Naruto: Knocked Off Course

by KCMC66

"Ninja take their fate… into their own hands." He shuddered at the memory, glancing down at his own dirty, bloody fists. Naruto punched again, feeling the freshly healed scars flex painfully on his back. Sending chips of bark and droplets of blood flying from the post. If others saw nothing wrong with taking their fate in their hands at his own expense, why shouldn't he.

8. Failure, is Success Done Incorrectly

CHAPTER 8

TITLE: Failure, is Success Done Incorrectly

---

It had been a few minutes since the ANBU known as Tori had left, and he was still in the clearing, staring down at the kunai she gave him.

She was right, it was finely crafted, and Kakashi made a mental note to ask her where she had them ordered the next time she saw her.

He winced to himself, quickly and decided to x-nay on that particular idea. "Yes… Asking where she purchased the kunai that she plans on being killed by were from, may be in bad taste."

And it was then that Kakashi began to consider that he may have come on a little bit too strong.

He recalled her pulling away her mask to reveal her face to him, and recognized it, and the kunai for exactly what it was.

A huge sign of respect and trust on her part. A sign that was certainly not reciprocated by him.

He long and painful sigh dragged past his lips as he replayed the encounter in his head, his ANBU training taking over. Replaying their altercation with an uncanny micro-focus, over and over again to see where it went wrong.

He remembered how angry he was, and how in hindsight that he came off as aggressive and territorial when it came to Naruto. He remembered her responses. Slow and measured, trying to maintain some level of calm and control in her situation. Trying her best to be the adult, whereas his childishness become so egregious she resorted to the last trump card she had.

She was no hardened ANBU, and not quite ROOT either. The dull, muted monotone of typical ROOT members, and not an insignificant number of ANBU was missing entirely. She was mild, and certainly spoke with little emphasis or emotion in her voice. But it seemed that her time outside of Danzo's reach had livened her spirit somewhat, putting just a hint of color into her.

She was, after all, quite ordinary. At least where shinobi were concerned. A person that Kakashi would've normally had no problem socializing with.

'Except for the fact that Sensei's son was involved.' He noted blithely to himself.

Kakashi's bedside manner was known rough, even on his best of days, and he tended to come off as aloof, jaded, or harsh to many. His friends included. His attitude had a knack for getting under the skin of seasoned shinobi or ANBU. But although Tori was certainly combative, it was not without cause.

She seemed as concerned for Naruto as he was, and he suspected that her concern was misconstrued as some kind of ill boding interest by his overly developed sense of caution.

He also saw a familiar glint in her eye he saw in so many jounin and ANBU these days. The thinly veiled adoration and respect he'd gained over the years. A respect he'd worked harder to deserve, than to acquire. He felt the cold stone of unease and disappointment in himself grow in size when he realized that it was likely that his reputation preceded him, that she'd heard all about the famous 'Copy-cat Kakashi' and how strong, and laid back he was.

He recalled with a shudder how annoyed and frigid she became when he basically made an enemy out of her for little more than being associated with someone that she would have no way of knowing Kakashi held more dear to him than his own life.

Kakashi sighed, suddenly glad that it was unlikely that Tori was the gossiping type, or knew anyone who was. Or the tale about how Kakashi shut down a comrade because he got a little territorial over the 'fox boy' people were bound to talk.

Connections might be drawn then. Enemies made...

' All in all, Drama...' He shivered in revulsion.

He turned the opposite direction she went, trying to make himself feel better with the knowledge that it was unlikely he was going to see her anytime soon.

An ANBU suddenly called out for a mission after a long infiltration, or spying mission was bound for 'remedial missions'.

These missions were meant to re-sharpen a shinobi's skills and get them back into the swing of things. Missions like 'search and destroy', minor assassination missions, or high profile escort missions were the type that awaited her.

Dozens, maybe even hundreds of them. They were the type of relatively low risk, yet high paying missions that most high level jounin stayed far, far away from. It wasn't anything like a punishment, but they sure as hell felt like they were.

He shook his head in sympathy, privately wishing the younger jounin the best, and fixed his mind on his team.

'Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and Uchiha Sasuke. Hmm...'

He considered their files, and went over his plan in his head like he had the previous several weeks now.

He nodded in satisfaction, and a new bounce in his step appeared as his excitement bloomed in his chest. He was far past the time he established on the roof now, so no need to hurry.

Oh, he supposed they'd be a little upset, but it would all work out in the end, despite all the tests and trials he had planned, 'But I'm sure they'll be alright. As long as they take the time to use their heads, I'm sure they'll pass.'

---

"You... FAIL!"

Naruto stared at his sensei in mute, paralyzing shock. Despair leeching all the energy from his body. He watched numbly as Hinata slumped in exasperated despair in front of him.

Naruto can't see her eyes, and he's happy he can't, certain he'd see the anger there, behind the crushing disappointment. An indictment pinning him to his failure, accusing him of being the one to ruin their chances at becoming real ninja.

Sasuke, said nothing. He could do nothing but glare venomously from his position tied to the wooden post to his right.

He tuned everything out, ignoring his own tiredness, the dully hot throb of his muscles and his lungs. He even ignored the disappointed glare of Kakashi as he stared the three of them down.

It wasn't on purpose, but when everything felt like it was falling apart all around you, it was hard to focus on the here and now.

He watched silently as Sasuke struggled in vain against his bonds, his sandals digging deep into the earth in an attempt to wriggle free from the rope that tied him to the log.

He listened deep within himself, anxious and terrified, but also yearning for input from the fox. He waited for the inevitable deep mocking laughter, or the growls of outrage at his failure. But instead, he heard nothing; he didn't think there could be a worse response than that.

The sight, sounds, and smells of the world around him drifted back into focus, and he looked at kakashi, with a look of anguish on his face. Kakashi stared back unflinchingly, his one dark eye taking in the three of them.

"H-How?" He heard himself whisper.

He could see the stupidity in asking a question like that the second the words left his tongue. If he were any more lucid, he would've winced at the harsh expression that flashed over the jounin's face in that moment.

"I apologize, I could've sworn you had just participated in a pretty important exam not five minutes ago." He said derisively, his eyes narrowed into slits.

He sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose, "But if you insist on me outlining every little detail, explaining to you just how badly you failed, than I'd be remiss to deny you."

Kakashi's words jabbed at him like a red hot knife, every word cementing his reality before him with such ferocity, he found himself yearning for a recap into how he could've possibly ended up in a situation like this.

---

Naruto yawned for the hundredth time that morning, stretching his stiff arms and numb legs from his seated position at the base of a thick, old tree. He shifted slightly, groaning as he tried to get the feeling back into his ass after sitting for so long, feeling as if an eternity had passed since he'd arrived.

He glanced up to the sky, noting how high up in the sky the sun hung. He sighed, 'What's the point of telling us what time to be here if he won't even show up?"

He'd been there for hours, sitting and waiting anxiously for Kakashi to show up and finally give this 'test' to remain genin.

He took a moment to scoff, wondering if this guy was joking or not, remembering what he said about him choosing to keep them there. He tried to think of any others he'd heard of being kicked from the ninja program, or even being sent back to the academy.

He kicked a stone idly, his memory coming up empty when it came to examples he'd heard of where anything of the sort ever happened.

Before he could ponder whether they had all been punked any longer, his stomach growled angrily in protest of the lack of food he'd eaten since yesterday. He grumbled something about his sensei's ridiculous rule about eating before the test, wondering exactly when he was going to arrive.

That was...If he was gonna show up anytime this millennium...

He sprung up from the ground, suddenly sick of sitting for even one more minute, and began to pace around. He walked away from the tree, squinting as the sun continued to shine brighter and brighter, the harsh rays obscuring his vision. He was in the middle of training ground 14 as he'd been told by his oh so wise 'Sensei', and what made up the middle was just an empty clearing.

It was very similar to the old training ground him and Tori used to spar in. Just a bunch of dry, sun baked dirt painted sparsely with grass, surrounded by thick trees. In one of those trees was the eternally grouchy Uchiha pretty boy, looking about as irate, impatient and angry as he felt.

He simmered silently, his eyebrows scrunched together, his face the epitome of spite. Quietly rotating a kunai in his left hand, his eyes fixed firmly on the tree line, the opposite direction they all travelled here from. Probably the direction where sasuke suspected the jounin might finally appear from.

Hinata was in a similar state, although her anger and irritation at her sensei wasn't enough to keep her awake. She sat propped up against the trunk of the tree sasuke sat in, nodding her head back and forth jerkily as she glided in and out of consciousness. Only stopping as her eyes turned to Naruto. He waved tiredly, but she only turned away in return.

He might've been offended, but he judged from the flush that crept up her neckline and covering her face, that it was possible that her turning to look at him could've opened her pale skin to the sun's rays that now shone its brightest from behind him.

He shrugged and turned away, but as soon as he turned around, he saw the tall vision of Kakashi standing there. His hand up in a pleasant wave towards them, "Good morning."

Instead of being spooked at his sudden, sneaky appearance, Naruto stomped angrily over to the silver haired man, pointing an accusing finger to at him, "You're late!"

Kakashi held his hands out in mockingly placating gesture, "Hey hey hey... No need for all that anger and noise so early in the morning."

He glared at the obscenely well rested man in front of him, the edge of his anger probably stemming from the fact that he seemed to be the only cheerful one among them.

Behind him, Sasuke and Hinata quickly arose and quickly sped over to stand next to Naruto, all of them glowering with equal fervor at their morbidly late sense.

He laughed awkwardly, "Well, I hope you'll forgive me for being late, but there was a poor old woman outside my house that desperately needed help."

To his left and right respectively, Hinata's eyes softened a little, but Sasuke looked more unimpressed than anything.

Astoundingly, Naruto couldn't help but agree with the Uchiha, cutting off their one-eyed sensei before he could explain any further.

"Oh, bullshit! You just wanted to leave us to suffer out here."

Kakashi looked down at Naruto, "Well. Here I had a wonderful excuse that would surely have you all begging for forgiveness to even insinuate that I would be late for something." He stated blandly.

He leaned down lightly, still only looking at Naruto, "So am I to assume that you'd rather just move on with the test—-"

"YES!"

"Yes please!"

Came the cry from Naruto and Hinata, while Sasuke just glared all the harsher.

Kakashi chuckled at their reactions, but he nodded, turning to walk away from them. Naruto was about to yell for him to come back and give them their test, when the jounin waved a hand over his shoulder. Beckoning them to follow him.

Naruto looked around anxiously at the other two, and as soon as his eyes fell on Sasuke, he arose smoothly, and stalked off to follow Kakashi. His hands stuffed deep into his pockets as he walked away from him and Hinata, not even taking a single second to glance at them.

Naruto glared after Sasuke, but flinched when he heard fast passed footsteps rushing past him, as Hinata jogged over to follow Kakashi. Naruto stammered in surprise, "W-Wait up!" He said as he ran off to follow her.

They eventually all caught up with Kakashi, and followed him deeper into the field, eventually finding three wooden posts there, along with a tree backpack, and three bento boxes on top of a felled tree trunk.

Naruto felt his mouth begin to water at the smell of the steaming rice and meat inside them. But his attention was diverted to a loud dining sound, as Kakashi stooped down to press the button on a large red clock he'd missed that also sat on top of the tree trunk.

Kakashi sat up and nodded, "Okay, the clock is set."

He turned around to face them, presenting out of his pocket, two silver bells attached to two separate red strands of thread.

Kakashi gestured to the bells with his other hand, "Now, the clock is set for noon. The test is to collect these bells from me any way you can. The ones who get a bell will pass. Any who don't will be the ones tied to a post."

Naruto looked over to the wooden posts with a new intensity, before looking back to Kakashi.

"You can use any weapons or skills you have at your disposal. Kunai, shuriken, anything." He said.

He attached the strings dangling from the bells to his trousers, standing with his hands on his hips. "You're gonna have to come at me with the intent to kill if you want to pass."

Naruto's eyes widened, this wasn't like any kind of test he ever heard of, when it came to the academy, Rei often tested him with pen and paper.

Naruto smirked, 'This is the kind of test I could get used to..."

Kakashi's gaze drifted over all three of them, his eyes hard. "As soon as I say go, all of you have to do your best to get these two bells. Anything less, and you'll fail."

He felt as much as he heard the familiar heat and growing sense of presence he felt at the Fox's arrival. The Kyuubi chuckled darkly, "I like this teacher, he is one who knows how to truly gain the measure of an individual."

He felt the Fox's merry and bloodthirsty mood shift, his attention turning to him.

"Don't. Embarrass. Us." He warned. The threat was there, as plain as day, and Naruto had no intentions of finding out just what it would mean fall prey to the nine-tailed fox's wrath.

Naruto felt the presence of the fox fill him with energy and confidence, he growled hungrily to himself, and had a kunai in his palm before he could pull together a single plan.

He launched towards the jounin, running as fast as he could, his eyes fixed on those shiny silver bells.

But faster than he could see, Kakashi was gone, and he felt his arms as they were tugged roughly, the kunai he previously held low, prepared to attack the jounin with, was now behind him, pointed right at the back of his head.

Naruto swallowed hard, wincing at the pain in his shoulder, 'Damn, this guy's really fast!'

There was no movement he could track at all, one moment he saw the man in front of him, the next he was behind him.

He heard a gasp from Hinata, and an instant later, he felt a pinprick of pain on the back of his head, "Not so fast..." He heard from the voice behind him.

Naruto felt the twisting of Kakashi's hand strain against his elbow and his grip. He let him go with a little shove, and Naruto skipped awkwardly away. After taking a moment to regain his footing, he rounded on him fiercely, his heart beating loudly in his ears.

He'd never fought against anyone but Sasuke and Tori, and Kakashi already seemed pretty strong, definitely stronger than either of them.

But you could call Uzumaki Naruto a lot of things, but you could never say that he was a coward.

Well... You technically could, but you'd be dead wrong.

He grinned widely at Kakashi, the kunai still gripped tightly in his hands as he squared his feet, preparing for the signal to let loose. Hinata and Sasuke both followed Naruto example, each of the preparing themselves for the signal. Both of them crouching low on the other side of Kakashi, each also ready to give it their all.

Kakashi caught his eye, "Heh, you know, hard as it is to admit, I'm actually starting to like you guys."

Kakashi nodded in satisfaction, "Okay, now! At that instant, Hinata and Sasuke both fled, their fast movements kicking up dirt and dust from the forest floor. Leaving Naruto to himself, alone with Hatake Kakashi.

He could almost see the smile of bloodlust and excitement stretch across the fox's face, and heard his laughter reverberate against the sewer deep within his mind. "Show them Naruto..."

He couldn't agree more.

He watched as the genin before him disappeared in a large puff of smoke, and with a hint of surprise he noted that he couldn't detect any off them at first glance. He used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun as he swiveled his head around to look for the genin, "Well, they hide themselves decently, but it shouldn't take too long for me to—"

The distinct coloring of Naruto's black and orange hoodie slowly faded into view as the dust cloud from the others was carried off by the early morning breeze. The blonde boy stood with his arms crossed in the same place he was when he announced the start of the exam, and Kakashi felt his hopes for at least competently skilled genin dwindle.

They stared at one another in silence for a moment, and after he could stand the silence no more he finally decided to try and help the poor kid.

"You know you're supposed to hide right?" He noted blandly.

Naruto thrust a thumb into his chest, "I don't need to hide from you, or anybody dattebayo! I promised to myself that I was gonna pass this test no matter what. And that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

Kakashi just stared, not knowing exactly how he was supposed to respond to that. So, he shrugged and reached into his kunai holster.

"Lesson one, Taijutsu."

He saw Naruto stiffen in trepidation, then gape in surprise and a fair amount of outrage when he pulled out his signed copy of Icha Icha Paradise. He opened the bookmark in one smooth motion, stretching out his senses as he began where he left off.

He felt a shiver go up his spine, that he recognized as a brief spike of killing intent come from somewhere in the forest behind him. He chanced a look away from the fuming boy in front of him, but it was instantly smothered, and the KI disappeared as fast as it came. He shrugged and began to read, giggling a bit at the memory of what part he was in the middle of.

He was at the part where Hiruko finds herself in a particularly sticky situation between her beloved and the secret admirer when Naruto shouted at him from across the training field, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Hey! I thought you said you were gonna take this seriously! You said to come at you like we're trying to kill you!"

Kakashi waved at him with his other hand, his head still buried in the book, "Yes, yes, go on ahead, I promise I won't hurt you."

He heard Naruto grumble something about making him pay, and taking him seriously, and Yada yada yada.

"Now, where was I..."

He read serenely as he sidestepped to his right to avoid an excruciatingly obvious haymaker, then again to dodge a high kick, then a low one.

He continued to move, his finely tuned reflexes letting him dance out of the way of every blow.

The 'fight' carried them away from the tree stumps and the clock, over to the nearby lake as he dodged Naruto's hectic taijutsu.

He took a moment to cease his reading to analyze the Uzumaki, peering over the edge of the book to take a quick peek.

'He's not especially terrible.' he observed, and he'd definitely seen worse in others his age.

'He's not really that great either.' He thought as he dodged a kick he could've dodged and countered blindfolded.

At a glance, it looked like an offshoot of the traditional academy taijutsu style, only with less defense, more punches than kicks, and a whole lot more useless movements between strikes.

It was; in a word, simple.

Naruto fought like a brute, all momentum and strength, but sorely lacking in technique or finesse. He swung wildly and with all his body weight and energy poured into every movement, often leaving himself open. Sure he was decently fast, but nearly fast enough to take him off guard.

All in all, it was a weak point that any enemy could easily exploit. All it would take is an opponent just a little bit faster than him to tear him apart.

It would be one of the first things to remedy when he got the chance. He'd seen far too many young shinobi go into battle, all bluster and boasting, only for their first encounter to be their last.

He let the match drag on, interested to see what he would do when he hit a brick wall. Over time, Naruto's face began to drip with sweat, his face twisted up into a grimace of frustration and anger. His movements sped up faster and faster as time went on, and he was mildly impressed with his determination to land a blow.

To his credit, he showed no signs of slowing down, and his increasing sloppiness seemed more a symptom of frustration rather than fatigue. His stamina would be impressive, if he used it more tactically.

He glanced up just in time to see Naruto smirk, his eyes filled with a new light as he began his next attack.

Kakashi moved back as a black sandal whizzed in front of him, and he ducked, as Naruto threw a handful of shuriken at him.

None landed, and it seems, none were meant to, as Naruto jumped to deliver an overhead kick.

As he flipped the page he was on, he used the arm that held the book to block, skipping to the side to avoid a counterattack. He was a half-second two slow, a subsequent punch glancing off his thick shinobi jacket with a little more force than he expected.

He narrowed his eyes, trying to find where he left off, 'Not bad, he actually made me lose my place.' He noted with surprise.

It was made no real difference, but it was more than one would expect from the 'loud, obnoxious dead last' he'd so much read about.

After a minute or so, the fast motions he made to avoid Naruto's punches and kicks started to interfere with his reading experience. Sure he dodged and blocked well enough, but keeping his arm still enough to read from his favorite reading material was another matter entirely.

So, he did the natural thing and leaned forward to tempt Naruto to throw another haymaker, and dodged at just the right moment. He made as if to dodge to the left, then dashed forward on a dime, skidding loudly to a stop just a few short feet away, putting him right at Naruto's rear...

"Never let your enemy see your back." He muttered to himself, more our of slight remorse for what he was about to do rather than any warning for his soon-to-be victim.

After all, he'd be lying if he didn't feel just a little bit bad for what he was about to do, but he'd also be lying if he didn't feel a small amount of satisfaction at getting his revenge for the eraser back in the academy classroom.

Hatake Kakashi didn't just forget about things like that.

He moved fast, faster than Naruto would ever have a hope at dodging, and he folded his fingers into the tiger seal, jamming his middle and index fingers right where the sun don't shine.

"Ninja Art: One Thousand Years of Pain!"

Naruto shrieked in pain and shock, holding his rear end firmly and protectively as he was propelled from the ground, heading straight for the nearby pond.

He impacted the water with a huge splash, and the blonde fell swiftly under the water.

He noted with disappointment how none of his teammates lifted a finger to help him, and he shook his head as he went back into his reading.

His disappointment and annoyance disappeared in a flush when he realized where he was in the book, and he giggled scandalously at the words he read on the page, "Oh my Miruko. You naughty girl..."

The darkness deepened the farther he sunk. The cold, stale water rushed past him in white lines of bubbles that echoed past his head as he hurdled deeper and deeper.

It felt like an hour had passed, but it had only actually been a split second since Kakashi had sent him careening into the pool of water with that horrible, horrible jutsu of his.

As he slowed to a stop near the bottom of the pool, he felt the embarrassment hit him. He was shocked by the acuteness of it, it was a sudden and stark as his skin was shocked by the change of a warm spring day, to the cold wetness of the the pond.

But more than the cold shock, was the hot, shame that burned in his gut like his lungs in their need of oxygen in that moment. So deep and pressing was his need to move, to do something.

'Don't. Embarrass. Us.' The fox had told him, and he promised he wouldn't. More than that, he promised himself to pass this test no matter what. But now here he was, thoroughly beaten at the bottom of a scummy pond barely five minutes after the test started.

He grunted in anger, watching as the dimly lit bubbles from his mouth levitate to the surface.

He reached within himself, and heard a brief cry of outrage from the fox.

He plowed forwards, grabbing at something deep within himself, that was, and also wasn't his own. Something happened, feelings and impulses that weren't his own, but a feeling that, they COULD be. If he would only reach out and claim them.

He closed his eyes and let the power go, starting to swim towards the surface. Waiting for the anger, for the power that was being thrust towards him.

He wasn't disappointed.

First he felt his own anger and frustration bubble forth, the memories of his hard work, of Tori's warm embrace, the cold porcelain on his forehead...

He remembered the drunk men in town, they ared at him. Both taunting him, and judging him with his eyes, communicating to Naruto how small and unimportant the man judged him to be. All the while hoping that he'd just die in a hole somewhere. Hoping that he'd fail in anything he ever tried, all for merely existing as he was.

He wasn't gonna fail, no way in hell. He just had to pass, somehow all of that hard work, all of that struggling just had to be worth it somehow.

It just had to.

He opened his eyes the instant he came to the surface, the heat and anger there as if it never left. He rushed out of the pond, water splashing everywhere as he broke the surface of the water in a great explosion. He saw Kakashi's muted interest turn to suspicion, and then proper surprise as he brought his hands together to summon a dozen different clones.

They poofed into existence all around him, all with the same fire in their veins, all with the same goal in mind. He smirked in satisfaction as he watched the clones un-henge behind him, but realized that he would reach kakashi sooner than he, or indeed his sensei had expected, based on his reaction.

He threw a hasty punch that nearly made him lose his balance, and was surprised to see his fist miss the jounin's green vest by mere inches.

Inches. Far closer than last time, 'Maybe now I have a chance.'

He felt his heart leap in excitement, and grit his teeth as he swung, again and again.

He missed every time, but for every swing, the distance between them grew more and more slim, to the point that he felt the harsh, rough fibers of Kakashi's green Jounin vest scratch against his fists.

Still, he growled in anger, his frustration at his lack of success at landing a hit growing more and more, adding more fuel to the raging inferno blazing in his heart. It also helped that the longer Kakashi was busy with him, the closer his clones were to jumping him and finally ending this test here and now.

After what felt like hours of swinging and chasing Kakashi around the training field, the nearest clone finally caught up, wrapping his arms and feet around the jounin in as strong a hold as he could manage.

"W-What?" The jounin yelped, and Naruto grinned as he reared back for another punch. He swung, his eyes closing involuntarily in anticipation, and felt his fist slam into something hard. He shouted in triumph, but then he saw his sensei burst into a cloud of smoke, and the clones that held, and gathered around him fell to the floor.

A few popped, and all the rest stood as he did. Open mouthed in shock at the wisps of smoke that blew away in the wind.

He stared for a moment longer before he raised his voice for all of Konoha to hear.

"Godammit!"

---

Hinata was beginning to understand that she knew woefully little about her team. Much less than she thought at least.

She and Sasuke fled their hiding spots as soon as Kakashi and Naruto's fight ended, both of them figuring that their sensei come for them next. She followed Sasuke for a bit, thinking that they would probably fare better against a jounin together, but Sasuke made it clear through his several attempts to shake her off his trail that he had no intention of teaming up.

She initially looked for Naruto, possibly to team up and take on Kakashi together, but the last she saw of him was when he sprinted off in a random direction, yelling loudly about Kakashi being a coward. She used her Byakugan a few times, spying him running through the trees with Kakashi on his tail, and she suspected that the jounin was toying with him, based on his current choice of reading material, in the middle of a damn fight.

She felt her cheeks warm up when she accidentally read a few words in the perverted book he was reading, but as soon as she regained her composure, they were both gone. So now she circled the training field, looking for signs of any one of them.

She now ran across the forest floor, her eyes darting through the trees as she scanned her surroundings for any signs of her teammates or her Sensei.

'Come on, where is everyone?'

She activated her bloodline sporadically, flashing it on and off every couple of seconds, doing her best to not tire herself out too quickly. But despite her ability to see through trees and foliage, she still couldn't see anyone.

She deactivated her jutsu then, sighing in frustration at her lack of success, when she suddenly heard a noise to her left.

She skidded to a stop, cringing at the loud noise of her sandals scraping against dirt, leaves and branches. But she didn't dare avert her eyes for a single second, as she peered into the expanse of nothing but dark brown trees and the green leaves that covered them.

She tried to remember what the noise was that alerted her, the only thing coming to mind was that it sounded like someone speaking.

"H-Help!"

The sound made her break out in goosebumps along her arms and down her back. Her head whipped to the side, and her stomach dropped.

In front of her stood her father, as regal and proper as she remembered him, the only things out of place being the dark red blood that seemed to cover him, the viscous liquid spilling from his lips with ever cough and groan.

He was drenched in dark blood, the liquid spilling from many grievous wounds and various weapons sunk deeply into his flesh. They shifted and moved as he did, twisting and turning as he walked, with some plunging deeper into him the more he moved.

His movement was slow, and as he limped he favored his left leg, using trees and various low-hanging branches to support his weight. He winced and cried out in pain when his right leg that dragged uselessly behind him was caught on a stone. She gasped and reached out for him, and she watched as he used a nearby tree to support his weight, and a small sob escaped his throat as he looked up at her.

She saw no hint of her father in his eyes, none of the usual pride or immovable grace in him at all. Just the pain, and desperation that reminded her of the girl she saw in the hallway just a few weeks ago. A small, callous part of her found that just a little bit funny.

He reached out to her, his hands coated in blood that dripped generously from his fingertips, "Please Hinata, help m—"

The kunai made a wet 'thunk' as it sunk deep into his forehead, propelled from her hand faster than she could even think about it. She stared ahead, her instincts on high alert as she watched whatever it was make a face of shock, and then... Nothing.

The image of her father went slack, his eyes dropped, and his jaw dropped open. He fell limply to the floor, and she watched, shocked and numb as the blood flowed from its wounds. Coating the leaves, dirt and pine needles in thick, dark blood.

She stared a moment longer, unsurprised when the image faded from existence. She activated her Byakugan, confirming that what she saw was only an illusion, but her bloodline revealed more than that.

She turned around lethargically, staring at Kakashi as he clapped slowly, the parts of his face that were visible showing surprise, and a little pride.

"Lesson two, Genjutsu. Complete."

He stopped clapping after a short while, a sparkle of amusement in his eye, "Nice work. What gave me away? That was a pretty high level illusion." He remarked.

Hinata felt her hackles rise, "You used a 'high level illusion' on genin just graduated from the academy?" She growled, her blood boiling.

Kakashi scoffed, "It wasn't that high, just high for you. Besides..."

He dropped his hands, stuffing both into his pocked, but narrowing his eyes threateningly, "You aren't a genin. Not yet."

She didn't move, she didn't breathe or say anything. But she let the poisonous, betraying thoughts fester in her mind, growing in volume until they became her own. She took a deep breath, steadying herself, if only to answer his ridiculous question.

"My father would rather slit his own throat than appear as pathetic or as weak as that." She said quietly.

'Even worse, he'd never ask, and NEVER, beg for help from his pathetic, weak excuse for a daughter.' But she didn't say that part out loud.

Kakashi's eyes widened at the bluntness of her tone, but seemed unsurprised at her words. He nodded, "Too melodramatic huh? Yeah, I thought so. Oh, well. I'll keep that in mind for next time."

She felt her anger reach a crescendo, and she leaped forward, two kunai flying from her fingertips faster than she could think of a plan more detailed than, 'punch him in the face really, really hard'.

Kakashi moved languidly, almost as if bored, and dodged the first two, leaning backwards to avoid the juuken strike to the neck.

She sprung into her usual sequence of jabs, kicks and thrusts, almost feeling as if running through one of her fathers drills. For all the damage her attacks inflicted on him, the same was true for Kakashi, as she felt nothing but air with every strike.

He didn't parry, however, apparently knowing better than allowing her to touch him. She looked up, and saw the book that she recognized as the one he took out when he fought Naruto.

The same one he read as he toyed with him...

She shrieked in rage, and took advantage of his strictly defensive movements, and flung a shuriken upwards. It caught the book by one of its edges, and thunked deep into an overhanging tree branch, out of reach of both of them. Kakashi looked on in horror at his ruined book, and Hinata pressed on, her rage still burning hot and bright as a crucible.

She struck out with her leg, using chakra to fill up the jounin's tenketsu with chakra, overwhelming the nerves in his knee with white hot energy. Using her other leg to spring herself up into the air.

Kakashi grunted in pain and surprise, and used his now vacant hand to block her first strike, using his other hand to protect his defenseless torso. But she didn't bother hitting him in the chest. Although it was vulnerable, killing him was not her intent. Right now, her intent was to beat the test. She lunched forward, diving through the air towards the silver bells that hung from his waist.

She could almost imagine it, her grip grabbing all the bells in her hand, hard enough to it crush them.

She felt surprised at herself at her presence of mind that led her to reach for the bells, and not deliver a punishing blow to his abdomen. But she pressed on, the world moving in slow motion as she strained to grab at least one bell. Her fingertips grazed one, and she watched as the jounin leapt away from her.

She saw the kick too late, and she only blinked hard in reflex as the blow hit her across her left shoulder. The blow threw her away from Kakashi, and she heard the sound of rushing air as she was propelled backwards with dangerous speed.

She tried to right herself in the air, but as soon as she thought to try, she felt her back and head collide with something very, very hard. She cried out in pain as she hit the tree, and she slid down slowly, tasting blood in her mouth. Her vision dimmed slightly, and although she tried to stand, she felt her legs buckle, and the ground came up fast to meet her.

She caught herself halfway between falling and leaning against the tree, but the instant she steadied herself, she heard a metallic grinding, and air whooshing past her. She felt something wrap itself around her, and whatever it was jerked her harshly against the tree again, fixing her in place.

She opened her eyes, and saw Kakashi looking partially surprised, but mostly just annoyed.

"How dare you." He mocked in a exaggeratedly irritated tone, "... My book was an innocent bystander in this, now I'm gonna have to buy myself a new copy."

Hinata stared at him for a moment, then down to his belt, and saw the two bells hanging there. Kakashi caught her stare and detached them, dangling them tauntingly in front of her, "Close, but no cigar."

Then, without another word, he left her there, struggling uselessly against the ninja wire that held her securely against the tree.

She wriggled for a moment longer until she eventually realized that there was no point. She was trapped.

She looked around, desperate to find something, somewhere that could help her. She saw where she was, and was surprised to find herself at the edge of the field where they started. The pond that Naruto was thrown into about fifty meters away, somewhere behind her. She looked around more, but found little of importance that might help her, and she slumped limply into the suffocating embrace of the wire that tied her to the tree.

Hinata felt a surge of anger and frustration at her failure, and she turned to her left, looking across the empty field, where the three tree stumps, the three bento boxes and the ticking clock sat.

She felt tears prickle her eyes as she realized with unshaken certainty, that in less than two hours, she'd be occupying one of those stumps. Tied in a similar way she did right now.

A failure. Just like her father always said she would be.

She felt a sob burst from her mouth, and found that she didn't have the strength, or the conviction to stop the tears from flowing. She hung her head, and thought of her mother, wishing desperately that she were still here.

Wishing she was still alive to sing to her.

---

"Agrghh, just where the hell is he!" Naruto screamed to the heavens.

It wasn't very stealthy, or 'covert' as Tori would probably say, but he just had to get it out before the anxiety ate him up inside.

He'd been running around for what felt like forever. Looking for the jounin that eluded him nearly an hour ago. He started looking the second he knew he'd been duped. And after a minute or so, trying in vain to get his clones to cut the shit and stop fighting each other, he sprang of in the direction he first saw movement.

He hadn't stopped since, and it was beginning to look like the jounin had just vanished into thin air.

Naruto rolled his eyes, 'Pfft. Yeah, show me THAT justu...'

He looked everywhere he could think of, traversing every inch of the forest at least half a dozen times. And he had nothing.

He couldn't find hide, nor hair of that guy anywhere.

He thought he got lucky when he thought he heard Hinata somewhere near where they first started, but he couldn't find anyone. He did find one kunai stuck in a tree, deep into the thick of the woods, but then, nothing.

He stopped at the edge of the clearing, slumping to the ground in exhaustion and despair. He sighed deeply, letting his eyes wander, looking in vain for Kakashi to finally appear. Knowing his luck, probably just to tell him he failed and tie him to one of those tree stumps.

He saw movement off to his left, and his head jerked to the side, searching the forest for what moved. He watched in silence for a moment, expecting to see something. Kakashi, a bird or a squirrel maybe.

What he didn't expect, was to hear crying. Soft, hight pitched sobs grazed his eardrums, the noise almost covered by the ambient noise of the forest. He got up slowly and quietly, scared that any sounds he made would scare off whatever made the noise.

He crept towards the direction he heard them, taking care to avoid branches and large clusters of leaves that would betray his presence. He nearly tripped or stumbled several times, his small and gentle footsteps in the forested area new and unknown to his feet.

He walked gingerly towards the sound, and it took enormous effort not to jump and scream like a little girl when he heard a gasp to his right.

His head whipped towards the sound, and he was met with Hinata, barely an inch away from him. Hinata stared, her cloudy white eyes wet with tears, and streaks of liquid going down her face. She looked surprised, and her normally pale featured darkened and pink and red exploded on her features.

He finally gave into his instincts and jumped backwards with a yelp, and crashed into a heap of leaves and branches. He looked up from his place on the ground and saw Hinata still looking at him, and it was then when he noticed the ninja wire. It completely wrapped around her body, fixing her torso and arms to the tree.

"Are you okay?" He asked dumbly. Hinata perked up, and looked away sharply, "...Fine. But, I'm... stuck."

Naruto got up slowly, dusting his hoodie off and walking over to her, "Yeah. What happened?"

Hinata kept her eyes averted, but her ears turned a shade darker red, "Kakashi-sensei. We fought, I lost." Naruto nodded, grunting to himself, "Sounds familiar…"

He moved to untie her, taking out a kunai to cut her loose. "Hold on, I got you." He stared cutting at the wire, and sawed away at the wire, grunting with effort when the wire resisted his efforts.

Hinata winced at the sharp movements, her body likely chafing from being tied up so long. She longed for freedom, but the excitement at being free from her bonds was lessened when she remembered how she'd mainly be switching out one tree trunk for another, the hope for passing swiftly leaving her.

Hinata winced again, and Naruto flinched, giving Hinata a sympathetic frown, "Sorry..." He mumbled, going right back at the wire. But He turned away for a moment when saw something shiny glint in the midday sunlight, and for a moment, he thought his eyes were playing a trick on him.

He shook his head violently, but there the bell remained, and he moved faster than he could even think.

He grinned victoriously as he ran, "Finally, some good luck!"

He heard two things at the same time that gave him pause, one voice from the outside, and one from within.

"Naruto! Don't!"

"You idiot! It's a trap!

He hesitated, but he was already mid-step. The second his foot made contact with the ground, a rope appeared out of nowhere, going taut and sending his foot, leg, and then the rest of him flying faster than he could blink. In a split second, he went from standing on his own two feet, to being pulled from the ground, and hovering upside down, swaying from side to side.

His now upside-down view showed two familiar looking sandals approaching him slowly. He looked up; well, down, and saw Kakashi bend down and collect the bell from the ground. He shook his head, and Naruto got a strong sense of déjà vu. He saw the visible top half of the face and frowned deeply, feeling as if he remembered him. Even thought, when he searched his mind for a familiar face, he could only remember him as the tardy, laid back dick of a sense he'd known for all of one day.

Kakashi clicked his tongue, shaking his head sadly at him, "Now Naruto, you couldn't have thought it would be easy as that..."

Naruto thought of at least of a dozen wisecracking, witty, smart-ass remarks he could've said, but the only thing that came tumbling out of his mouth was, "You... You, look familiar."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, and reached forward to grab a fistful of his hoodie. Naruto lurched forward with a groan of dizziness from the vertigo of suddenly being flipped upside-down being exasperated by his sensei's sudden movement.

Kakashi hummed in thought, "Hmm, well, you don't appear to have suffered a head injury, perhaps you were just born like this."

Naruto growled at him, but before he could say a thing, Kakashi whooshed past him in a blur of motion. Naruto swung forward, then back again, and was only dimly aware of a kunai that cut through the air right in front of his face.

"Whoa!" He shouted, waving his arms wildly as he swung helplessly in the air.

"Hey tall, dark and ugly! Watch where you throw those things dattebayo!"

He watched as Sasuke came skidding to a stop a few feet in front of him. He looked a little worse for wear, panting heavily, with his entire body covered in scuff marks and scratches, a few twigs tangled in his hair.

He smiled when he thought of that arrogant prick having as much of a hard time as he was. But his smile faded when he considered his current predicament, and occupied his time with trying to get himself down to the ground safely. Preferably, as soon as possible.

Sasuke glared at Kakashi, who in contrast looked as clean and undamaged as he was this morning. "Ah, Sasuke. Nice surprise attack, but I'm afraid that nothing like that will work on me."

Sasuke said nothing, his face didn't move at all. Sasuke just rose from his crouch and walked slowly to the side positioning himself right in front of him. Naruto looked frantically in between Kakashi and Sasuke, trying to decide which one would move next.

Suddenly Sasuke smirked, and if Naruto wasn't horribly mistaken, he thought he heard a small chucked pass the typically stoic and brooding boy's lips.

"I see you've caught the others." Sasuke observed, glancing back to look at Naruto. He saw confidence there, and a slight squint to his eyes told of someone who had something up their sleeve.

Naruto was the king of pulling new stunts and back up plans out of his ass, and even he knew when he was beat. They weren't going to beat him this way, there had to be something else, some other way.

Maybe Sasuke got it, maybe he understood something he didn't, something he missed. Naruto doubted it, and knowing sasuke from their various spars, it looked like sasuke was more likely to double down. Naruto scoffed internally, 'if there's one thing you could say that Sasuke and me have in common, is not knowing when to quit.'

Kakashi just hummed in mock interest, and reached into his kunai pouch, and Naruto just as Naruto was about to glower in disgust and annoyance, in anticipation of Kakashi whipping out his pervy book, Kakashi made a grunt of discontentment, and instead of naruto, Kakashi made a face like he'd just watched someone kick a puppy.

"Now would be the best time for me to enjoy my Icha Icha Paradise, but someone just had to damage my favorite copy." Kakashi said, his tone dripping in accusation.

He shrugged and reached into his vest, and pulled out another identical copy, and opened it up in one smooth motion, "Ah, well."

If Naruto wasn't hanging upside down, he'd probably have fallen down in exasperation, but becasue of his tipsy turvy circumstances, he settled for a sigh, and an inner promise that he'd burn every copy of that book.

'Just what the hell is up with this guy?'

After a moment of awkward silence where him and Sasuke just watched in disbelief at the nerve of this guy as he just stood there reading a fucking porno book in front of them.

Kakashi seemed to notice the lack of anything going on and looked up briefly to gesture at them with a dismissive wave as he kept on reading. "Oh, don't let me stop you. Besides, if you're gonna settle for such obvious, straightforward attacks like that, you're better off letting the timer run out anyway."

Sasuke growled in anger, "Don't lump me in with them. They let themselves be caught. But I'm different than them. They're far beneath me."

Naruto scoffed aloud, drawing the attention of the scruffy black haired upstart under him, "Pfft, that's a lot of big words but with nothing to show for it but twigs in your precious hair you snobby bastard. Maybe if you ask nicely, and he'll take it easy on you and spare your oh so beautiful face from being pounded into the dirt dattebayo!"

Sasuke ducked his head, but otherwise made no motion to turn to him, or otherwise react other than a flinch and a growl of anger from deep inside his throat.

Kakashi chuckled, "He has a point there Sasuke. Why don't you save the victory talk for the victory? Hey, there's always next year."

Here both Naruto and Sasuke bot flinched, but Sasuke bent down low, "There's no way I'm waiting for a single second. There's a person I have to kill. Some things I have to do." In an instant, a dozen shuriken flew from his hands, and Sasuke leapt backwards, a dark grin on his face, "And the first thing I'm going to do…is take those bells!"

Kakashi sat still, seemingly oblivious to the sharp deadly projectiles that hurdled towards him, but at the last second, he dodged to his left. Strafing weightlessly in a slight hover over the ground, coming to rest about a dozen feet to his left in less than half a second.

Naruto found himself feeling disappointed at Sasuke's failure, but his sensitive ears heard the faint sound of a rope snapping. His eyes saw the kunai about as soon as Kakashi did. And his book now absent, and his eyes wide, Kakashi dodged again, this time his feet skidding roughly across the floor, rushing to avoid the trap.

The Kunai all impacted solidly with a tree right behind where Kakashi stood less than a moment before. Naruto heard the silver bells at his hip jingle with every moment, and with a start, he heard a brief violent rustling of leaves in the tree line.

Almost an instant later, he heard a grunt, and distinct impact of a kick thrown. He looked back to where Kakashi was, and saw them. Sasuke was in the air, still mid-kick, and Naruto watched in astonishment how the Uchiha threw a punch right after the kick had landed, followed up by another kick with his other leg, his first leg still firmly in the Jounin's grip.

Then Naruto heard another sound, the jingle of the bells again, but louder, and unaccompanied by any movement on the part of Kakashi. With a small gasp, he saw Kakashi skid away from sasuke, the Uchiha's outstretched hands.

Naruto gritted his teeth, and in one smooth motion, brought his hands together, crossing his middle and index fingers in front of his face.

He poured chakra into the technique, and let his voice carry above every sound in the clearing, "Multi-Shadow clone Jutsu!

A dozen puffs of smoke appeared all around him, and from the smoke, perfect solid copies of Naruto sprang forward, leaving trails of white smoke behind them in their stride.

All of the copies sprinted towards Kakashi, ignoring Sasuke as they sprinted with kunai poised to strike. Kakashi seemed unperturbed, but allowed himself a single smile at the show in front of him, "Naruto isn't out yet is appears..."

The twelve clones shouted loudly in their encroachment, the first to reach him swinging his kunai wildly. Kakashi batted the clone aside easily, sliding underneath his guard and striking it solidly in the gut. The clone poofed with little fanfare, and the other clones flung themselves at him, uncaring of their own fates, or whether they got in the way of the clone behind him.

Naruto cheered on his clones, hooting and hollering from his upside-down position, his head slowly getting redder and redder from being suspended upside down for so long, "Whoo! Go go go! Kick his ass!"

But as Naruto cheered, he watched Sasuke begin to move, his arms and hands a blur of motion as they went through hand signs faster than he could see. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the familiar pattern of hand signs, having seen them a hundred times, in a hundred different ways.

A dark, ugly feeling twisted up in his gut when he looked over at Sasuke, and then over to Naruto's clones, oblivious to the danger they were in.

He knew they were only clones, he knew it, but the thought of using a comrade's strategy, taking advantage of it in that way...

It made Kakashi's mouth turn sour, he would've spit if not for the ever present mask covering his face.

Still, he couldn't help but be surprised, and also a little suspicious. The more cynical and analytical part of his brain dubious that a genin as young as Sasuke could use that much chakra.

"Hmm, No genin should have the chakra capacity to do that..." He muttered to himself.

But as he glanced at the clock, he knew that regardless of the outcome, the test was swiftly coming to an end. And by that time, he'd know the mettle of each of them.

He watched as Sasuke primed his jutsu, a smug, superior look ion his face as he aimed the technique right at him.

Kakashi stared back, preparing his own technique.

One of the clones faltered slightly, his hand in the middle of a lunge to Kakashi's vulnerable side, "Uh, do what exactly?" The clone asked, his face mouth twitching slightly with trepidation, and no small amount of fear.

Sasuke took a very deep breath, bringing his hand up in a half tiger seal. The second he did, bright orange and red flame burst from his mouth, propelling a huge ball of molten fire towards Kakashi, and Naruto's shadow clones.

Naruto watched in shock as Kakashi and all of his clones clones were consumed by the flames. He cringed when he heard the fear filled screams and shrieks of the clones cut off when the flames caught them all in the wake of a tidal wave of destructive fire.

The flames scorched the earth, grass, twigs. Everything in its path was turned to cinders. After a moment, the smoke and the flames pealed away, and all that was left was upturned, and charred earth.

Naruto turned to Sasuke, his body shaking with outrage, "What. The. Actual. Fuck... was that you pasty son of a bitch!?"

Sasuke didn't respond, he only looked around frantically, further infuriating Naruto at being ignored.

"Oi! I'm talking to you, you deranged—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke hissed, and the look in his eyes was deathly severe.

Naruto growled, but stayed silent, for no other reason than he couldn't think of anything else to say. What was there to say after something like that? He could've won if Sasuke hadn't gotten in the way. Strong or not, jounin or not, he couldn't keep this up forever, he could just overwhelm him with clones until he gave up or got sloppy. But if Sasuke was just gonna nuke all his clones with his stupid Uchiha fire jutsu then how was that going to work.

Sasuke seemed content enough with their conversation that he kept on looking, talking all the while "Now, not to the left, not the right, and not up. So, where—"

"Beneath you Sasuke!" A hand shot up from under the earth, and grabbed Sasuke but the ankle.

Sasuke's eyes shot up in alarm, but it was too late.

"Earth Technique: Headhunter Jutsu!" And with a cry of pure confusion and alarm, Sasuke was pulled under the earth, so quick that Naruto could barely follow until it was already done.

Sasuke's head sat up from the ground, his eyes wide with confusion and frustration, while Kakashi smoothly slid from the ground as easily as ramen flavoring squeezed from its plastic pouch.

He arose with his arms crossed, appearing as clean as Naruto had ever seen him. His eyebrows were knit into a clear scowl, and he appeared more disgruntled than anything. Sasuke stared up at him, meeting his eyes but not saying a single word. Letting his eyes, convey the emotion he now felt.

If looks could kill, Kakashi would topple over where he stood. But Kakashi matched him look for look, glaring back with all the authority and might of a seasoned shinobi. Kakashi said nothing, and merely turned to march off in the direction of the stumps.

It was then that Naruto realized that the sun hung high in the sky now, and he guessed that it was very close to noon. With a start, he realized just how close he was to failing the test, and being sent back to the academy. He bent his body upwards, glancing at his kunai pouch, and pulling a knife free.

He swiped at the rope that held him, and missed badly, swinging so hard, and so far, off his target, he almost let the kunai fall from his fingers. He gritted his teeth and curled his body upwards, determined to get free, and pass this test if it was the last thing he did.

---

Hinata groaned with effort, sweat falling from her brow in thick beads and droplets. Her fingers strained to reach for the kunai Naruto left, her foot leveraging the knife against the tree, just beyond her outstretched digits.

She panted as she leaned backwards, struggling against the tree and her bonds. They felt tighter with every movement, and with every movement, she only felt weaker. She heard movement behind her, and she only let it drive her, push her to work, to win.

She yanked her body backwards, nearly crying out in joy when she felt her fingers wrap around the smooth steel ring of the kunai.

She leaned back up, moving her body off to the side to allow her to raise the kunai up towards the wire. She poked it forwards, and backwards, slowly, carefully sawing against the strong cordage with the kunai.

She silently prayed that Naruto kept up the sharpening of his weapons, and while she doubted it, she hoped anyway.

Her surprise at the sudden give of the wire was only matched by the sudden fear and panic she felt when she suddenly pitched forward, falling into the rough, uneven ground. And thankfully not onto the sharp kunai she pushed away from her as soon as she began to fall.

She huffed and puffed on the ground for a while there, the aching in her limbs telling her that she didn't have much left as far as energy, or chakra.

She flinched when she heard fast footsteps and fighting behind her, and rose as quickly as she could to find out what was going on.

She lurched upwards, grabbing onto the tree trunk that had previously held her hostage. She pushed past it, and stumbled out into the clearing, still breathing hard. She resisted the urge to use her Byakugan, peering out into the clearing, straining her eyes to see where her sensei was.

She saw a rush of movement and saw Sasuke rush forwards, fighting against a familiar dark form off in the distance. She started to make her way there, when she froze, hearing a noise directly above her.

There was a sound of rope snapping, and she tried to avoid the trap, but her heavy legs wouldn't carry her as fast as she wanted.

Something huge, and heavy slammed into her neck and back, and the grass rushed up to meet her as she plummeted hard and fast to the ground.

The impact sent stars of bright painful light into her vision, dully aware of a huge lump of mass bearing down on her from above. She heard groaning, and if her head wasn't currently being pressed down into the dirt, she would've jerked upright at the sound of Naruto's voice, "Oh shit..."

There was movement above her, and what was probably intended to be a bit of polite speed to get off her, actually resulted in a few quick and painful kicks to her back as Naruto rushed to get off her.

She would've groaned in pain, but a noise like that required her lungs to be at least somewhat full of air. What actually came out of her was more of a pitiful whimper, a sound her father would have sneered at, the sound totally unbecoming of an heir to the Hyuuga clan.

She managed to roll over on her side, and gasp in a huge breath of fresh air. The instant relief of air filling her lungs was almost immediately followed by a wave of pain that flowed over her entire body.

From the short fight between her and her sensei, then her entrapment, and now being body-slammed by Naruto had left her whole body one huge pulsing bruise.

And the test wasn't even over yet.

"Ahhh." Naruto groaned behind her.

She craned over her head and upper body to get a good look at her blonde companion, and saw Naruto rubbing at his head gingerly.

She huffed out a harsh laugh at that, 'So that's what hit me...'

Naruto turned to look at her, and he smiled that embarrassed smile of his, his eyes squinted, his face as guilty as he was whenever he was caught in one of his pranks during class.

"Uhh, Hehe. Sorry Hinata-chan, Kakashi-teme caught me in a trap, didn't mean to land on you like that dattebayo..."

And just like that, the warm flush that rippled out from her quickly beating heart made the pain go away. Or at least enough pain for her to smile at him.

He seemed to take her smile as a sign of forgiveness, and smiled back. The expression more radiant somehow, possibly becasue the smile was for her this time.

They sat there for a moment, and the longer she looked at him the more she noticed how worn and dirty he looked.

He looked as if he'd been in a fistfight with a pine tree, various pine needles, dirt, and other stray leafs peppered his black and orange hoodie. The only thing appearing unmarked was his smile, beautiful and radiant as always. But then his smile drooped, and then hers did too.

She grunted with effort as she righted herself, eventually getting up with all the grace of a drunken swan, finding herself slumped against a tree for the second day that day.

She glanced up at the sun, her frown deepening when she saw how late it was, "We have to beat him together." She blurted.

Naruto's head whipped to the side, his eyes pinning her down with an intense stare.

"Huh?" He said.

Hinata opened her mouth, and then closed it. She didn't mean to say it, she hadn't meant to say anything. But in her heart she knew it was the truth. Every one of them had gone up against the mysterious jounin one on one and failed.

Miserably in her own case.

It only made sense to try and go at him together, and Hinata found she was too tired to worry too much about embarrassing herself any further in front of Naruto. It wasn't as if it could get any worse.

So, she took a deep breath and soldiered on, "I mean, we're gonna have to work together if we're gonna beat him."

Naruto didn't say anything, and his eyes went cold and distant. She didn't know quite how to react at first, but then his face changed.

He narrowed his eyes, tilting his head slightly away from her. Hinata tried to place the strange emotion on his face, thinking to herself that whatever it was, she had never seen it on his face before.

Suspicion. That's what it was, he was suspicious of her.

"Why do that? I could beat him by myself." He said quietly.

She balked at him, startled at the sudden, strange tone of irritation she heard in his tone.

It almost didn't sound like his voice, the world alien and ill fitting in his mouth for whatever reason. The eerie confidence, along with the slight hesitance, almost like insincerity his tone sounded, off. Almost like he was reading from a script.

She shook her head, more to clear her own head than dismiss his words, "If you can, why haven't you done it already?"

The question seemed to unbalance him, the sudden indignant and brash confidence she saw in his face replaced by a deep uncertainty.

"Besides..." she said, drawing his attention back to her, "...It looks like we're about to run out of time anyway..."

Naruto gaped at her, turning back to look to the hill, "Already!?" He shrieked.

Hinata barely had enough time to blink before Naruto went of sprinting up the hill. He ran quickly despite how long the two of them had been trying to pass their test, and she felt a rather substantial amount of jealousy at the boy's abundance of energy.

She groaned in anger and exhaustion, knowing that she was about to go gallivanting after him, trying in vain to pass this test of theirs that seemed so clearly lost.

And as she dragged her exhausted form up the hill, her absolutely drained legs on fire, she thought about how the object of her... affection.

While she appreciated his attitude, as well as his absolute refusal to accept defeat, she thought to herself how Naruto may be just a little bit... Of an idiot.

---

Hinata was tired, every limb was on fire as she tried to keep pace with Naruto, and inevitably he was too far to even see from where she was.

He sprinted off, climbing up a short hill, and disappearing over the lip of it, leaving Hinata to stare at nothing but dirt and grass.

It was then that Hinata noticed something that something standing less than a foot in height, less than a few feet in front of her.

So close that if she kept up following after Naruto, she would've stepped on it. Or more specifically who.

She looked down, and bright white eyes locked with two black orbs, the eyes squinted in a dark glare, framed with a dirty, scratched up face that Hinata almost didn't recognize.

The realization came all of a sudden, and at any other time, Hinata knew she would've jumped at the sight of someone's head poking out of the ground, but as soon as she saw who it was, she glared harshly at the Uchiha, who glared back, with all the pride that he normally carried with him. Despite his circumstance.

"Get me out of here." He ordered, his tone fierce despite his helpless state.

She stared back, not saying anything, the pit in her stomach growing with every second she stared at Sasuke.

He gritted his teeth, a hint of color coming to his cheeks, but whether it was due to embarrassment to impotent rage she couldn't tell.

"The test is about to be over, I have to pass this test!" He shouted.

She narrowed her eyes further, "Even if it means stepping on Naruto or me?"

He stopped, looking at her strangely for a moment, "...You mean me popping the dobe's clones earlier?"

Hinata said nothing, and Sasuke just groaned, rolling his eyes as if explaining something simple to a child. His face scrunched up in irritation, and faint disappointment, "You want to be a shinobi right?"

Hinata didn't answer, feeling like the question was quite obvious. She was here, wasn't she?

"Being a ninja means doing whatever you have to to achieve the mission. I have to be a ninja, and no amount of loud, annoying wannabe's or childish little girls are gonna stop me. Now get me out of here!" He shouted, his head moving back and forth, straining his limbs under the earth, trying desperately to escape.

Hinata felt the moment she lost her temper, but instead of rising to the surface like it normally did, she felt a strange sense of calm wash over her.

She turned her head away from Sasuke's head poking out of the ground, and just started walking.

"What the hell are you doing? You'll never beat Kakashi without me! I'm the best chance you have Hyuuga! Get back..."

Sasuke voice faded away as the distance between them grew. With every step, she could feel the anger fade… But before the usual doubt and fear could creep in to follow, she heard a shrill cry from the direction she was marching.

She picked up the pace, and sprinted over the crest of the hill to see Naruto tied by a thick rope to a tree, with Kakashi standing over him, patting his hands free of dust.

Naruto struggled aggressively against the bonds, screaming insults at Kakashi who merely turned to look at her, "Time's up." He said with a tone of finality.

And no less than an instant later, she heard the sound of an alarm clock behind him, and she realized that they were back to the starting point.

And it was then that Hinata finally allowed herself to lose hope.

They'd failed.

Just like her father hoped she would

---

Naruto looked up, and saw Kakashi with his arms crossed. His single visible eye lacked all the ease and mirth that it conveyed on the classroom ceiling. Now it was cold and hard, staring at them all with the most baleful look Naruto had ever seen.

He shrugged, "The truth is actually very simple. Simple enough that I think the three of you should be able to understand. You three failed to collect even a single bell from me."

Naruto let his head fall limply, faintly hearing a hint of the fox raving furiously in his mind, but he couldn't conjure the strength to listen, only listening to the jounin as he stood bound to a wooden pole.

"Sasuke." Kakashi said. The livid Uchiha glared for all he was worth, but the impotent rage had zero effect on the jounin.

"For all the apparent skill and power you showed in the test, you must think pretty highly of yourself?"

Sasuke didn't dignify the question with an answer, but Kakashi went on unimpeded. "So what kind of experience do you have to show for it. How many missions have you been on. Ten? Fifty? A hundred? Perhaps even thousands!?"

Sasuke still said nothing, but turned away instead of looking at him.

Kakashi swiveled to look at Hinata, who let out a quiet, 'eep' when his lone grey eye zeroed in on her. "Hinata? How about you? Is there any experience you can boast? Maybe through your father?"

Hinata quickly shook her head, looking down at the ground as she did.

Kakashi turned to Naruto, who stared on, his face vacant but listening intently.

"Naruto?"

Naruto shook his head, wondering where Kakashi's speech was going.

"Well, for three inexperienced genin, you all seemed so sure of yourselves. All of you seemed so sure you'd pass, by just, trying your best!" Kakashi said in a mocking tone.

Kakashi started to walk towards them, his eyes scanning them as if searching for something, "After all, I can only ask you to do your best. And If that's what I've seen today, then I have some WONDERFUL news for you all."

He stopped to stare at them all seriously his eye narrowed dangerously, "If that's your best. If that's the most you can give me, then you should all quit right now."

Naruto felt all the warmth leave his body as his words permeated through him, chilling his bones with their cold, harsh meaning.

'W-W-We couldn't have done, t-that bad could we?' But he heard no reply from the fox, or in the real world. The three children in the clearing struck dumb from his words.

Kakashi chuckled coldly, turning away from them, his hands held behind his back, "Oh yes. In fact, I'll spare you the long walk to the academy. I'll go down there myself and make sure that you never become a ninja for this village as long as you live."

Naruto felt his throat constrict, and he jerked his head away from the jounin, the embarrassment from nearly bursting into tears bringing warmth to his neck and ears.

To his left he heard a loud snap, and a loud cry of rage from Sasuke. He quickly looked over, but whatever had happened was already over.

In the middle of a small cloud of dust, was both Kakashi and Sasuke. With the sliver haired jounin holding Sasuke in a hold that was pressing the Uchiha's face into the dirt. Sasuke struggled and wriggled, but Sasuke's body barely moved despite his furious wriggling.

Kakashi just sighed, the visible half of his face as serene as if he were picking flowers, "And this is what I mean. You're nothing but children playing ninja. No thought, no strategy, just raw emotion and a hint of wasted training."

Sasuke groaned, straining with effort as he tilted his head upwards to give him enough space to speak, "At least... give us a chance. We'll prove you wrong!"

Kakashi rolled his eye, "Oh, its we now is it? I thought you made it clear that you were in it to win this by yourself?"

Sasuke said nothing, letting his body sag against the ground. Kakashi shook his head, still staring down at the Uchiha with a piteous look, "Besides. I did give you a chance. I gave you a test and you failed."

Hinata piped up to Naruto's right, "But there was no way we were going to beat you alone!"

Kakashi nodded, "Right, and what did you do?"

Hinata didn't answer, looking away.

"Exactly. Think about it, if you couldn't beat me and take the bell by fighting me one on one, then what should you do?"

Silence descended once again, but after a long uncomfortable pause, Hinata was the one to break the silence, "Work together..."

Kakashi released Sasuke, and rose up at once, bringing his hands together in mock applause, "Excellent! Surprising since you refused to help Sasuke out of my trap just because of a few mean words."

Hinata's skin faded a shade whiter than her usual complexion, but Kakashi went on, with Sasuke skittering away from the obviously insane jounin.

"I told you at the beginning of the exam to come at me with the intent to kill. To treat this test as if it were a real mission out in the field. So let's take what you did to Sasuke, and add some perspective."

Faster than Naruto could see, Kakashi lunged forward, reaching one hand out to grab Sasuke, and the other into his kunai pouch.

Hinata let out a cry of shock as Kakashi brought the kunai to Sasuke's throat, wrapping his other arm around his neck, pulling the Uchiha close.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing, his mind trying to comprehend how his already desolately hopeless situation had become more dire every minute. First, he'd failed, and was being sent back to the academy, then he was going to be expelled from the shinobi training academy entirely, and now Sasuke Uchiha was about to be murdered right in front of him, and he couldn't do a damn thing about it.

'Fuck, he's worse than the old man...'

Kakashi's eye was narrowed dangerously, and it was currently string right at HInata, "Hinata, save Sasuke within the next ten seconds, or Sasuke dies."

Hinata shivered visibly stumbling to her feet, trying to get as close to sasuke as she could. Kakashi took a long step backwards, holding the kunai just a fraction closer, so close Naruto could swear he saw a bead of blood run down the length of the blade.

Hinata froze again, "I-I-I... I don't..."

"Save him Hinata!" Kakashi shouted, startling her.

She stared forward, her eyes bulging with panic. Kakashi scoffed at her, "I left you untied for one reason only. You were the only one to try to work together to beat me. And for a while, I thought you would be the one to look a little deeper at your situation. But as soon as Sasuke said something mean, you abandoned him. If this were a real mission and I was the enemy, not only would you have lost, but it wouldn't be because I'm stronger than all of you, its because you intentionally sabotaged the team for no other reason than because your feelings were hurt."

Kakashi brought his head down, still staring at Hinata, "Are your feelings or your ego worth his life, the lives of your comrades, or your family?"

He waited in vain for an answer that would never come, the silence stretching as Hinata stared at sasuke, fighting back tears.

After a full minute of agonizing silence, he released Sasuke, and holstered his kunai. The Uchiha leapt away from Kakashi, but the jounin's other hand reached behind him, throwing another object faster than Naruto could see.

Sasuke cried out, and a high pitched whooshing sound reached his eardrums. Just a second later, Sasuke was pinned against the pole once again, this time tighter, and with a metallic silver wire wrapping around him at least a dozen times over.

Kakashi let his arms fall to his sides, and he took a long sigh.

When he looked back up, his eyes were softer, the regret and sadness in his eyes almost enough to make Naruto forget that he held Sasuke hostage barely a few seconds ago.

He looked up again, his eyes finding each and every one of them, forcing them to meet his own, "Didn't any single one of you remember what I said before? 'Look a little deeper?' Use your heads. I didn't fail you merely because you didn't take the bells from me, but because none of you looked underneath the underneath. None of you looked beyond what I said, and discovered the truth in what I didn't say. "

He turned away, walking up the short path, raising his voice as he gained more and more distance between them, "In order to survive as a ninja, you have to learn to adapt. To work with others, to have a thick skin, to go above and beyond in order to complete the mission."

Kakashi paused, taking a moment to continue walking. Naruto's eyes followed the direction he was going, and his heart dropped into his stomach.

Kakashi stopped, his eyes looking downwards to see the black memorial stone. The obsidian was clean, and shined brightly, its many edges from the many names etched into the hard stone glinting brightly in the sunlight.

Naruto looked away, covering his ears with his hands, his eyes shut tightly to prevent even the slightest glance at the stone. Knowing how one name, freshly carved into the stone, was one who loved him.

Someone HE had killed.

He could feel eyes on him, but he didn't acknowledge them, content to remain like this forever, if only it meant that he would be free of the torture of seeing his old teacher's name there.

"...Naruto."

He heard Kakashi call for him, but he ignored it, his neck muscles straining as he tried in vain to turn his head farther and farther away.

"Naruto, I need you to look."

He felt the cursed tears fall, hot against his cold skin, already wet with sweat. He didn't know why he listened, but almost robotically, he let his muscles relax, and his head turned slowly to face the memorial stone.

Everyone was staring at him, but Naruto paid them no mind, his eyes fixed on the black, obsidian stone. With Kakashi right next to it, standing atop the red brick steps that surrounded the somber monument.

"Naruto, do you know what this is?"

Naruto nodded slowly, not trusting his voice not to crack if he spoke. He turned to Sasuke, who nodded before he could be asked.

He finally turned to Hinata, who nodded her assent, "It's the memorial stone." She said quietly.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes. It's the stone upon which the names of those who valiantly gave their lives to this village are engrained."

Kakashi's hand rested gently on the cold stone, softly tracing an unseen name in the aged stone, "The names of many of my friends are on this stone."

He went silent, his hand grazing over the hard stone, almost as if writing kanji.

Kakashi took a deep breath, and turned away from them, facing the endless forest in front of them, "One of them, was..." He trailed off, then laughed so softly, Naruto almost mistook it for a sob, "Actually, heh. He was kind of a screw-up."

He sighed again, "Once upon a time, he tried to teach me something that I'm trying to teach you kids. I... I didn't listen."

A deep silence filled the space they were in, so deep and mournful that even the forest listened in, the wildlife and the trees hushing themselves as if to listen in.

Naruto stared at the jounin's back, waiting for the man to continue, and for a while, it even looked like he wouldn't.

"I almost died that day, but instead of me, he was killed in combat. All becasue of an arrogant, stupid kid that just wouldn't listen."

He turned around sharply, his eye now hard and piercing. He wasn't angry, or even sad, just stone cold serious.

"That's why I chose this test. To teach you before you get someone else, or yourself killed. This isn't the kind of profession for cocky, know-it-alls with nothing to learn. So, either learn it, or get out before it's too late."

And in an instant, the ambient sound of the forest came crashing back. Almost as if the whole world took a breath, and exhaled.

Kakashi went silent, the only sound being the soft wind, and the rustling of thousands of trees throughout the forest. None of them dared to break the silence. Even Sasuke, who remained tied to his own stump, his eyes a touch softer than Naruto had ever seen them.

The jounin went a long time without saying anything, but after a few minutes, Kakashi glanced to the three of them.

Naruto flinched, swallowing thickly as the mysterious jounin turned his eyes him.

Kakashi sighed and walked away from the stone, heading towards them, his arms once again crossed, his eyes hard.

"Ok, here's what's gonna happen. You three have ten minutes to rest and recuperate, after that, you'll all have one more chance to make something of yourselves other than whiny, stupid brats." He barked.

He looked at Hinata, who also flinched at his look, wincing in pain and grabbing her shoulder. He stared for a minute, his face relaxing a bit as he looked at her hurt shoulder.

He gestured flippantly to the steaming packed lunches, then to the Hyuuga princess, "Hinata, go ahead and eat. At least you tried to help the others..."

He pointed a finger at the him and Sasuke, "But they get nothing. Mend their wounds and such, but they don't taste a single morsel of food. They'll handle themselves, by themselves. Just like they wanted..."

Then Kakashi walked off, his bouncing silver locks disappearing over the hill where the memorial stone sat. Leaving the three of them alone.

Naruto didn't think it could get any worse than this.

The very thing he had dedicated his life to preventing, was coming to pass. Him, sat powerless and confined.

He looked to his right, watching Hinata pick at her bento box with as much enthusiasm as Sasuke put into his social life.

He looked at Sasuke, who seemed as confused and frustrated as he felt. Still struggling against the shiny metal shinobi that wrapped tightly around his body.

Naruto sighed and slumped against his bonds, feeling so terribly lost and defeated.

The three of them were all beaten, and drained. More so than Naruto could remember feeling in a long time.

He was so sure he could win. So sure he could just use his fists to blow the problem he faced to kingdom come.

Kyuubi said he would win. He told him he was powerful, that he was better...

But the suspiciously silent fox was wrong about him. He wasn't some all-powerful "Jinchurriki" like he said.

He was just Naruto. The dead last screw up of their class.

He looked back to Hinata, her hair and hyuuga robes a dirty, stained mess, her lavender eyes misty with tears.

He felt a painful stab in his gut to watch her suffer, remembering the jounin's words. He didn't even try to help her, he was so dead set on passing, he forgot about the two others who were there to help him.

The two others he was dragging down...

"H-Hey, Hinata." He said. Her head lifted to look at him, still looking just as tired and disheartened as she was, but also a little angry as well.

'As she should be...'

Naruto swallowed thickly, bowing his head, "I-I'm.. I'm real sorry Hinata. I ditched you when you needed help, and I let the whole team down. I'm sorry."

He stared at the ground in shame, too fearful of the distrusting, superior look that he knew all too well.

'Here it comes.'

He waited for the angry shouting, the blaming, the cursing and accusing. Telling him how it was all his fault, how if they just worked together, if he hadn't been so stupid and useless, then they wouldn't be in this situation. How maybe if he-

"Naruto-kun..." She spoke silently, but her single utterance of his name sliced through all his doubts and thoughts like the sharpest blade in the world. He chanced a glance at her, and saw how she looked at him. Not angry, not accusing, but... guilty?

She was hardly a foot from him, her arms crossed behind her back, looking down as soon as he looked up.

"I, I messed up too. I could've freed Sasuke and given us a better chance at passing, but... I... lost my temper, and I left him stuck in the ground. I'm sorry too."

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of Ichiraku ramen bowls, "You!? Lost your temper?"

Hinata blushed at the words, but nodded her head.

Naruto gaped. If anyone else had tried to tell him that Hinata Hyuuga lost her temper at someone, he'd have called bullshit in a heartbeat.

Out of anyone out of their class, hell. Anyone he knew, He expected Hinata would be the last to lose their temper.

Sweet, gentle Hinata. The same Hinata that nearly failed a impromptu kunai accuracy test because there was a grasshopper too close to the target. The same Hinata who calmly prevented him and Kiba from getting into a fight over who was the stronger between them dozens of times.

He closed his mouth when he realized that the longer he went without saying something the redder she went.

Then Naruto had a thought that gave him pause, "What did he say that got you that mad?"

Hinata looked away, turning to look at the permanently ornery sasuke, who glared back at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "He insulted you, and me. Said we were just in the way of his progress, and how we couldn't beat Kakashi-sensei without him."

Naruto turned to look at well, glaring at the cocky emo bastard. Naruto frowned in annoyance, "Well, unfortunately, he's right. The rat bastard..."

Hinata stared at him questioningly, her head cocked to one side, "What do you mean?"

Naruto sighed, "I mean that Kakashi's right. We ALL have to work together. All THREE of us."

Hinata turned to look at Sasuke one final time, frowning deeply. After a long pause, she furrowed her brow in determination, turning on her heel, walking right towards her bento box. She grabbed it up, and used her chopsticks to pick up a clump of steaming rice.

"Eat." She commanded.

Naruto's stomach growled, and he wanted so badly to say yes, but all he could think of was Kakashi's angry face glaring at him.

"But, Kakashi—"

Hinata shook her head, "We're all going to need energy if we're really getting another chance at this."

Naruto shrugged, both knowing that her words were true, and also not having the inner strength to resist the food in front of him for even one more second. He nearly moaned at the delicious food entering his mouth, and for a second, plain white rice was a strong contender for top tier food next to ramen.

Especially when his alternative was nothing.

"You're both just going to get us all in more trouble." Sasuke complained.

Naruto laughed a bit, his mouth full of rice and meat, "You heard the lady. We're all gonna need our strength if we're gonna beat Mr. Cyclops when he gets back. So that mean you too numb nuts."

Sasuke snarled, and was about to say something else when Hinata turned away from Naruto and marched over to Sasuke.

Sasuke stared down the Hyuuga princess, and she stared back, her eyes as cold as his. Without a word, she merely extended her hand, her fingers clutching onto the wooden chopsticks, a chunk of steaming meat at the end of them.

Sasuke stared for a long moment, but ultimately took a bite. Although his glare never went away. His eyes so intense that if Naruto didn't know for a fact that he was tied up tight, he'd be sure he was about to lunge at her.

Hinata never flinched, returning the glare with one of her own, and Naruto found himself favoring being stared down by sasuke rather than Hinata.

He swallowed, feeling the warmth and satisfaction at a portion of his hunger being satiated.

"Oi, if he's gonna glare at you like that, I say I should get another helping. At least I'm not looking at you like I'm gonna bite your head off and..."

Naruto trailed off when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps, and he looked up to see Kakashi cresting the hill.

He gulped loudly as he saw the man's single eye sweep over them, gradually narrowing in anger.

He marched agonizingly slowly towards them, his superior height towering over the three of them. With Naruto trying his best to phase into the wooden post, Sasuke trying his best to square his feet despite his own bonds, and Hinata frozen, her hand outstretched to give Sasuke another bite of food.

After a few seconds, Kakashi was right in front of them, bending over barely a few feet from them. His form casting a shadow over all three of them.

"You..." He snarled.

Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable words...

"...Pass."

Naruto's eyes snapped open, the single word threw Naruto totally for a loop. But as he looked up, he could see how Kakashi's anger was completely gone, replaced by a jovial smile.

Kakashi straightened back up, "I have to admit, I'm relieved you all came to your senses like that. For a while there, I was worried that I'd have to fail you for real!"

Naruto gaped but a part of him was somewhat unsurprised. Adults in the village seemed to have a special kind of hate boner for him. Some of them just loved playing around with him, always at his expense. He just hoped his teacher wouldn't be one of them.

"So you were just playing around with us!?" He yelled.

Kakashi shook his head slowly, "No. If any single one of you chose not to work together, I would have failed you all in a heartbeat."

Naruto's mouth went dry, '...At least he's honest...'

Kakashi stared seriously at them all, "You remember what I said about the cocky, arrogant, know-it-all?"

All three of them nodded, the three of them still shocked into silence. Kakashi nodded back at them, his eyes downcast, "Well, that kid learned something that day."

He looked up at them, "Those who abandon the mission, are trash. That much is true. But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." He stared at them all, no one saying a single thing as his words sank in, only making Naruto feel lower than he already felt.

He only felt worse for letting Hinata and Sasuke down, despite their apparent victory. A victory that he, himself didn't truly earn.

He also felt a bit bad for lumping in Kakashi with all the morons in the village who seemed to hate him. It looked like, despite his tactics, he seemed to actually believe what he was saying, and Naruto could find no fault in him for that.

'It's a hell of a lot better that most of those other clueless jerks at the academy. Other than Tori of course.'

He chanced a glance, finding the jounin's eye much easier to look at now. Gone was the tense, and hostile air the man once carried with him, now his single black pupil gave off an air of calm, where there had once been strife. He met the eye, and nodded. Knowing now that, whatever his intentions, he meant well.

Didn't mean he was going to trust him, but it was a start.

'A good start.' He thought.

Kakashi nodded back and walked over to him, his hands going behind the stump, and loosening his bonds. Naruto fell free, his tired legs buckling under him, bringing him to his knees.

He rubbed at his sore arms, and looked up just in time to see Sasuke fall free as well. Although the frustratingly implacable Uchiha took it far better than he did, only stumbling slightly before coming back to his feet looking only mildly roughed up.

Naruto's face scrunched up in anger and frustration, grumbling silently to himself about a certain Uchiha.

Kakashi nodded, "Now. If you'll excuse me, I have some... 'Preparations' to make, so I'll trust you all to find the same training ground bright and early tomorrow morning."

He turned away to walk off, waving a hand behind him as he swaggered off, "we begin at 5 o'clock sharp. Don't be late!"

And off he went, leaving the rest of them there, dumbstruck as their jounin-sensei just left without another word.

There was a pause, where no one said anything. None of them quite believing that the ordeal was truly over.

Naruto was the first to break the silence. He shook his head forcefully, "What. A. Weirdo."

The two remaining members of the newly christened team 7 starred at Naruto as he shook his head slowly. A snort sounding suspiciously like a laugh coming from Sasuke.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke's face, but by the time he did, the Uchiha had already turned his head, trying desperately not to let Naruto see the smile stretched across his face.

Naruto huffed, 'Huh, we somehow passed Kakashi's test, and I got mister doom-and-gloom to laugh. I guess today wasn't ALL bad.'

Hinata giggled, but winced when the motion shook her shoulder. Naruto looked over to her, his eye wide with concern, "Are you okay?"

Hinata nodded stiffly, "I'll be fine." She sighed, and flopped onto the soft earth. Her wild and tangled hair, along with her uninjured limbs lay splayed out like the head of a mop. She sighed long and loud, almost like he did when he felt the satisfied fullness after a meal of Ichiraku ramen. Naruto followed her lead, sitting down at the base of the wooden post, letting his head fall backwards, leaning against the wood.

He felt his heart leap into his throat when he heard a gasp, and opened his eyes to see Hinata staring past him, looking terrified. He whipped his head around, but only saw the forest, the trees and grass covered in a yellow orange light.

"I... I'm sorry!" She said in a rush, nearly sprinting away down the hill. Naruto got up quickly, feeling his joints creak as he rose, "Wait! Where are you going!?"

Hinata turned around, and Naruto regretted asking. Her eyes were wide and desperate, looking like she was only an inch away from bawling. Her dirty face and clothes only making her panicked look more stark and shocking.

She stammered out a reply, still inching away from him, "I'm late, I... I have to go home now sorry!" Then she left. Running full speed down the hill, then disappearing past the trees.

Naruto stood still for a moment, remembering with some bitterness that not all kids his age were like him. Most kids had a home, and parents to go back to. Someone to worry, or care for them and worry about them.

He just stood there, and gave a small chuckle, 'Heh, I almost forgot.'

He clutched at the front of his jacket, trying desperately to clench at the part of his chest that hurt.

It hurt so much.

But it would pass. He would become a strong shinobi, he just had to wait it out.

Behind him Sasuke started moving, eventually walking from behind him, to his left.

Naruto turned to look at him, and they just stared for a while. After a moment, a somewhat dark, but unreadable expression came over sasuke. Naruto frowned, not really enjoying being inspected by the Sasuke 'Paint it Black' Uchiha.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Naruto demanded. Whatever look Sasuke had on his face disappeared, and he stared to walk again, shaking his head.

"Nothing." He whispered.

Naruto growled, but said nothing. Sasuke just kept walking, leaving Naruto alone.

He sighed again, and he felt his arms and legs throb like they haven't in a long time. He just about managed to keep a steady pace on his way back to his apartment. He was sure that people were staring at the conspicuous blonde troublemaker waddling like a penguin, but they were always watching. The reason made no difference, not now at least.

His legs felt like two painful blocks of concrete as he wobbled his way home, feeling relief at seeing the familiar walkway.

He braced himself for the silence on his empty apartment, and turned the key in the lock. He walked in and turned towards his bed, only to see someone sitting on it.

Someone in a white bird mask, someone staring at him.

She seemed almost surprised to see him, looking about as beaten up as he felt. There were visible cuts in her arms and legs, her normally pristine ANBU breastplate coated in knicks, dents and scuff marks.

She stood up after a second, noticeably slower and less smooth than normal. "Naruto!" She exclaimed.

Naruto didn't move, he barely breathed. He only watched her.

She must have interpreted the silence as a sign that he was upset, so she got closer, "How did the test go?"

He smiled and opened his mouth, only to close it when his mind refused to conjure up words that properly answered he question.

'Where to even start with that?'

Tori cleared her throat awkwardly, "...I, um. I meant to come sooner, but a surprise mission came up and, well. I just thought I should stop by. I didn't mean to scare you. If me showing up like this bothers you—"

Naruto cut her off with a hug, smiling hard, tears welling up in his eyes as he hugged her.

"Thank you Tori."

"F-For what?"

He just smiled harder, hugging her for all he was worth.

---

A/N- Apologies for the lateness, got caught up with moving house. Anyway, I think this is one of my best chapters so far, and I'm so excited continue writing this story!As always feedback is always encouraged, go ahead and ask me anything you want about the story, I'm usually pretty good about responding. Just don't be a dick : ) See y'all next time, KCMC66

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