Hey, Hey, you beautiful readers of mine. Day three of my marathon writing session, but I'm loving the response so far. I've gotten a couple of very nice messages, some nice reviews with some valid points, and I've shattered my follow/favorite expectations twice already. Now I remember why I loved doing this so much. So a couple quick announcements before I get rolling into chapter three of this, feel free to skip them if you'd like.

Firstly, I wanted to explain my approach to the initial three chapters. I know there's been a couple big time leaps already, but my reasoning for this is that I didn't want to get bogged down with multiple childhood Naruto chapters and trust me if I wrote one that would certainly happen. It's a nasty habit. My goal has always been to simply set up the bigger plot points that are different from early Naruto canon and summarize most of the rest. This way, I cover more ground faster. Naruto's new childhood will definitely still be referenced in the future, and I haven't ruled out some flashbacks later on, so rest assured!

Secondly, there WILL be one last time jump in this chapter. I wanted to write some academy time in, but after a few hours kicking the ideas I came up with around, I simply couldn't make it up to the standard I would want. So, if time skips annoy you, I sincerely apologize, but I and to be up front with what you're getting from my content. And I promise you this will be the last one that covers more than a few days for quite a while. Probably won't see another long skip until the chunin exams. Okay! I have prattled on enough, please enjoy the next chapter.

Chapter 3: Enter Kakashi, Team 7 formed

The time in the academy flew by as a leaf would when blown by a breeze. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had spent their time there well, learning all the basic tenets of what it meant to be a true shinobi of the leaf, though in some instances it was more of a refresher for them, Naruto in particular. Any aspiring shinobi was taught some of this stuff, especially if they were one of the great clans. Iruka had been selected to lead the class they took part in, and though he was at his wits end at times with Naruto, he was also proud to see that behind all the little pranks and knuckleheaded behavior, there was the potential to live up to all that he could be once he got some real experience. Like most teaching, however, he didn't just point out the areas Naruto and his friends did well in, but the areas they struggled. It was by taking these flaws as they were and aspiring to work on them that you could hit that extra level in their line of work. Naruto's biggest flaw for instance was chakra control. He had a massive reserve of it, and a lot of stamina, but all the chakra in the world didn't mean much if someone couldn't harness it and pour it into a jutsu with enough focus to make it work.

Along with having good teachers, Naruto began to branch out a bit and make friends with some more of his classmates, though he almost always kept to his immediate circle of Sasuke and Sakura. He was still a nervous about putting himself out there too fast. Growing up, it was always a fifty-fifty shot if someone outside of his adopted family would even look him in the eyes, much less deal with him if Iruka or Asuma weren't around to scare them straight. Among the new friends he wound up making was Choji Akamichi, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shikamaru Nara. They were all great, though Sasuke had said on more than one occasion If he had to hear Shikamaru say 'What a drag' one more time he was going to hurt him. It was all idle chat amongst friends, though. Naruto knew Sasuke, and if he was ever serious about a threat, he always had the same little twitches that he couldn't help but show, kind of a nervous tick of sorts. The boys would often sneak away during free period and just relax in one of the training rooms. It was one of the last places that teachers always came looking and it was good to get some R & R now and again to recharge your batteries, as Choji liked to put it. Sakura usually wound up giving them an earful, but it was worth it.

As far as Sakura went, she too had made friends with a couple of the girls in their class, Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuga in particular. Hinata struck Naruto as a good person, though the girl could certainly use with some more confidence in her abilities. He knew a bit about the bloodline trait her family carried, and she had the ability to become a good shinobi if she could learn to believe in herself. Ino was on the other end of the spectrum however, maybe doubly so. She was brash, confident, and a little too boy-crazy for his taste. Sasuke seemed to be at the top of her list, and she made no secret about flirting with him at just about every available opportunity. Sasuke handled it better than Naruto might have in his place, that was for sure. He never got angry, though occasionally he could tell that it got on his nerves in moments like trying to practice his shuriken or some other training. Still, despite this, Naruto liked Ino for the most part. She was a good friend to Sakura, watching out for her whenever he and Sasuke couldn't be around which he was thankful for. Sakura had come out of her shell a lot, and by the time of the final exams for promotion to genin she was a far cry from that crying girl he and Sasuke had come across their first day here.

All three of them and most of their classmates had passed to the next level, and Hiruzen had granted him quite the graduation gift. A small scroll of ninjutsu with some offensive techniques that he could learn with enough time and effort. While none of them were particularly difficult, he was glad to have more options outside of the norm. Of course, Naruto already knew one technique of his own…. well two, since the sexy jutsu didn't have a lot of practical applications. He'd learned it when he found a scroll that, at the time, he didn't know he was supposed to be looking at. He'd only learned the first one, but that still got him yelled at so loudly that he was certain Asuma was going to blow his vocal cords out when he caught him practicing. It wasn't a good look for him to be dabbling in a scroll with so many forbidden jutsu on it, but as he didn't learn anything outside of the shadow clones, he was given a pass. He was able to pick up one or two additional techniques from the scroll, and he was so caught up trying them out he was almost late for what would be his last day at the academy. Today, the graduates would be meeting their sensei's and getting their team assignments for their first round of missions. He didn't expect much in that regard, but it'd be good to have some real field work for once, even if it was just basic jobs.

As he entered and took his usual seat near the middle of the classroom, Naruto glanced out the corner of his eye and saw Sasuke was leaning back, a slight scowl on his face. "Hey, you alright? You look like that time Akamaru stole your rice balls," Naruto said with a chuckle. Sasuke's lips twitched up a bit, but he didn't quite manage to smile. "Seriously, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"Itachi is in one of his moods again. Bad enough he didn't show up to the graduation ceremony, he wouldn't even see me off this morning." Naruto winced a bit at this. As long as he'd known Sasuke's brother, Itachi had been like this. He had these bad moods in spells, and if he was in the middle of one, it was like pulling teeth to get him to do anything aside from the minimum. Naruto understood why he was like that, and he knew that deep down Sasuke did too. Even if their parents hadn't been the victims of the massacre's back then, Itachi was ANBU now. He probably saw things that neither of them could even fathom at this early juncture of their careers, and some small part of Naruto prayed they never would see them. Still, it was probably hard for Sasuke to not take it personally at times. His brother was the only one he had left, and he probably wished he wasn't like this at the worst possible times. Naruto nudged his friend and smiled

"It'll be okay, Sasuke. You know your brother loves ya, he's just…complicated I think is the word." Finally, Sasuke smiled slightly and let out a quick laugh.

"You got me there," he admitted.

"Ino could you please move? I want to sit over there." That was Sakura's voice. The boys turned and saw her gently brush past Ino and sit down next to Naruto. "Morning, you two. Sorry I'm a little late, I just uh…had to make sure I had everything," she said. Naruto raised an eyebrow and leaned forward in his chair a bit. Sakura had done something different with her look. For a moment, he didn't realize, but he finally noticed it. She had gotten her bangs trimmed away so her forehead was no longer covered. That was certainly a big deal for her. She'd gotten some more confidence during their time at the academy, but she was still rather self-conscious about that one feature. He must've stared a beat too long because she was looking away now, a bit embarrassed. "D-Does it look stupid? You said I should start wearing my hair back, I just figured…" her voice trailed off. "It looks awful doesn't it?" That did it. The blood rushed to Naruto's face as he frantically waved his hands in front of his face.

"No! It looks good! Great even!" he said hurriedly. "I just didn't think you-it just…I'll shut up now," he mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. Sakura glanced at him and couldn't help but giggle at the mortified look on his face thinking he had offended her. It was sweet. Sasuke rolled his eyes at this interaction, his smile more genuine now. They filled the remaining time with small talk, but eventually they noticed that their classmates had tapered off until they were literally the only three people in the room. And they still sat there another twenty minutes after they'd made this realization. By that point, Naruto was pacing back and forth, Sakura was re-reading the scroll she'd brought with her and even Sasuke's eye was twitching a bit in irritation. Naruto had a little idea to make the extended wait worth it though. He grabbed an eraser from the chalkboard and placed it on the edge of the door frame so that when it was opened again, whoever it was would be in for a little surprise.

And sure enough, when their sensei finally opened the door, that was exactly what happened. He introduced himself as Kakashi Hatake. He had spiky grey hair and kept most of his face hidden. His mask covered everything from the eyes downward and he had his left eye hidden by his headband. Naruto hadn't seen many people wear their headbands in such a way, and it was curious. He didn't have a lot of time to think about this, however. After picking up the eraser and taking a moment, Kakashi seemed to smile behind his mask. "Well then…based on first impressions? I hate all three of you."

'Oh that's so not good'

-Training ground 7-

Naruto hadn't been out to this training zone before. It was one of the areas reserved exclusively for the final tests of students just like themselves. Though after that disastrous first impression he was surprised that Kakashi wasn't reaming him a new one like other teachers had in the past. Somehow that made it all the worse though. Hiruzen had always told him that it's the quieter people you really needed to be wary of, and he found it applied perfectly to this situation. The silence was more deafening that any shouting. Kakashi cleared his throat, sticking one hand into his pocket. "Here's the deal. You may have passed the academy exams, but that doesn't mean your fully done just yet. It's my task to test you one final time, and I warn you, if you screw this up it's straight back to the academy for another year. No exceptions, no second chances. And based off your attitudes, or rather just your attitude," his eye found Naruto as he emphasized the word, "I don't have high expectations. Really, I was sorely tempted to just fail you all on the spot. How someone raised in the household of a Kage could act so pitifully is beyond me." Sasuke saw Naruto grit his teeth and clench his fist.

"Stay calm Naruto," he said softly. Naruto nodded and tried to take a breath, but their teacher wasn't done just yet. From his pocket he produced two small silver bells tied together with thin strands of twine. They jingled slightly as he held them up.

"Here's the basic premise. You are tasked with retrieving these bells from me. You can use any method you wish, and you'll have until the end of the afternoon to do so. If none of you manage to take even a single bell from me, then the entire squad fails. Further, only those who manage to take one from me will get any sort of lunch today. If you've never tried to fight on a completely empty stomach, I can assure you that it isn't an experience that you'll want to deal with." The three genin nodded as he tied the bells to his waistband. Naruto felt his frustration still boiling inside and his eyes zeroed in on the bells. He was pitiful huh? He'd show this guy pitiful! He moved before Sasuke or Sakura could react, tossing a shuriken and weaving his hand signs.

Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!

The one shuriken split apart into roughly nine or ten as they hurtled towards the jounin. He intended to use them as a distraction to move in and swipe the bells. He didn't think they'd do any damage to him. But even as fast as he thought his attack was, it didn't matter. Kakashi vanished in a blur of movement and before he could even try to react, he felt his hand yanked backwards, his arm twisted as Kakashi held him down by the back of his head. His voice was lower now, more serious. "Take it easy. I didn't even say 'go' yet," he said flatly. Naruto was dumbfounded, and Sakura and Sasuke were in much the same state. "Childish and impulsive. Oh, the headaches you must have given to everyone growing up. You've got a lot to learn," he said. He took a moment to let his words sink in before letting Naruto go. He produced a small red book from his other pocket and unfolded it with one hand while making a hand sign with his free one. "NOW we can start. I don't expect I'll have to put this down, which is good because I'm up to a good part. But still, your welcome to prove me wrong. Find me if you can," he said before vanishing. Sasuke scoffed and turned to his teammates.

"Split up! He's not going to leave the area, so we can cover more ground that way," Sasuke said. Naruto and Sakura nodded and the three genin ran in three separate directions, not realizing that was precisely what their teacher had hoped they'd do. This was going to be all the easier now.

I'll leave it there for the time being. I know some of you might be surprised I gave Naruto that jutsu, but the way I figure it, his early moveset was all about 'shadow' this or that. So I figured I'd lean into that more. Now, as I promised, there won't be anymore great leaps in time for a while starting with this chapter, so were going to go event by event. We'll pick up right where we left off here next time! Thank you so very much for all your support so far, guys. If you enjoyed it, please leave a review, it means a whole lot and helps me stay motivated to get these put out.

Also! If you'd like to have some input into the direction of the story, I'll be putting a poll up on my profile for what type of jutsu Sakura will be proficient in. Yep, you read that correctly, Sakura is going to be a contributing member to my version of team seven MUCH faster. But I'd love some input to narrow down what you guys might like to see her use.

Till next time, stay cool fellow readers!

-Elise