Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Teamwork is the Key

"Begin," Inoichi said.

The moment he gave the signal to start, the three genins dispersed into the woods.

Naru remembered that the key to passing the genin exam was teamwork, so she signaled to her teammates to meet her behind a large tree; once they joined her, she activated a silencing seal so that Inoichi couldn't spy on them.

Turning towards her teammates she gave them a stern look, "Okay you two, let's get down to business. The only way the three of us are going to pass this test is if we work together as a team." she said.

Kakashi nodded his head, "I agree, but how are we going to do that," he said.

Tenzo raised an eyebrow, also wondering how they were going to accomplish that since they had never worked as a team before.

Naru smirked, "Well first we need to go over what type of fighters we are, I'll go first. I'm a short-range fighter, okay Kakashi you're next," she said.

Kakashi looking stern went, "I'm also a short-range fighter," he said.

Tenzo sighed, "I guess I'm the only long-range fighter here," he said, sheepishly.

Naru nodded, not surprised to hear this, "Okay, now that's out of the way, we can get to the important stuff. Inoichi Sensei said we have to evade him, right?" she said, gaining nods from her comrades.

She continued, "Since Inoichi sensei is a Jonin, the probability of us evading him on our own is slim. I am confident, however, that if we work together, we will be successful," she said.

The boys nodded.

Tenzo raised his hand, "So what's the plan boss," he said.

Naru smirked, "I'm so glad you asked," she said.

Meanwhile:

In the center of field twelve Yamanaka Inoichi was counting down the minutes in his head. After he got to fifteen minutes, he decided that was plenty of time for the brats to have hidden.

He jumped down from the rock he'd been sitting on and stretched before looking around, trying to sense where the genin's had run off to; he expected them scattered sense they wouldn't get the concept of the training exercise. No one ever did.

Spreading out his chakra, it surprised him, however, to find he wasn't able to sense the three.

"What on earth," he wondered.

He tried to find them once more and to his surprise he couldn't find them at all.

Okay, so maybe these brats were smarter than he expected. Still, this didn't mean they got the meaning of the test.

Contemplating for a moment, he decided the best course of action was to hunt them down and give them a good scare. The three needed a taste of what real shinobi life was like anyway, besides he wouldn't hurt them, just teach them a valuable lesson, he reasoned.

"What was the worse that could happen," he thought, jumping into the trees.

Twenty minutes later, Inoichi grew frustrated when he couldn't find the brats. He was wondering if they'd run out on him; he was fixing to give up when he sensed Naru's chakra signature coming from the center of the clearing.

"At least one's still here," he thought, heading in that direction.

Landing on a tree branch that overlooked the clearing, he saw Naru standing by herself.

"So, the other two must have abandoned her," he thought with disdain, jumping down.

Naru looked at him startled, not expecting him. He gave her an appraising one, "It seems your comrades have abandoned you," he said.

The girl chuckled, "It would appear so," she said.

Inoichi sighed, "I guess that means I'll just have to do you a favor and finish you then," he said, positioning his hands into a familiar hand sign. He was expecting to finish her but then the girl did something unexpected, she started laughing, here he was about to mind blast her and she's laughing? What the heck was going on.

He gave her a cautious look, "Mind telling me what's so funny," he said.

Naru looked at him still giggling, "Oh nothing, I just find it funny that you think I'd give up so easily. Just because my comrades gave up doesn't mean I will," she said.

Inoichi tilted his head, "Does this mean you plan on fighting me," he said.

Naru shook her head, "No that would be suicidal not to mention idiotic, you are a Jonin after all; but earlier you said the test was about avoiding you, so I just have to escape you," she said.

The girl's reply surprised Inoichi, but he tried not to show it, "I see and how do you plan on doing that," he said.

Naru smirked, "By doing this," she said, throwing a smoke bomb down.

Well, Damn, he wasn't expecting that.

The smoke bomb filled the clearing with black smoke; "Damn, I don't remember those generating that much smoke before," he thought in annoyance.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he found an area not filled with smoke so he could breathe.

"Oh! I'm so taking her down," he thought, taking off towards the waterfall where he sensed Naru's chakra signature.

Inoichi quickly hurried to the waterfall where he again found Naru. When she saw him she threw explosive tags in the lake causing water to fly everywhere and soak him.

Inoichi was annoyed now with this brat, but he was impressed too. At least he knew the girl could take care of herself; unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough to save her from him giving her a headache in retaliation for all the trouble she caused him.

Inoichi took off after the girl and caught up to her five minutes later. This time he had her cornered, or so he thought. He smirked at her; she was trapped in front of a rocky hillside; realizing this, the girl turned around slowly to confront him.

He smirked, "It seems, I've finally caught you, now what are you going to do," he said.

Naru's head was down, her bangs covering her eyes when she raised her head and looked at him, "I'm the one who caught you Sensei, thank you for your cooperation," she said popping into smoke, just as the timer went off.

"What the heck," he thought, heading back towards the original meeting area where he found the brats waiting for him.

He marched up to them in a furry, "Mind telling me what that was back there," he said.

The three genins gave him ear-splitting grins as Naru stepped forward to explain, "We only did what you told us to do Sensei, which was to avoid you," she said.

Kakashi then stepped forward, "We knew that with you being a Jonin we had no chance of avoiding you by ourselves," he said.

Tenzo then spoke, "So the three of us decided we had to trick you; so we used Naru's shadow clone to distract you away from us, while Kakashi used a genjutsu to mask our scent. For my part of the plan, I had a clone tailing Naru's as backup in case it popped before we were ready." he said.

Inoichi's jaw was on the ground. He could not believe these three worked together so well. It was unheard of.

Naru still smirking asked, "So do we pass Sensei?"

Inoichi cocked an eyebrow, "I don't know, do you three understand what the meaning of the test was," he said.

"Teamwork!" the three genins yelled.

Inoichi nodded, "That's right. In Konoha nothing is more important than teamwork, remember that. Alright you three, you pass," he said.

Naru fist pumped in the air, "Yes! I knew we could do it," she said.

Her two comrades gave her matching grins, well Kakashi eye smiled.

Inoichi smirked while shaking his head, "Alright you three, you're dismissed for the day. Meet me at the Hokage Tower at eight o'clock sharp tomorrow morning," he said.

"HAI!" the three yelled, saluting him.

Inoichi then watched as the three ran off to celebrate, "What a team," he thought before shunshin to the Hokage Tower to give his report.

Hokage Tower:

"Report!"

Inoichi bowed, "Hai Hokage Sama! The three performed well for working together for the first time," he said.

Hiruzen stroked his beard, "Is that so," he said.

Inoichi nodded, "Yes, it surprised even me. I've never seen a first-time team work so closely together before," he said.

Hiruzen shook his head, "I knew Naru and Kakashi were friends and trained together regularly, so that doesn't surprise me: what does surprise is how well they adapted to Tenzo being added to their group," he said.

Inoichi nodded, "I think that's partially Naru's doing as she seems to be the unofficial team captain," he said.

Hiruzen's eyes widened, "Now that is interesting, as I pictured Kakashi being the boss," he said.

Inoichi shook his head, "I wouldn't count him out just yet. The Hatake is defiantly an Alpha. I get the impression Naru sorta feeling in for him," he said.

Hiruzen looked at him intrigued, "Can you explain," he said.

Inoichi nodded, "The only way I can explain it is that Naru seems to be filling in for Kakashi like she knows he's the boss but knows he hasn't realized that yet?" he said.

Hiruzen smiled, "Hmm, we will have to keep watch over those two. You're dismissed," he said, waving his hand.

Inoichi nodded before shunshing away, leaving the Hokage to his thoughts.

Hiruzen smirked, "It seems things are about to get interesting," he thought.

Author's note: I'm sorry this took so long everyone, this week was rough on me. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I want to ask you guys if you want me to keep Tenzo and just replace Inoichi with Minato later, or if you want me to replace Tenzo and Inoichi with Minato and Obito.

Also, the next chapter will be celebrations and friends.