, while Naruto was now worried how much she saw and tired to stuff her food with more food to prevent her from talking. Sasuke seeing this action was certain she was right and had an even harder time digesting his food. Instead of worrying about this fact, he used his logic to deduct that the reason why Naruto probably looked better was because Kakashi had bought his deception. Besides it really didn't say anything about him being better then he is, so why worry about it. With this assumption, he decided to work on their strategic approach.


"Okay, here is what I am thinking. I will play the role of the striker and keep him busy. You two will act as my support and assist me by throwing projectiles and activating the traps we will set up around our battlefield, hopefully a dense grassy region to prevent him from hiding on the trees. Naruto will act as an enforcer from time to time, while you Sakura will be our genjutsu dispeller. The most important thing we must remember is to keep him always occupied", explained Sasuke.

"Your plan is good as always Sasuke-kun. Naruto, got any problem with that?" asked Sakura.

"I think it's a bit to simple for someone like Kakashi-sensei. I would also change the position between your self and me, Sasuke. The striker is the one who is suppose to attack from mid range and long range when he finds openings. The one, who should keep him occupied, should be the deceiver, played by me. I say this because I have the most stamina amongst all three of us, I am also a close range fighter and given that I am a prankster I have more experience in deceptions. While you are a better then me at mid and long range, much more precise and have more jutsus in your arsenal. I also think we should add a bit more deception in each of our acts to get him more confused. After all, we are hunting a sneaky speedy rabbit", commented Naruto.

"You bring some very good points Naruto, but what kind of deception are you thinking?" asked Sakura.

"I think we should try to show him that we haven't learned our lesson, well at least not entirely. You know just acting out our former roles and use them to make more opportunistic hits on him", explained Naruto.

"I don't understand what you mean. Please explain?" asked Sasuke, who was open to suggestion for once.

"Simple, when you swoop in to assist me on a double team strike, you act your arrogant self, while I act like I don't trust you and at just at the last second he pull our synchronized attack. It's kind of like doing the monkey dance, you yell, I yell, we both get Sakura to think we are at each others throat and just when she lets her guards down and approaches us, we hit her instead of hitting each other. While you Sakura, will purposely act like the girl who falls at the slightest touch and try to remain unconscious to keep yourself out of his mind. This will allow you to cover for us against genjutsus and even take Sasuke's position when we double team him. In addition, by acting the knocked out girl, you can backstab him from time to time when he has his back turned on you. If all that doesn't make him fall within the first four turns, then I will have to use the secret weapon", explained Naruto with an evil grin on his face.

"Ah I get it. We play the fools and try to make our attacks as if it was by coincidence. Damn that is some plan, it has so many layers that I wouldn't want to be in Kakashi-sensei's place. I guess now I understand what they call you the prankster; you really are a cunning fox. Secret weapon, what can that be?" asked Sakura.

"Oh something, I found out while getting my ass-poked. That book that he was reading is actually a pervert book and you know what that mean. He is 100 vulnerable to the prank I play on Iruka-sensei. Just let him dare show off, I will give him a bloody nose for it", said the mischievous Naruto with a wink.

"You don't mean that obnoxious jutsu? You really want to get a payback for that ass-poke, don't you?" yelled Sakura, only to get a nod from Naruto.

"Damn, this guy he really does come up with some wacky plan. It's so unexpected it might just work. Still for an idiot to come up with such an elaborate plan… I guess it is true what they say, intelligence and cunningness are two separate things", thought Sasuke.


"Hmm, what a mischievous child indeed, I would have never managed to guess some of those deceptions of his. In reality, if each of them fought at their peak I would have my hands full already. But since he can't in their presence, he made a full proof plan with which each of them at half their powers can overwhelm me, unless I use my sharingan that is. Man these kids, I ask them a battle and they are planning for war. I better stop this before they start getting even more cynical ideas", thought Kakashi who was listening to them while hiding underground.


"Okay, I am up for it. Here are some weaknesses of Kakashi I think we can potentially exploit. First, his blind spot is on his left-eye side, so if you want to throw projectiles and to have them surprise him, use that side. He also tends to hide underground a lot and use a kage bunshin to fight for him, so if you see him being overconfident, throw an explosion tag on the ground around him. It should force him to surface. For traps, I think a few net traps to slow him down and, projectiles and explosive traps for distraction should do the trick. Erm, Sakura why do you have that look on your face? DAMN", yelled Sasuke followed by Naruto, as they saw why Sakura froze on the spot.

Kakashi was in front of them with eyes all red like a blood thirsty assassin. Both boys cursed themselves for forgetting to keep an eye for him and prepared for the worst, while Sakura was relieving her whole childhood in front of her eyes, so much she was afraid of him.

"YOUUUU GUUYYYS … pass! … poor Sakura I think I overdid it a bit" said the jounin in a scary voice, realizing that his voice made the poor girl faint.


After making them live the scariest moment of their lives, well for Sakura at least, Kakashi explained why he is making them ass.

"I told you earlier that a shinobi must always look underneath the underneath. The reason I said this is because even though rules are sacred for our honor one must be able to distinguish which one benefits and justifies for their mission. During your lifetime, you will have many situations were you will be forced to brake some, especially the ones usually given by your employers. If you obey all of it like a dog, you are nothing more then a moron who is walking to his own death. My best friend used to say, those who break the rules and codes in the shinobi world are called trash, but you know what? Those who don't care about their comrades are lower then trash. Always remember this quote whenever you doubt about breaking one of such rules. I learned it the hard way and it cost me greatly. I was stubborn as you guys were once, I always believing there is nothing worst then breaking rules and because of it, my best friends name ended up being here. So unless you wish to have the same regrets in life like I did, put this one as your first priority", explained Kakashi, as he looked back at the monument.

"Erm question, if you wanted us to just feed Sakura, why did you wait this long to show up?" asked Naruto.

"Well, I was going too, but then you guys started to reveal your plan. So I figured why not see what you guys had in mind. I must say you guys sure are impressive when it comes to running your imagination wild. Instead of a simple ganging up, you guys were planning to wage a war. Although that being said, you guys still need to work on building your bonds and we will be starting that from tomorrow. Meet me at area 60 at 10 AM and be ready for some intense training. We only have a week to fix our quirks before we join the workforce. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go make my report to the Hokage", said Kakashi who disappeared in thin air.

Thus with the departure of their teacher concluded the war of bells. The remaining participants finished eating their lunch before walking their separate paths. That is Sasuke and Sakura on one side and Naruto, who was running away before Sakura gets rejected by her romantic crush again, on the other.

End of Chapter 2


A/N: Voila, chapter 2… I wanted to write about the training they will follow the next week, but given that this test alone cost me 18 pages (God I don't know how I manage to make such a small portion in this many pages), it would better if I made a whole chapter for it on the next one. As you can see some of the deviation from the original storyline as already started. The next chapter will be more or less comical. It will involve training (tree walking, some jutsus, Naruto training Sakura), a survival training, more personal information on each characters and the Konohamaru section. Thanks for the reviews, hope I answered back all of them and keep sending more. It gets me motivated to write… (I am serious). This one should be releasing faster then Crimson Destiny since I don't have to reinvent almost every little detail but if there is one thing I can tell you, it is to not give your hopes up if it takes 2 weeks. The reason being: It takes a damn time to make those battles. Gotta choreograph them to look good, it is probably the reason you don't see many action/adventure fan fictions. I am starting to use some professional wrestling moves names to in the upcoming mangas (describing every kicks and punches is hell), so you may want to have wikipedia professional wrestling techniques guide, next to you in the future. It will save me pages and it will save some of you who complain I write too much per paragraph to complain less, since I wont have to explain who that damn move is. R&R Please! - Shingen