Waking up at 4:30am was hardly a challenge for Naruto - he was used to being up by 5 most days anyway. When Kakashi had instructed Team 7 to arrive at 5am without eating any breakfast and to not be tardy after he himself had shown up several hours late, Naruto thought it best to come prepared with food for just in case. He opened his fridge, and admired some of the fresh produce that he and Hinata had harvested the previous day. Lettuce and cucumbers, perfect for sandwiches. Naruto spent a few minutes putting the food together and wrapping them up, and placed them in an extra pouch that he slung over his shoulder before departing.
Naruto made it to the training ground not a minute too early or late, and was unsurprised to see that the only person missing was Team 7's sensei. Sasuke certainly looked accustomed to being awake at this hour, whereas Sakura… well, she looked as though she had rushed out the door without having enough time to fully get ready. Having an adaptable sleep schedule was just something she would need to learn in the coming weeks and months.
As soon as Sakura had noticed Naruto's arrival, her expression morphed from fatigue to frustration. "Are you seriously going around pretending to be a girl again, Naruto?"
Naruto couldn't quite place the feeling, but he had the sense there was something deeper to Sakura's protesting. He shrugged. Just because he was used to waking up early didn't mean he had the energy for an argument. "I'm not pretending to be anything, I'm just me. People can be whatever they want, Sakura. Anyway, Kakashi will probably be late so I brought sandwiches."
"But… he said not to eat breakfast!" Sakura protested. Her stomach betrayed her with a loud growl, and she went red.
Naruto yawned, and tossed a sandwich at each of Sakura and Sasuke anyway. "The same guy who told us not to be tardy when he himself was hours late for our first meeting? Whatever, do what you want."
Neither of them quite seemed to buy into Naruto's logic. That is, until 5am turned into 5:30 turned into 6am. By that point, Naruto had long since devoured his sandwich, and Sasuke was unwrapping his. Another two hours passed in relative silence, which did not bode well for team cooperation.
Finally, at 8am, Kakashi arrived.
As was becoming a pattern, Sakura was the first to get up in arms and point an accusatory pattern at the man. "Sensei, you're late!"
The man scratched at the back of his head, pretending to look apologetic. "Sorry, a black cat wandered across my path, you see?"
Kakashi walked over to three thick wooden poles and set an alarm clock down on the middle one. "Alright, let's set this for 12pm. Today's assignment is to take these bells away from me by noon. Those who can't do it won't get lunch. They'll be tied to that, and I'll eat my lunch before your very eyes! And then, of course, you'll be relegated to the Genin Corps."
And that's why I brought us all breakfast, Naruto thought as he eyed the two small bells held in Kakashi's right hand. Two bells, not three. Kakashi was claiming that one team member wouldn't stay on, and Naruto was pretty sure neither Sakura nor Sasuke knew that they passed or failed as a team, given how surprised they were by the reveal of the additional test the previous day.
It was a wonder to Naruto, and not a good one, that out of his entire graduating class, so few actually understood what it takes to be a ninja, and what's involved in being a genin, or a chunin, or a jonin. But that wasn't important right now - the important thing was passing the test.
"You won't be able to take these bells unless you come at me with the intent to kill," Kakashi declared cheerfully.
"But sensei, that's dangerous!" Sakura protested, and Naruto rolled his eyes.
"You know what else is dangerous, Sakura? Being a ninja," Naruto chided. "Being on a team with Sasuke is inherently dangerous purely because he's the Last Uchiha. He's going to be a target for enemy shinobi who know his identity, which puts us as a team in danger. And I'm in the same category too - it's no secret that my body hosts the Kyuubi, so once again… target."
"Naruto's right," Sasuke added in, but said no more.
"So, you have two choices. Drop out and find something else to do with your life, or put in the effort to get stronger. What do you want to do?" Naruto asked, his arms folded behind his head.
Sakura looked down at the ground. "I guess you two should take the bells, then."
Naruto groaned. "No! Ugh, that's not what I meant. Look, my people skills are crap, and sometimes I'm bad at- look, I wasn't trying to tell you not to be a ninja. I meant that you should make the active decision to be one. Sakura, you have the best chakra control in our entire class, and you're really smart. You could be a medic, or a genjutsu specialist, and whatever ninjutsu you learn you'll probably be able to use more efficiently than the rest of us. You do have the potential, you just need to choose to work for it. So… will you do what it takes?"
During that entire conversation, Kakashi had been standing and watching, and none of the three genin had notice him palm a kunai. "Maa, I think that's enough talking, no?"
The kunai cut through the air, hurtling straight towards Sakura. Before it could strike the girl, Naruto created a shadow clone in the kunai's path, and it took the hit. Sakura screamed, thinking the kunai had struck Naruto in the back. The real Naruto grabbed Sakura and ran for the trees, while Sasuke engaged Kakashi as a diversion. Naruto was surprised by that - he had expected Sasuke to be more of the lone wolf type - perhaps what Naruto had said yesterday had reminded him that he can rely on others.
"If we're going to get those bells, we need to work as a team," Naruto said as he put Sakura down. "And, I think I have a plan. Sakura, how do you feel about being bait?"
Perched quietly on a tree, Naruto watched, and waited. Sasuke would be somewhere over on the other side of the clearing, getting ready to go in as soon as there was an opening. They both observed as Sakura stood in the clearing, pretending to cry whilst gripping a kunai and stabbing it in and out of the ground. Though he was too far away to hear, Naruto could see her lips moving and contorting. He couldn't help but wonder what Kakashi would hear when the man finally took the bait and approached.
Naruto hadn't missed how the jonin had intervened as soon as he started making progress on rallying his teammates to work together - the man wanted to split them up and keep them from collaborating. Alongside the two bells, there seemed to be a running theme of pitting the three genin against each other.
The moment Naruto saw the white-haired man land in the clearing, he started creating an army of clones, who silently spread out across the trees surrounding the clearing. One of the clones dipped their weapons into a pot Naruto had retrieved from his pouch.
As Kakashi entrapped Sakura in a genjutsu, his verbal declaration of the jutsu just loud enough for Naruto to hear, they got ready to move. When Kakashi attempted to leave the clearing, Sasuke dove in first, once again engaging Kakashi in close combat. His skill was far outmatched by the jonin, but that was to be expected.
Sasuke yelled something about not needing teammates, needing to become strong on his own, and the plan advanced another step. It was Naruto's turn to join the fray now.
A small group of Naruto's clones leapt out of the trees, charging at Kakashi. Even whilst holding off Sasuke, Kakashi demonstrated just how trivial it was to dispel the clones one by one. Another group charged in.
And another.
And another.
Kakashi wasn't even beginning to tire. If anything, he looked bored. And when some of the Naruto clones began to scuffle with Sasuke, he looked amused. Slowly, the army of clones began to wane, and the original Naruto still didn't reveal himself. Sasuke let loose a powerful fireball that missed Kakashi, and eliminated the last of the clones.
Kakashi let out a dry laugh. "You seriously expect to survive in the world of ninja with skills like that? I know I mentioned the Genin Corps before, but I might just have to send you three back to the academy."
Sasuke hurled one last kunai at Kakashi, aim perfectly centred on Kakashi's head. Kakashi leaned slightly to one side, and the kunai whistled past his ear.
Except it wasn't a kunai anymore.
The kunai transformed into one last Naruto clone, who successfully impaled Kakashi's back with three shuriken.
"SAKURA, NOW!" The real Naruto screamed from the trees, and the girl rushed forward and grabbed the bells from Kakashi's belt. Kakashi tried to push her away, but his movements were far too sluggish.
"Wha-" Kakashi tried to speak, but even his words were sluggish.
Naruto jumped down from the trees and stepped into the clearing. "Don't worry, sensei, you'll be fine in a minute or two. Winter's Price is a pretty flower, and as suggested by its name, only grows in the winter. If you crush up the petals and heat them to the right temperature, they produce a moderately strong paralytic agent that only lasts a few minutes, but takes less than a second to act."
Sakura tossed one of the bells to Sasuke, who deftly snatched it out of the air.
A minute later, Kakashi stretched out his limbs, and let out a sigh. "That garden of yours isn't just for show, huh? Anyway, since Naruto here doesn't have a bell…"
Naruto shuffled and squirmed, trying and failing to get comfortable in his bindings. Unfortunately for him, Kakashi had tied him to the wooden pole with expert skill, and he was left to suffer. He had a feeling that was on purpose. He got to watch while Sasuke and Sakura had their fill of lunch, and the sight was unkind to his stomach. He didn't ask for them to give him any food - embarrassment wasn't the issue… at least not the primary one. No, Naruto knew that as a ninja he would have to go extended periods of time occasionally without eating. This was as good a chance as any to become familiar with the sensation of extended hunger, so he could learn to cope with it. He didn't want to be stuck in the field one day and take a kunai to the head just because his hunger was distracting him.
And still, Sasuke offered to feed him a small portion of his food. Naruto shook his head in response, and explained his reasoning for rejecting the offer. Sasuke simply nodded, accepting the answer as perfectly sufficient. Meanwhile, Sakura was uncharacteristically quiet. Naruto's best guess was that she was caught up thinking about what he had said earlier, but he didn't know. All he could do was hope that she took his words the right way, and didn't just give up. He knew it was selfish, but he wanted a team he could grow close with and advance through Konoha's ranks alongside. As much as he liked the idea of circumstances allowing someone like Hinata to replace Sakura on Team 7, it wasn't going to happen.
After an hour's break to eat, Kakashi materialised in front of the three genin. "Yo! So, about that exercise… two of you were able to acquire bells and will be able to train under me until the time when you are promoted to chunin, and as for Naruto—"
"I'll also be continuing under you, seeing as you have to pass or fail us as a team, right?" Naruto cut in, a confident grin sitting on his face. "Besides, you were never intending to fail one of us when you only brought two bells - you just wanted to make us think only two of us could pass so that we wouldn't work together."
Kakashi sighed. For a while, the jonin just stared at Naruto. Staring, as though to silently ask Naruto 'are you sure about that?'. But Naruto wouldn't be cowed. Even if Kakashi did remove him from the team, he'd never give up on his goals. Naruto met Kakashi's exposed eye, and refused to break contact until Kakashi spoke once again.
"Fine," Kakashi relented. "You clearly understood the purpose of this test, and you're the first team to pass it since the first year I was asked to take on a genin team. So, you all pass!"
And then, just as quickly as he had arrived, Kakashi was gone.