~Authors Note
Since it would be a little unfair to make you guys wait a whole week for another chapter I decided to upload the first chapter so you all didn't have to sit there and reread the short prologue, but on that note in order to see a continuation there must be a minimum of ten reviews before next Friday good luck and happy reading.
End Authors Note~
~Graduation Day~
The time had come for the academy sensei to send off their fully graduated students into the world as newly minted genin, some were glad to see them go, but there were some, like Iruka Umino for instance who were saddened that the children he'd taught were all grown up and shinobi now.
As he greeted them for the last time "Good Morning, so, first off I'd like to congratulate all of you on becoming genin" here Iruka paused for a moment to discreetly glance at Naruto, who'd had his own rough graduation, first for not passing, then almost being killed by Mizuki.
Iruka shook his head at that "Second, now that your genin, you will be placed on teams in squads of three, led by a Jonin, on that note I will now tell you who your teams are….Team Eight, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame" Iruka continued.
Rattling off the first newly formed team, the three aforementioned students eyed one another from their current spots as he announced the second team "Team Ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi" Iruka listed.
Like he'd predicted the lone girl of the new ino-shika-cho trio was none to happy as she let out a groan, whining about how she wanted to be on Sasuke's team "And finally we have Team Seven, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha, that is all, your sensei will meet you within the hour" Iruka finished.
Only looking up from the clipboard when Naruto let out an excited whoop, because he was on Sakura's team, "Settle down Naruto, there's no need to be that excited" Sakura rolled her eyes lightly, ignoring the remaining member of their team.
Sakura was an oddity to Iruka, who'd been observing the girl since she joined the academy, the pinkette had no last name, no family to speak of, she wasn't overly outgoing or cheerful but she had one hell of a temper.
Given the one time Sasuke had done something and she'd decked the Uchiha right in the face, breaking his nose, she'd done well enough in classes he supposed but there was just something about her that always worried him.
'Well, I guess that's a job for her sensei now' Iruka sighed as he left the classroom, inwardly hoping that it wouldn't be a wreck when he came back, since he knew what his former students were like when left unsupervised.
Back in the classroom the other newly formed squads had moved off and even left because their sensei were sure to be able to find them no matter where they were at "So Sakura-chan what do you think our sensei will be like" Naruto chattered to Sakura.
Who blinked her eerie green eyes at him, he swore sometimes they even glowed, on the other side of his crush a scoff was heard and Sakura craned her neck around to spy Sasuke "Got something to say Uchiha-san" Sakura asked formally.
Discreetly cracking her knuckles to remind him that she wasn't someone he wanted to piss off ever again "I just think this whole thing is ridiculous, why do we have to be put on teams, especially when I know the both of you will just drag me down" Sasuke scoffed.
Naruto edged backwards "Damn Teme, you must really want Sakura-chan to break your nose again and if anyone's going to drag the team down, it's you" Naruto informed, slightly smarter than anyone had given him credit for.
He wasn't all hyper and knuckleheaded like everyone thought he was "Correct Naruto, why you ask Uchiha-san, because as genin we learn the importance of teamwork, oh but I forgot, you don't know how to do teamwork so whose really the burden on the team here" Sakura questioned.
Sasuke glared at them, clearly unhappy that neither was intimidated by his demeanor, "Tch whatever" the Uchiha turned his head, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so to ignore his teammates as the three of them settled down to wait for their sensei.
~Three Hours Later~
Naruto groaned "Oh come on what the hell is taking our sensei so long" Naruto grumbled, getting a little hungry as the hours ticked by while they were stuck in the classroom waiting for their squad leader.
His whine earned a look from Sakura "Perhaps our sensei is testing us Naruto, to see how long we can be patient, it could be one of the tests I heard about to see if we're truly fit to be a team as well" the rosette scolded sharply.
Promptly cutting Naruto's grumbling off and where he'd hidden himself Kakashi was instantly curious about his lone kunoichi "Yeah right Sakura, your just as irritated as the Dobe is so why don't you stop acting like your no better than he is" Sasuke scowled.
The pinkette whipped around "Uchiha-san don't push me and I believe I already told you, genin teams are evaluated on their teamwork, also, I never said I wasn't irritated, at the very least however I know when to keep my mouth shut" Sakura hissed.
Kakashi chuckled from his spot hidden in the ceiling of the classroom, seriously amused by his newest genin students, something that never happened, so he figured it was high time to greet them in person.
As he body flickered to be stood outside the classroom door, all three newly graduated genin turned when the sliding door slid open to reveal a mask wearing, whacky silver haired Jonin with his headband slanted over one eye.
"My first impression of you all is….I hate you" Kakashi let a little killing intent leak out as he greeted the genin, Naruto stared at him with wide blue eyes, Sasuke sneered but it was Sakura who blinked at him giving no other reaction than that.
If he was being fair, it was a little off-putting "Alright everyone to the roof, we'll introduce ourselves" the Copy Ninja ordered, watching as his students filed out of the classroom, neatly, not something he expected of Kushina's son actually.
Considering the boy was about as mischievous as his mother had been, actually what he'd been expecting was that Naruto would try to prank him for being as late as he was but that hadn't happened so with his curiosity piqued Kakashi met his genin on the roof of the academy.
They sat across from him on the steps "You said introduce ourselves, can you give us an example sensei of what you want us to say" Sakura inquired, extraordinarily polite, leaving him floundering a little bit.
Before he cleared his throat "Right, my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are, my hobbies are, my dream for the future is…I don't feel like telling you, now it's your turn, why don't you go next" Kakashi said, pointing to Naruto.
Simply giving them his name since he didn't think he'd have them very long despite being interested in the three before him, he inwardly chuckled when Sasuke scowled at him for only giving them his name.
He wasn't the only one as Naruto huffed "Fine, names Naruto Uzumaki, my hobby is to train, I like ramen and my dream is to be the greatest Hokage ever you know" Naruto introduced, giving the bare minimum of information.
Playing a little dirty essentially, Sakura smiled calmly as she took her turn "Sakura…no known last name, my hobbies are playing trivia games, and I don't really have a dream" Sakura gave a little shrug as she ended her introduction.
Kakashi frowned but gestured for Sasuke "Sasuke Uchiha, I don't have many likes and I have many dislikes, what I have is not a dream, but a goal to kill a certain someone" and like that Sasuke was done talking.
Inwardly Kakashi wasn't sure what to really think about the genin "Anyway now that we're done with that, your dismissed…meet me on Training Grounds Seven at 7, oh and don't eat or you'll puke" Kakashi informed, leaving in a poof of smoke.
Sasuke immediately marched off leaving his teammates behind as they stared at one another "You purposefully didn't give a full introduction didn't you Naruto" Sakura asked after a minute had passed.
The boy flushed "Well yeah turnabouts fair play after all, if he wasn't going to tell us anything then I was only going to tell him the barest amount as well" Naruto snorted, unafraid to be himself around Sakura.
Her lips curved upwards into a serene smile "By the way, he said that to scare us out of eating so we'd have less energy for whatever he was planning, so eat and make sure you bring some water and a couple of fruits, something you know you'll eat because he'll be late again" Sakura warned.
Finally heading down the steps, Naruto on her heels until they separated in different directions because she lived in a different apartment complex than the blonde did, Naruto waved then hurried directly home.
Upon waking the following morning he found Sakura flitting about his kitchen "How'd you get in" Naruto yawned, not worried or anything, more curious actually since he'd never given Sakura a key to his apartment.
"Picked the lock, it was easy, read about lock-picking in a book so practiced until I could do it, I'll teach you if you want" Sakura answered flippantly over her shoulder as she flipped the pancake in the skillet.
Naruto opened his mouth, then closed it, deciding it would be better if he didn't ask "Oh, okay, sounds cool you know" Naruto mumbled slumping into a chair at his kitchen table and a few minutes later breakfast was set before him.
Sakura even joined him as she put her hands together and gave her thanks for the food before digging in "So chances are, sensei's going to try to do something that pits the three of us against each other" the rosette said after glancing at the time.
Pausing mid bite, Naruto thought her words over before bobbing his head in agreement "Yeah, which means no matter how much I dislike the Teme, we have to work with him to" the blonde sighed reluctant to team up with Sasuke.
Fortunately he wasn't the only one but they were shinobi now, legal adults to everyone else, which meant behaving a little more maturely "Exactly, so we'll bring along some fruits and water for U…Sasuke as well" Sakura declared.
Deciding that she might as well start calling Sasuke by his first name now that they were a team "Tomatoes….I've seen him eating them before" Naruto informed, taking Sasuke's likes into consideration as they finished up with breakfast.
Once the dishes were done up, Sakura led Naruto the market since they had a little more time and bought a bag of apples, a bag of large juicy looking tomatoes and six bottles of water "What" Sakura asked when Naruto eyed her in slight confusion.
"Your pretty good at managing your bi-weekly money aren't you Sakura-chan, I barely have enough left over after paying the bills to get ramen and other groceries" Naruto sulked, a little jealous that Sakura had it easier.
Sakura, on her part was horrified "Well if you'd like Naruto I can teach you how to manage your money a little better, first though we have to beat this test Sensei has set up for us" Sakura promised as they reached the training grounds.
Like she'd expected Sasuke was already there so after steeling her nerves Sakura headed determinedly for the Uchiha and thrust the bag of tomatoes and two bottles of water at him, Sasuke lifted an unimpressed brow at her.
"Disobeying our squad leader already Sakura, guess you aren't a teachers pet after all" Sasuke scoffed, shoving the tomatoes to the side, ignoring them, Sakura's face went red in anger before she took several deep breaths to calm herself.
Then she started in on him "Listen here you pompous asshole, I bought those for you out of the goodness of my heart, so you better damn well eat them or else got it" Sakura snarled in his face, losing her usual demeanor.
"Plus we already established that whatever Kakashi-sensei's planning we'll need all the energy we can get for it, which we wouldn't have much if we hadn't eaten" Naruto chimed in, not wanting to see Sasuke get decked in the face again.
Reeling back as quickly as possible, Sasuke snatched the tomatoes, tore open the bag and practically stuffed one in his mouth whole "You need anger management" Sasuke scowled, chewing ungratefully on his tomato, even though he loved the fruit.
It was the person who got them for him that he didn't like "I wouldn't need it if people would just stop pissing me off Sasuke, what you need is to learn how to get along with people, in spite of your own feelings" Sakura glowered.
Ebony orbs widened "Did you just call me by my first name" Sasuke asked, in utter surprise because he thought she'd never be able to manage something as simple as saying his first name, but here they were and Sakura had said his name.
This earned him another glare "Of course you idiot, what teammate goes around calling their teammate's by their last names" the pinkette snapped, seriously annoyed by the pompous jerk, who eyed her warily.
A couple more tomatoes later and half of one of the bottles of water that had been given to him the three genin sat beneath the shade of a large tree an hour later, it was seventeen minutes past the time stated so they knew they were in for another long wait.
Suddenly Sakura stood up "If Sensei's going to make us wait while he does who knows what then I'm not sitting around, come on lets set up a couple of traps for him" Sakura suggested, shooting Sasuke a pointed look when he remained seated.
Clenching his hands into fists he grudgingly stood "Sasuke what would you suggest" Naruto was the one to ask, forcing himself to play nice, because they had to work together as a team or they would possibly be disbanded.
Sasuke blinked at him "What supplies do you have on you, both of you" Sasuke inquired, sitting again as he dumped out his weapon and storage pouches, making the two across from him do the same so that way he could consider their options.
Immediately he could tell that the three of them combined had very limited supplies and it would probably be like that until they started going on missions and earning mission pay "Pitiful I know but it's all we got for now" Sakura curled her lip seeing Sasuke's expression.
"Your right, so here's what we do, take this genjutsu tag over there by the river Do….Naruto, bury it under the ground and if we're lucky we can get Kakashi by it and catch him in it" Sasuke instructed before turning to Sakura.
And handing over a weapons launcher "Alright what next Sasuke" the blonde questioned once he was finished burying the genjutsu tag by the river and Sakura had hidden the weapons launcher in a tree, hung at an angle and filled with kunai.
"Next we come up with a plan, chances are, sensei's going to try and pit us against one another, lets pretend to fall for it, then rendezvous somewhere" the pinkette offered, not to sure about the area, which prompted a little bit of exploration of the training grounds.
Until they found the perfect place to hide "Good, once there we'll come up with a more solid plan" the Uchiha said, as they trekked back to the huge tree and sat beneath it again, two more hours passed in that manner.
Their sensei was still a no show so Sakura pulled out the bag of apples from her pack and passed over two to Naruto along with the water bottles, grabbed two for herself then stowed the rest away before biting into the juicy fruit.
Seeing this Sasuke pulled out a couple more tomatoes to snack on so he wouldn't be wholly starving, the three of them finished eating in the nick of time to, evidence of their disobedience washed away in the river or thrown far into the forest.
As Kakashi arrived before them in a large plume of smoke "Morning my students, sorry I'm late, you see a black cat crossed the path in front of me so I had to take a different route to get here" Kakashi informed cheerfully.
Waiting for the complaints at his excuse, what he got however was not that as the genin simply stared at him "Alright, like I said, we'll be having a little survival test" Kakashi sighed, deciding to get on with it, a little unnerved by the staring.
At his statement he pulled out two bells "You three have to get these bells from me before noon, whoever doesn't get one will be tied to that post and be forced to watch as I eat their lunch, and they'll be sent back to the academy" the Copy Ninja explained.
Again waiting for the outraged cries from the naive, gullible genin, "Then I'll be the first to take a bell" Sasuke charged, arrogantly thinking he could get a bell by himself, or that's what Kakashi believed anyway as he pinned the boy to the ground, one hand behind his back.
Naruto and Sakura staring in open mouthed awe "I didn't say begin yet" Kakashi intoned strictly as he released Sasuke who held his arm and rejoined his teammates "Now you may begin and remember to come at me with the intent to kill, otherwise you'll fail" the Copy Nin said.
Moments after beginning the bell test his genin bolted and hid, or so he thought they had until Naruto came at him from behind, meanwhile the real Naruto was headed toward the rendezvous point, Sakura was already there.
Then a couple seconds later Sasuke arrived "I thought he put you in a genjutsu Sakura" Sasuke frowned, having witnessed the little confrontation so he was confused as to how Sakura had gotten here before him.
Sakura looked equally as confused until Naruto spoke up "That's cause it's a clone, I can do the shadow clone jutsu so I made three, two of which transformed into you two to distract Kakashi-sensei while we came up with a plan to get those bells" Naruto admitted.
"Nice thinking Naruto, but I get the feeling that we won't have to get those bells, as long as we work together that is, tell me what's the most important part of being a team again" Sakura said, raising a brow on the two boys.
Immediately they understood what she was saying "Teamwork, so if we focus on that we'll pass his stupid survival test" Sasuke questioned, Sakura nodded her head firmly so he resigned himself to cooperating with his teammates.
"Fine but I propose that Sakura be the one to come up with the plan" Naruto requested, knowing that the girl had quite the brain behind that large forehead of hers, though she punched anyone who ever insulted it.
Sasuke rolled his eyes but relented as he and Naruto leaned forward to listen to the plan which involved giving their sensei the runaround "So any questions" Sakura grinned, glad that she had a chance to put her mind to use.
Both boys shook their heads, then exited the cave they were hiding in to put their plan in motion, Sakura followed at a set distance to watch as Naruto faced Kakashi on his lonesome for now, Kakashi wasn't even taking the blonde seriously.
That was something she and Sasuke figured out right away as Naruto behaved like his regular hyper knuckleheaded self, that was until he got kicked into the river, Sakura pulled the rope attached to the weapons launcher.
Deciding it was high time to use the traps that had been set up before hand, Kakashi swung around then leaped backwards, closer to the the genjutsu tag but not close enough, a weapon came flying at her so she hastily abandoned her position in the tree for a new vantage point/hiding place.
Upon being distracted by her, Sasuke used his own moment to catch Kakashi off guard once more by loosing a moderately sized fire ball, just as multiple Naruto's burst from the river, Kakashi visible eye widened in surprise at the pincer attack.
But it wasn't to be as Kakashi swapped places with a clone and the whole lot of them were taken out by the fireball, however now Kakashi was standing very near the hidden tag so Sakura made a hand sign activating the tag.
Catching Kakashi in the hell viewing illusion, right as the real Naruto climbed out of the river, Sasuke came flying out of the tree line in an attempt to get the bells before Kakashi could release himself from the genjutsu.
Neither boy were quite fast enough however as Kakashi flared his chakra then kicked Sasuke and punched Naruto, both of whom went flying in opposite directions, Sasuke into a tree, and Naruto back into the river.
Sakura cursed softly under her breath before deciding to unveil herself as the timer he'd set at the beginning of their exercise went off "Ugh sure I didn't think we'd get the bells but I thought we could get close enough if we tried" Naruto groaned.
Crawling out of the river again, completely waterlogged "Should have set up a few more traps" Sasuke grunted clearly unhappy with their failure as he trudged forward to stand next to his teammates.
"That's besides the point, what we did was display teamwork, the whole point of the exercise, it was not to get the bells but work together isn't that right Sensei" Sakura reminded, eyeing Kakashi who looked like he had no idea what to do now.
Eventually after several moments of nerve wracking silence Kakashi gave a little nod "Yes and seeing as you three did something no genin team I've ever undertaken have done, I have no choice but to pass you, well done you three" Kakashi praised.
Naruto let out a whoop of excitement "Yay we did it you know" Naruto cheered, jumping about excitedly like a hyper active bunny, Sakura watched him partly amused and partly exasperated at his antics while Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes.
With that he dismissed them after giving them instructions to meet him at the front of the Hokage Tower tomorrow morning for missions, Sasuke quickly left in the opposite direction of his teammates but Sakura and Naruto stuck together.
Kakashi followed them a short ways before heading for the tower to inform the Hokage that Team Seven had passed the post graduation test to determine if they were truly fit to being a team with one another under him.
Hiruzen was extremely surprised given his past record with failing teams but congratulated him for taking on his first ever students, with that done Kakashi went home and flipped open his favorite book to read for the rest of the day.
~In Another Realm~
Jashin could sense that a meeting with his precious daughter was drawing ever closer, the heathens who had taken away his followers would soon be regretting their actions by paying with their lives, all he had to do was continue to be patient for just a little while longer.