DrunkenBunny:Did I succeed?
Spartan000-B TheUnknownWarrior:Well first, you sir, have an awesome name. Just had to point that out. Secondly, avoid the Earl comes from a show I used to watch called D. Gray Man. The main antagonist is the Millennium Earl, and as I wanted a catchphrase, that was born. Probably because the Akuma part of my name also comes from that show, as they are the Earls army.
I own Nothing.
The Challenges of Working Together
Naruto yawned as he awoke. It was ten thirty, or at least that's what the clock said. He hoped out of bed without any care that he would be late for the meeting he had today. He sluggishly got ready before checking over his weapons, fully awake now.
"Perfect," Naruto said as he put his shuriken, kunai, and paper bombs inside his pouch. He then sealed the rest of them into a scroll that he slung around his waist. He would have sealed them onto his clothes or body, but he knew that Kakashi was well versed in fuinjutsu, so if he noticed that Naruto had done so he could cause problems with the seals. After all, Kakashi was year's worth of experience ahead of him when it came to the skill, no matter how talented Naruto was in it.
Naruto left his house, and headed over to Ichiraku's to get some food for later. After all, sealed food stayed fresh as long as it wasn't in there for over a week. This would only be a day so it was fine. Still, Naruto wasn't going to eat, as Kakashi had told his team not to. He assumed the test Kakashi was going to give them was about how to fight under difficult situations like starvation. Or he could have them do an eating contest, as Kakashi may be to lazy to even bother fighting them; he certainly had been that lazy when training Naruto.
Naruto walked into the shop with a smile on his face. "Hey, old man, Ayame!"
Teuchi came walking out from behind the shop, his eyes twitching.
"Whoever just called me-oh? Hello Naruto."
Naruto smiled at the middle-aged man. Teuchi had blackish-gray hair and wore a white robe with a white chef's hat on his head.
"Hey Naruto what can I do for you?"
"Five bowls of miso ramen please, I'm gonna need it."
Teuchi nodded and got to work on making the food while a young, teenage girl walked out from the back to check on her father.
"Father, I heard a brats obnoxious voice and I hade to come and save you from the big bad Naruto," the girl teased.
The girl was slender, with long brown hair and eyes, with fair skin. She wore a white robe with the sleeves folded, and a dark blue apron with ribbon ties at the top and a bright white bandanna.
"Ayame-neechan, that was mean," Naruto mumbled, poking his fingers together with a glum expression.
Ayame just chuckled and pattered Naruto's head rather affectionately. "You know I don't mean it," she said. Naruto responded with a rather boisterous, "I know Nee-chan," and settled for double checking his tools as he waited on his food. Ayame watched him as he did so, looking at him curiously.
"Why are you doing that Naruto-kun?"
"Kakashi-sensei is my jonin sensei. I learnt it yesterday. He said to meet us at training ground seven, and I personally think it is going to involve fighting, plus a ninja should never be without his tools."
Ayame smiled at Naruto, clear pride on her face.
"Very true, Naruto-kun."
"Here ya go brat," Teuchi said setting down the five bowls of ramen. Naruto quickly sealed them into the massive scroll on his back and smiled at Teuchi. "Thanks jiji. I'll be heading off now."
"NOT WITHOUT PAYING YOU DAMN BRAT!"
"Come on give me a freebee I am your best customer."
"And best customers have to pay too," Teuchi said snatching the required money from Naruto.
"Stingy," Naruto mumbled, however Teuchi managed to hear it.
"No ramen for the rest of the day."
"BLASPHOMOUS!"
XxX
Naruto grumbled as he walked up to Sasuke, who was leaning against a tree, and Sakura, who was, as usual, fawning over Sasuke.
"So, Sasuke-kun, wanna go out on a date, you know since Kakashi-sensei and Naruto-baka are late?"
"Of course I'd be late, after all, Kakashi-sensei is two hours late to everything, which you two apparently forgot," Naruto said as he walked up to his teammates.
"Tch, I didn't forget dobe, I just had nothing better to do."
"Sure Sasuke, whatever helps you sleep at night," Naruto teased, however Sasuke didn't take well to this and growled at Naruto.
"Don't insult Sasuke-kun, Naruto-baka!"
Naruto looked at Sakura with sadness and nodded and just walked away towards another tree.
'Damn it Sakura. Apparently she doesn't seem to realize Naruto and I are friends and do this all the damn time. Still, I need to plan on how to beat Kakashi. She was slightly helpful, for once in her life.' Sasuke thought as he closed his eyes and continued to be in deep thought.
His thoughts were interrupted however as Kakashi appeared in front of them all, with an eye smile.
"YOU'RE LATE!" Sakura screeched.
"Sorry, but a black cat crossed my path so I decided to take the long way around."
"560," Naruto mumbled under his breath.
Kakashi sweat dropped. 'He's still counting how many times I give the same excuses? How has he not gotten confused yet!?'
"Anyways, you are all here, meaning we don't have to wait on anyone-" Kakashi paused, expecting an outburst. None came, surprisingly. "-so, we will begin your survival test now."
"Survival test," Sakura repeated. "We took those in the academy."
"Not to the level I will be giving you," Kakashi said. "You see, the academy was just to figure out which students had the potential to be ninja. However, this is the test to see who deserve to be ninja. Each jonin has their own right to choose how they desire to test their potential genin and I have chosen the survival test. Basically all you have to do is get these two bells from me," Kakashi said, pointing to the bells attached to his waist.
"Doesn't seem too hard," Sakura said.
"He's a jonin Sakura-chan," Naruto said.
"I know that Naruto-baka!"
Kakashi sighed. "Enough. The point is, I will be defending these bells, and your objective is to get them. You have my permission to do anything necessary to get the bells, including lethal force. You have until six, which is six hours. I hope you make use of those hours. You must have a bell to pass this test. If you do not you will be tied to those wooden stumps and have failed the test. Now, before we begin any questions?"
"When you say lethal force, we're completely allowed to kill you right? No consequences," Naruto asked.
"Yes, but why would you want to kill me Naruto? I'm your precious sensei."
"Years of lazy training can do that to a person," Naruto chuckled darkly.
Kakashi stepped back, officially afraid of his blonde student. 'He acts like Kushina. And that is not necessarily a complement,' Kakashi thought, slowly taking more steps away from his student.
"Wait, sensei, there are only two bells, which means at least one of us will fail." Sakura said.
Kakashi nodded. "Correct Sakura. Anything else?"
Sakura looked surprised. "Did you forget one while leaving your house?"
"No."
"But-"
"Sakura he means even we are enemies in this test," Sasuke said, quite annoyed with the entire explaining thing. He just wanted to start, to test his power against a jonin.
"What's the percentage of passing this test," Naruto asked, curious as it seemed as people had taken this test before. It was to well thought out for Kakashi. After all, genius he may be he was also a lazy bum.
"Thirty-three percent, of passing."
'The odds are that highly stacked against our favor,' Sakura thought.
'This will be easier than I thought,' Naruto thought. 'I thought it was like a twenty percent chance of failing.'
"Last question. Why did you tell us not to eat?" Sakura asked.
Kakashi eye-smiled, one that made Naruto proud. After all, it was a prankster smile. "So it would be more difficult for you."
Sakura's eye twitched, while Sasuke did nothing, although Naruto was smiling and frowning at the same time, which resulted in a weird look on his face.
Everyone was silent for a moment, officially ending the questioning session.
"Well then, if there are no more questions. Begin."
The three students disappeared.
XxX
"Well they've got the hiding part of a ninja down," Kakashi said as he walked around the training ground. While he knew where they were hiding to your average genin they would be invisible. Kakashi sighed. He had to draw them out somehow. The question was how. He could just reveal the he knew where they where, but that would be no fun, after all it would basically be rubbing the fact that he was stronger and better than them in every way, shape, and form in their face. While he was lazy he did not like to crush people's spirits, if they were from his village anyway.
His thoughts were interrupted as three shuriken sprang from Naruto's location.
'Ever the impatient one," Kakashi thought. 'I'll show off a bit.' Kakashi dodged the kunai all while digging into his supply pouch. From it he drew…a book. It was one of his porn novels, the Icha-Icha series.
Naruto's eye twitched as he saw the book. 'Is he mocking me!?'
Naruto growled and formed the familiar cross handsign. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!" He roared.
Fifteen clones sprang to life around him. Naruto pointed to three locations and his clones spread out in groups of five to those specific locations. Naruto however, went to a different location. He went towards Kakashi.
"Foolish Naruto," Kakashi said as Naruto charged him, kunai in hand.
Naruto just smiled and drew smoke pellets from his kunai pouch. He threw them at Kakashi who jumped away, although now there was a large purple cloud of smoke concealing the other from view. Naruto used this to wrap an explosive tag around his kunai. He then drew another kunai, without an explosive tag wrapped around it, and threw them both at Kakashi, or at least where he saw him land.
Kakashi was indeed in the same place, and when he saw the two kunai come flying through the smoke cloud he frowned. He would have expected something stealthier from Naruto. Then again, he still remembered somewhere Naruto's clones were around, plotting his demise.
Kakashi dodged the kunai, noticing the explosive tag on the first one almost too late. He barely finished the handseals for Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique) before the explosive tag lit and exploded.
As the smoke created by the explosion cleared Naruto saw no trace of Kakashi, just a small crater and rocks blown everywhere.
"Where is he," Naruto pondered as he looked around. However, his question was soon answered as his ankle was grabbed. Naruto looked down at the hand, to see part of Kakashi's arm and his hand sticking out of the ground, wrapped around Naruto's ankle.
"Oh fuck me," Naruto mumbled.
"Language Naruto," he barely heard Kakashi say before he was dragged underground. As Kakashi popped out from underground he looked at Naruto, whose head was the only thing visible, as the rest of his body was trapped underground.
"One down," Kakashi said and walked away.
As Kakashi slipped into nearby bushes Naruto smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
XxX
'Look at Naruto, thinking he's so cool. He got defeated by Kakashi-sensei like he was nothing. Sasuke-kun would obviously beat Naruto-baka in a real fight.' Sakura thought.
Sakura stood and began to search around for Sasuke, determined to find the so-called love of her life and partner up with him to take down Kakashi. However, what she found was not what she was expecting.
"S-Sakura, help m-me," said a wounded Sasuke. There were senbon, kunai, and shuriken sticking out of him at all angles, and he was bleeding profusely with one eye swollen shut.
"S-S-Sasuke-kun," Sakura stuttered out, horrified at the sight.
"S-S-Sakura."
Sakura screamed and fainted.
Kakashi canceled the genjutsu and walked over to Sakura, disappointment written all over his face. 'Maybe I should have chosen Hinata.' He thought, as he looked at her. 'That was one of the most basic genjutsu. To be caught in something like that, even though she is just a genin, it's ridiculous. Her low reserves allow her to be a genjutsu mistress, but without being able to detect it she would just be a liability. I need to work with her on that, if they pass.'
As Kakashi took off into the trees to look for Sasuke he thought on it. 'These guys were called the ideal team, but they don't work together at all. They're horrid at it. The only two I think could work together are begrudgingly Sasuke and Naruto, and that's if you get rid of their rivalry. Their exactly like me and Obito. This is gonna be troublesome. I don't wanna fail sensei's kid, but I will if I have to.'
Kakashi landed on the ground as five shuriken flew by and into him, causing him to tip over. As Kakashi hit the ground he transformed into wooden logs revealing he had used the substitution jutsu.
Sasuke cursed, sprinting away at full speed, sending chakra blasts into his feet to go faster. His attack had failed, Kakashi had avoided it and now knew where he was, and was no doubt chasing after him. Sasuke cursed as once he appeared through a clearing he was hit with a punch to his side, sending him sprawling away and into an even more visible area.
Sasuke stood to see Kakashi rushing towards him, boredom in his eyes.
"I'm on another level compared to those two; don't think you can beat me, WITH THAT LOOK IN YOUR EYE!" Sasuke roared as he charged.
Sasuke drew a kunai attempting to slash Kakashi, however the man jumped over the strike and lashed out with a dual kick to the head, slamming Sasuke's head on the ground.
'Maybe that was a bit to ruff.'
As Sasuke shakily stood Naruto appeared flying through handseals and racing towards Kakashi. "Fuinjutsu: Mahi Shiru (Sealing Technique: Paralysis Seal)."
Kakashi smirked and dodged the jutsu, slamming his knee into Naruto's gut. As Naruto held his stomach Kakashi slammed his elbow into Naruto's head before kicking him in the chest. Naruto was sent sprawling as Sasuke stood and charged Kakashi. Kakashi jogged backwards, fending off Sasuke's attacks before Naruto quickly joined Sasuke in his barrage, although Kakashi still blocked their strikes.
Naruto jumped in midair, making handsigns. "Suiton: Teppodama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"
Naruto belched out a bullet of condensed water; however the attack hit Sasuke instead, soaking the Uchiha, as Kakashi swung him into the attack. Sasuke growled at Naruto who waved his hands in apology.
"Sorry."
"Why you little-"
"Um," Kakashi said.
Sasuke forgot all about Naruto continuing his assault on Kakashi, however Naruto did not join Sasuke, preferring to plan.
'He's stronger, faster, and more experienced than we are, not to mention smarter. We're all around beaten by him. There's no way we can win this fight. But we have to. I refuse to lose.'
Naruto threw some shuriken before making the cross handseal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"
Four clones appeared next to Naruto, and as they charged, Naruto charged behind them in a zigzag pattern. Kakashi groaned as he was grabbed by a Naruto clone from behind. Sasuke smirked at that, and launched a punch at Kakashi; however Kakashi switched places with a clone that was charging, causing that clone to disappear. Kakashi than launched three shuriken at the other three clones that had changed trajectory, easily defeating them before kicking Naruto in the chin.
Kakashi then jumped over an attack from Sasuke and landed behind him, back kicking him into a tree. The two remaining clones charged Kakashi however he took them down quickly before turning around. As he did so he noticed Naruto had disappeared and Sasuke was charging him. Kakashi was about to charge back but decided to wait on Sasuke. Kakashi sweat dropped as Sasuke came in with a direct punch.
'Foolhardy.'
However, as soon as Kakashi caught the punch Sasuke twisted trying to flip the man over. It would have worked, had Kakashi not have as much experience as he did. As Sasuke flipped him he grabbed Sasuke's other arm and threw Sasuke, turning himself upright in midair. As Kakashi landed on his feet Sasuke landed on his head, spinning around on the ground. Sasuke growled and stood preparing to reengage Kakashi, however as fifteen clones of Naruto, five from each location Naruto had sent them to earlier, appeared boxing Kakashi in a triangle shape, Naruto came down and grabbed Sasuke, sprinting away before the Uchiha did anything foolish.
"Put me down Naruto!" Sasuke hissed. Naruto complied, putting Sasuke down. However, Sasuke noticed that an unconscious Sakura was also here. They were at a large tree in the center of the training grounds.
"Why did you do that!?" Sasuke demanded. Naruto looked at Sasuke with an incredulous look.
"You really thought you could take him?"
"I did better than you."
"I wasn't going all out."
"Neither was I!"
Naruto just groaned and rubbed his forehead.
"Look Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei is a jonin; he won't be defeated by three genin, no matter how skilled they may be. Even f they are more skilled his experience more than makes up for it, and he hasn't reached the age when even experience can't help you. Face it, Kakashi is to good for us to beat, even if we combined our efforts."
"What are you getting at," Sasuke asked, now intrigued.
"While it may be true that we can't beat him, even if you, Sakura, and I worked together, we have a better chance of beating him if we do work together. Therefore, I request a truce, at least until we get the bells."
"Humph. I see no point in this."
Naruto growled. "Sasuke, are you an idiot!? WE CAN'T BEAT KAKASHI-SENSEI WITHOUT TEAMMING UP!"
Sasuke growled and slammed his foot on the ground. "Who do you think you are Naruto? I can do this!"
"I'm your friend. And as your friend I'm requesting that you listen to me!"
Sasuke growled until a hand pushed him away from Naruto. It was Sakura.
"As much as I hate to say it he's right Sasuke-kun. Our best bet is to team up."
Sasuke growled and looked away, grumbling a begrudged, "Fine."
"Well that was entertaining."
The three candidates looked upwards to see Kakashi standing on a nearby tree. "Are you ready?"
"Yes," Naruto said and threw three shuriken at Kakashi. Kakashi dodged the shuriken; however Sasuke jumped up towards him, engaging in a midair spar. Obviously, Kakashi won, throwing Sasuke to the ground; however as Naruto quickly made a clone that cushioned his fall before throwing even more weapons at Kakashi. Kakashi weaved through the hail of weapons, before he heard something whistling. He turned to see even more weapons coming at him, courtesy of Sakura. He groaned and jumped over them, avoiding the attack. Kakashi landed nearby.
"Now Sasuke!"
Naruto and Sasuke weaved through handseals, preparing to unleash fury onto Kakashi.
'Impossible, they can't can they!?'
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!"
"Fuuton: Kūki no Uzu (Wind Release: Air Vortex)!"
The Katon and Fuuton jutsu combined to create a giant withering vortex of fire.
"A collaboration jutsu!" Kakashi roared, quickly making handseals.
Sakura smiled at Sasuke's and Naruto's work before throwing more weapons at Kakashi. She wouldn't let him get away, even if the heat was very harsh.
As the jutsu ended and Kakashi was nowhere to be seen Sasuke and Naruto began to think that they had disintegrated him, only to be pinned to the ground a moment later a kunai at each of their necks.
"Sakura, give me all the information you know on the hidden leaf or I kill the Sasuke and Naruto."
Sakura stood their frozen. She had no idea what to do. How could she? She had the choice of either betraying her village or letting two people die. It was an impossible choice.
Kakashi got off of Naruto and Sasuke soon after that, allowing them to stretch and prepare to attack again.
"Calm down, the test is over."
Naruto stood up, and looked at the sun, realizing that according to the sun the test was indeed over.
"We failed."
"No you didn't."
Naruto looked at Kakashi curiously. "But we didn't get the bells."
"You didn't have to get the bells to pass. Allow me to explain. This test is not meant to see if you can get the bells, in fact, none of you have the ability to get the bells as you are now. This test was meant to see if you had the potential to work together."
"What do you mean," Sasuke asked, confused.
"This test was to see if you three could work together to defeat an adversary. It was about teamwork. The core to any ninja squad is teamwork, meaning if you don't have that you will die, early on in your mission. However, if you do an A-rank mission can be as easy as a B-rank mission. Teamwork is key to any shinobi squad. I wouldn't go as far to say as it's more important than individual skills, but it is very important. You all have individual skills. Naruto is great at close combat and ninjutsu, Sasuke is also great with ninjutsu and close combat, along with mediocre analytical skills, while Sakura has amazing analytical skills, has potential in the genjutsu and medical fields, and is great at making up strategies. If you combined this you would be a fearsome team, however if you have no teamwork any jonin could easily dispatch of you."
"Okay, but what about the thing you just did to Sakura-chan," Naruto asked.
Kakashi smiled. "That was my final test. In the ninja world you may run into situations like that, when you either must betray your village or leave your allies to die. I realize that it is a tough decision and there is no right answer, but remember this: In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash, that's true, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."
Naruto nodded, fully accepting the words. Sasuke just gave his usual, "Hn," and Sakura nodded.
"Good. Now that you get that, let's get going. Our first mission is tomorrow."