Chapter 6
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Naruto walked into the Academy classroom with the rest of his graduating class with a smirk on his face and Iruka's headband on his forehead. He couldn't wait to show off to Sasuke just how much he had learned—which considering he'd had a month of experience that the Uchiha hadn't—was bound to be enough to put him ahead. That arrogant jerk was going to be stunned by how good he was now.
"Hey, what are you doing here, Naruto? This meeting is for graduates only!" Kiba sniped, his little dog, Akamaru, barking in agreement.
Naruto scoffed and pointed to his headband. "You see this?" Naruto asked. "This means I graduated. So, nyah!" Naruto pulled down the skin below one his eyes and stuck out his tongue. That would show him!
Naruto walked over to where Sakura and Ino Yamanaka were already arguing over which of them would sit next to Sasuke. Naruto took the seat behind the pair, frowning as the two continued to push and yell. It was even more annoying to watch Sakura-chan fighting over the seat next to the Uchiha jerk the exact same way a third time, so Naruto decided to put a stop to it.
"Ne, Ino, you should give up," Naruto commented, drawing an immediate dark look from the long blond haired kunoichi. "After today it's going to be me, Sasuke, and Sakura-chan together on the same team."
"Really?" Sakura asked hopefully. "I'm going to be with Sasuke-kun?"
"Yeah, we're going to be Team Seven, believe it!" He really wished she were that enthusiastic about also being on the same team as him, but he knew she wasn't. Maybe this time he'd be able to convince her to go on a date with him, though.
"Oh, come off it, Naruto, you don't know any more than anyone else who will be placed on the same teams!" the Yamanaka scoffed.
"Oh yeah?" Naruto retorted. "I bet I can tell you everyone's teams!"
"Alright, prove it!" Ino challenged.
"Sure! You're going to be with Shikamaru and Choji on Team Ten, and Dog-breath will be on Team Eight with Shino and Hinata," Naruto exclaimed with a proud grin.
Ino rolled her eyes and tossed her hair. "Yeah, right! I'm going to be with Sasuke-kun."
Shikamaru mumbled, "Troublesome," then put his head back down. That was the exact same team alignment he'd expected, though he'd hoped his team would have gotten Hinata instead of Ino. But Naruto's confidence made him believe the blond prankster knew something.
Ami, another kunoichi in the class—one Naruto had noticed did not get along with either Sakura or Ino—spoke up. "Hey! What about the rest of us? Do you know our teams, too?"
"Pfft. Like you matter," Naruto scoffed. "None of you will even pass the second genin test, anyway, so who cares what team you'll be on?"
Honestly, Naruto hadn't really paid attention to the rest of the class the first time, and the second time his temporal clone had run out of chakra halfway through the announcement of the team names.
"Ha!" Ino laughed. "Now I know you're full of it! There's no second test."
Shikamaru groaned. "Troublesome," he repeated. He should have expected becoming a ninja would be more trouble than just a simple Academy test. Now he'd have to put in more effort just to be a genin.
That's when Iruka came in and started reading out the names. When he got to Team 7 and Naruto's prediction was correct, Sakura stood up and cheered. The rest of the class looked at the orange-wearing genin incredulously, which became even more pronounced once the same was true for his prediction for Team Eight and Team Ten.
Unnoticed to the seemingly prescient Uzumaki, a certain Hyuuga girl was ambivalent about the results. She was glad that the boy she admired was vindicated in front of everyone, that had to be encouraging for him, but she was let down that he wasn't on her team. Maybe Neji was right that some things were fated not to be.
Naruto, for his part, felt quite smug at having been proven right. That hadn't happened that often over the years. For once, he was ahead of the game, and he was going to enjoy knowing things ahead of time.
And then one by one, the teams left the room with their jonin instructors until it was just Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura waiting for Kakashi. That's when Naruto realized he was going to have to sit through two hours of waiting. Again. Next time, he'd have to think of something to do.
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The next day, Naruto arrived at Training Ground Three around eleven o'clock, having already finished a somewhat late breakfast. This time, he was going to ace the test! No way was he going to let hunger pains sap his strength and chakra.
"You're late!" Sakura complained loudly as Naruto showed up.
Sasuke, as expected sat as far apart from her as he could, intentionally keeping his eyes lowered so as not to meet her gaze and give her an excuse to start a conversation.
"Meh, Kakashi-sensei is always late, Sakura-chan," Naruto explained. "Don't worry, he won't show up for another fifteen minutes or so."
"Idiot!" she replied, "Just because he was late yesterday doesn't mean he's going to be late today, too! He could be watching us all from a distance!" The pink haired kunoichi-in-training began looking all around trying to discover if they were being watched.
"Yeah, but he isn't. That comes later," Naruto replied. When their new teacher didn't immediately pop out to reveal himself, confirming his words, Naruto grinned. "Look, when sensei arrives, he's going to test us to see if we can be a good team. We gotta work together to beat him, okay?"
At that, Sasuke decided it was time to speak up and set the record straight. He didn't need teammates or want them. They'd only get in the way.
"Speak for yourself, loser," Sasuke said. "I don't need your help to pass whatever this test is, and I don't want you dragging me down with you."
Sakura shot Naruto a haughty look, "Yeah, Naruto, Sasuke and I don't need you dragging us down!"
Naruto's face fell. He missed the trust that he'd built up with his team by the time they'd gotten to the Chunin Exams. But he'd get that back!
"I mean both of you," Sasuke replied coldly. "When the test starts, you two stay out of my way."
Now Sakura's expression mirrored Naruto's.
"Don't worry, Sakura," Naruto said softly. "We're going to be a team. All three of us. Just you wait. Sasuke will come around."
The pink-haired girl looked up at him in surprise, not expecting comfort from him, or at least that it wouldn't include Sasuke. She saw that the blond meant it, and so she nodded slightly.
Ten minutes later Kakashi Hatake appeared on the bridge next to Training Ground 3 where the prospective team was waiting. "Yo," he said, by way of greeting, and walked casually up to his students as if he were not arriving four hours after the time he'd scheduled. The Copy-Nin set a mechanical timer on top of a stone which had three wooden posts sticking in the ground beside it. He then explained the rules, immediately causing Sasuke to eye Naruto and Sakura, viewing them as opponents in his quest to get a bell and graduate.
Whatever little bit of team spirit Naruto had managed to build with Sakura went right out the proverbial window as her goal was for her and Sasuke to be the ones with bells, which meant that Naruto would have to be excluded. Too bad. He was just starting to seem tolerable.
When Kakashi said "Go!" Naruto yelled, "Let's get him!"
Only to be left alone with the teacher.
"Ah, man! Alright, Kakashi sensei, I know I can't beat you by myself, but I am going to show you what I can do! Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
Twenty perfect duplicates of Naruto appeared in a semi-circle around his teacher. Then there were a few more puffs of smoke and there were another six more.
"My," Kakashi said giving an appraising look to the crowd of clones. "This calls for something special."
He reached into his pouch…and pulled out his copy of Icha Icha Paradise. Twenty clones—that would be a serious threat to any genin and most chunin. But for an elite jonin, this would be routine, even from an Academy student with average taijutsu. And Naruto, well, the reports on him said that he was less than average with the exception of his stamina.
"All right, guys, you know what to do!" Naruto—or perhaps one of his clones—shouted loudly.
"Yosh!" they all chorused and began charging at the Copy-Ninja in a staggered tandem.
Under his mask, Kakashi pursed his lips with a slightly surprised, "Huh." The kid was showing an unexpected level of sophistication with the deployment of the clones. It showed an awareness of team formations that the jonin had not anticipated.
It didn't mean that he needed to put his book away, though. Sure, he wasn't actually reading it, he had to keep his attention focused on the incoming attacks, but Kakashi had no trouble dispatching the clones with just one hand, blocking the occasional kunai toss and using his feet to throw the clones off balance. It would be a mistake to stay in one place too long and let the clones execute any strategy they had. But he maintained the pretense of actually reading for the psychological effect.
"Well, Naruto, you're doing better than I expected. But I can see that the Academy reports about your taijutsu were not mistaken. How do I say this….you're terrible."
"Yeah?" Naruto replied, "well I'm not the one about to get his butt kicked! Now!"
Four clones that had been waiting just at the perimeter of the fight leaped forward as Kakashi was fending off a kick towards his blind side. The clones wrapped their arms around the jonin to hold him down, just as another Naruto leapt at him with a flying punch.
Which was when Kakashi replaced himself with one of the many Narutos, one with denser chakra than the others. The result was an small explosion, as apparently both were clones and the impact caused both of them and the ones holding on to dispel into chakra smoke. There was an unexpected burst that knocked the rest of the clones away.
And that was when Kakashi saw one of the "clones" take a hit from a loose stone and not dispel. The real Naruto Uzumaki. Time "drive home the point" that the kid was hopelessly outclassed so that he might seek out his teammates and maybe possibly try to work together with them.
With a burst of speed that the genin had no chance of even following with their eyes, Kakashi was behind the ninja in the orange track suit. "It's not a very good ninja strategy to let your opponent get behind you like this." Time to pass on what he'd learned from his father:
"Konoha Secret Technique: A Thousand Years of Death!" Kakashi put his hands together, his two index fingers and thumb forming….something was wrong.
Instead of looking terrified and possibly mortified, the blond in front of him appeared to be eagerly anticipating what was to come. Either he was some kind of pervert masochist, or the kid had something planned.
Oh crap.
The clone in front of him grinned manically and mouthed, "BAKUHA!" before exploding.
The log that had replaced Kakashi took some minor damage. So, the kid hadn't perfected the Great Clone Explosion technique. But he had expertly baited him, almost as if Naruto had known exactly what was going to happen ahead of time, and if that explosion had hit it would have at least damaged his hands and made making seal signs more difficult. Not bad.
For his part, standing on the tree branch up above, Naruto was disappointed. His exploding clones hadn't been effective at all. Kakashi had taken out most of them at once when he'd swapped with one of the exploding clones and the others holding him hadn't been able to detonate before that punch them all to just blow up—and so weakly. And the sixth, that one should have been a sure-fired success, but Kakashi had managed to substitute away again, and that on top of the explosion just not being strong enough. He was definitely doing something wrong.
At this rate, he'd never get a bell. Well, now at least he'd be able to try to meet back up with Sakura and Sasuke and do some teamwork stuff. He was not falling for that fake bell on the ground trick this time!
With Kakashi giving his full attention to Naruto and his clones, Sasuke thought he saw an opening and launched his attack.
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"Hey, Sakura-chan!" The pink haired girl was so cute lying in the middle of the field like that! "Sakura-chan!"
"Wha—what?" the girl shook her head as she started to come to. She saw the smiling face of Naruto trying to help her up. She had to squash the instinctive reaction of slapping his hand away, which she managed to do by realizing he was trying to help her as a teammate. Oh no! Sasuke! "Sasuke-kun! We have to help him! Kakashi almost killed him!"
Naruto shook his head as he pulled the young girl to her feet. "Nah, that was just a genjutsu. Sasuke's okay, but we have to go help him out. Kakashi is just too strong. We have to all work together."
Having just fainted from their teacher's illusion, Sakura was inclined to believe her blond teammate was right. Maybe he wasn't such an idiot. And he was talking about going to help Sasuke, which was the most important thing.
They found the lone Uchiha buried up to his neck in the ground. Fortunately, with Naruto there, the two managed to dig him out without any trouble.
"Alright! Now the three of us are together! We can come up with a plan to take—"
"It's almost noon," Sasuke said. "I'm off."
"Sasuke, do you really think you can get one of those bells?" Sakura asked. She didn't want to doubt her Sasuke-kun, but…
"I touched them last time. This time I'll take them," he declared.
"Wow," Sakura said, a fake smile plastered over her face. "You're so amazing!"
"You're such an idiot!" Naruto countered. "If you got close enough to touch them by yourself, I bet we can get them if we work together."
"Get out of my way, dope," Sasuke said with a glare, trying to shoulder past him. "I don't have time to waste on you. I've got to get strong enough to kill him. I'm the only one who can do it."
"Knock it off, Sasuke!" Naruto growled. "Whoever you're after, you can't beat them right now. And if we don't make a plan together right now, we'll never get those bells from Kakashi-sensei!"
"I don't need you or your plan, idiot! You and that worthless girl are no good to me. Now—"
And then the alarm bell rang.
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Naruto was fairly pleased to not be tied up this time. Sakura was mortified.
Sasuke, though, he was furious. Having his fangirl and the idiot class clown sitting there while he was tied to a post was humiliating. And then there was that speech about how the three of them were worthless and would never be shinobi!
And he was so hungry!
"Here," Naruto said, offering Sasuke his food.
Of course, if he hadn't known Kakashi was there listening in to their conversation, there was no way in hell he'd give the jerk his food, not after he'd acted today. He'd forgotten how much of an ass his teammate had been at the start.
"Naruto," Sakura replied tentatively, "Kakashi told us we weren't allowed to…"
"Eh, it's okay, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied, still offering the food from his bento for his raven-haired teammate to eat. "We need to work together as a team if we want to win. So, I'll let Sasuke have some of my rice box and we'll work together when Sensei comes back."
"Get that out of my face, you idiot. I don't need you to feed me," Sasuke said, a scowl on his face.
"Maybe Naruto is right, Sasuke. I mean, you're obviously hungry. We're going to need you to be at full strength if we want to have a chance."
"Shut up and stop being so annoying!" Sasuke snapped. "I don't need your pity or friendship, Naruto, and I don't need your love, Sakura. Just leave me alone. I'm not your teammate and I never will be!"
Naruto sat there with his mouth agape at that diatribe. Sakura broke down and started crying.
Why was it so different this time? Just because Sasuke was the one who ended up tied to the pole?
There was a huge puff of smoke and Kakashi stood over the three of them.
"YOU!" he said ominously. "ALL FAIL!"
Naruto threw his hands up in the air. "Now I've got to do it all over again!" he wailed.
Oh. No. He hadn't made a time clone after team announcements. He was going to need to wait in that classroom for another two hours!
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Naruto stood staring at Kakashi who had already taken out his Icha Icha Paradise book. Sakura and Sasuke had gone to hide in the bushes again.
Maybe if he impressed Sasuke enough, the jerk would agree to team up and they could all pass. But how could he be strong enough? Oh, wait.
Hey, Stupid Fox.
What is it, boy?
You said you'd give me chakra whenever I asked for it, right?
And you want to use my chakra for this?
Well…yeah.
Very well.
But, not too much. Just a little.
Naruto got no reply, but he did get a rush of the Fox's powerful chakra in his system. With a grin, he charged forward, faster than the eye could see, a clawed hand swiping at Kakashi.
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Deep, deep in the Torture and Interrogation Unit headquarters, Naruto Uzumaki knew he had screwed up, and screwed up badly.
"How long have you been in contact with the Nine-Tailed Fox?" Ibiki asked again.
Both hands painfully chained to the surface of the interrogation table he was strapped to, his face pressed up against the it, Naruto whimpered and repeated his new mantra. "Don't use the Kyuubi's chakra during Kakashi's bell test. Don't use the Kyuubi's chakra during Kakashi's bell test."
"You can't keep secrets from me, Uzumaki. They will be mine. I don't care how long it takes, you will tell me everything."
Four more hours. Just four more hours and the temporal chakra would be used up. He just had to hold out that long.
"You're stubborn. Good." Ibiki grinned wickedly. "It will be much more fun this way. For me."
"Don't use the Kyuubi's chakra during Kakashi's bell test. Don't use the Kyuubi's chakra during Kakashi's bell test."
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Naruto walked into the Academy classroom with the rest of his graduating class with a smile on his face and Iruka's headband on his forehead. He had one day to convince Sasuke Uchiha to be his teammate.
He could, theoretically, fool around and get himself tied to the post and Sasuke should, theoretically offer him food from his bento, but Naruto didn't want to take any chances. Too many ways that could go wrong and then he'd have to do it all over again, and he'd have to go hungry and humiliated on top of that.
This was attempt number seven.
"Hey, what are you doing here, Naruto? This meeting is for graduates only!" Kiba sniped, his little dog, Akamaru, barking in agreement.
Naruto smiled and waved. "Heya, Kiba! Take a look! I managed to graduate after all," he said pointing to the hitaite on his head. During attempt number five a….misunderstanding with Kiba had led to some unfortunate results which contributed to that time's failure. Best to avoid that.
Naruto walked over to where Sakura and Ino Yamanaka were already arguing over which of them would sit next to Sasuke. Naruto took the seat behind the pair, sighing as the two continued to push and yell. It was even more annoying to watch Sakura-chan fighting over the seat next to the Uchiha jerk the exact same way a seventh time.
"Hey, Sakura. Ino. Why don't you let Sasuke sit alone for a bit? If he wants you to sit with him he can invite you himself," he suggested.
"What business is it of yours, Naruto?" Ino demanded.
"Yeah, mind your own business, idiot!" Sakura added.
Naruto threw his hands over his head in mock surrender. "Hey, I'm just saying if he finds you annoying, it's going to be really hard for him to work with you, much less think of dating you."
At that, Sasuke glanced over his shoulder and gave the smallest of nods. It was an unexpected comment from the orange-wearing, blond-haired idiot, but a welcome one.
"At least wait until they call out teams. I'm sure one of you will be on the same team as Sasuke."
Sakura and Ino noticed Sasuke's glance and realized that maybe Naruto was right and settled down, much to the class's astonishment.
When Iruka called out the members of Team Seven, Naruto cheered, but not too loudly. "Alright! Sasuke and Sakura!"
Sure, Naruto knew he was being an absolute phony and a suck up. He could get back to being rivals with Sasuke when they were back on a team again and not in fear of failing.
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"My likes are ramen, cool people like Iruka-sensei and the Old Man, and learning new ninja skills!" The last one was something he'd noticed Sasuke seemed to care about. "My dislikes are having to wait around and repeat useless stuff over and over again. And my dream? It's to be even better to than the Fourth Hokage!" Hopefully that would help Sasuke want to be teammates.
Unfortunately, Naruto had no control over Sakura's giggling, fangirl introduction, and Sasuke's was as focused on killing somebody as ever. Naruto still didn't know who it was. Every time he'd brought it up, the Uchiha had suddenly gone totally silent. Even moreso than usual, the mentally deficient jerk.
Still, this was the most promising start so far.
After Kakashi handed out their "mission" briefing and disappeared, Naruto wasted no time.
"Hey, Sasuke, Sakura," he said conspiratorially. "I overheard Iruka-sensei and Bekko-sensei talking about a test that's supposed to see if we can work well with others. Do you think this is what they're talking about?"
"Maybe," the Uchiha acknowledged. "We'll find out tomorrow."
The next morning, Naruto arrived on time. He'd eaten breakfast, but didn't dare disrupt Kakashi's test by convincing the others to eat. Attempt number four had cured him of that. Instead, he used the time to try to get Sasuke to think fighting together was his idea and to respect him enough to join in.
At nine o'clock, Naruto stood up. "Well, I guess Kakashi-sensei is going to be late, just like last yesterday. I bet he wanted us to be hungry as part of his test, too."
Then Naruto made three shadow clones and started practicing sparring with them. After Naruto managed to dispel all three, each vanishing in a puff of chakra smoke, he suddenly found his two teammates staring at him incredulously.
"How did you do that?" Sakura demanded. "You made your clones solid, and they could fight you!"
"Those weren't normal bunshin," Sasuke added. "What gives, Naruto?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I can't really tell you all the details, Iruka-sensei and the Old Man told me I'm not allowed to tell, but basically I had to learn this kind of clone to graduate. I still can't do a normal one. They're shadow clones."
Sasuke frowned. He didn't like that Naruto, the class idiot, knew a useful technique that he himself had not yet learned.
"If shadow clones are easier than the regular clone technique and they're solid, why isn't that taught in the Academy instead?" Sakura asked.
"Um, well, shadow clones aren't really easier. They're a B-rank technique," Naruto answered. "But there's something wrong with my chakra, that's why I can't do that one but this one is easier for me."
Of course, what was "wrong" with his chakra was that he had more of it than the entire graduating class combined—in fact more than the entire Academy including the teachers—but that could wait until after passing the exam to share. Better to pass it off as a quirk than to get Sasuke jealous or Sakura despondent.
"Show it to me," Sasuke demanded.
"Eh, sorry, Sasuke, I'm not allowed to. But maybe Kakashi-sensei can show you how to do it after we pass his test?" Naruto said. "Hey! How about you test them out?"
And that was how when Kakashi arrived three hours later, he found his three students all practicing taijutsu together using Naruto's shadow clones. It was a promising beginning.
"You're late!" seven voices all yelled in unison, six of them being Naruto.
After Kakashi set the clock on the tree stump, told them the rules and got the three to start seeing each other as opponents instead of a team, as per the rules of the bell test, he watched as they scattered into the trees to hid.
Except, they hadn't. There had been a quick whoosh of movement as the three had shot off in different directions, but after the wind had cleared, the three had surrounded him. This was unexpected.
Up in the tree where he had concealed himself, Sasuke was thinking the same thing. This had to be Naruto's doing. But, why? His clones were just too fragile for direct combat. What did the blond think he'd gain by sending out two clones disguised as him and the Haruno girl?
"Hey, Sasuke," a whisper came from beside him.
The Uchiha managed not to jump out of the tree in shock. How had Naruto known exactly where he was hiding?
"How are we all going to pass the test? I don't get it," Naruto said. "Kakashi only brought two bells, but there are three of us. What's the trick?"
Sasuke smirked. The idiot was clearly too stupid to realize that the real purpose of the test was working together, even though he'd overheard Iruka talking about it the day before. At least the blond's shadow clones would be useful, and by working as a team they'd be able to pass the hidden test.
"It's a teamwork test, dope," Sasuke explained.
"Okay, got it!" Naruto replied. "So, what's the plan Sasuke?"
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Kakashi had to admit that he'd been fooled. He had expected Naruto to charge at him head on like an idiot and perhaps one or two of them to try to take advantage and double team him. He hadn't expected to be facing a united team, especially after seeing the look of worry in their eyes, which was why when all three appeared to attempt to surround him and attack him in a coordinated fashion, he'd felt of glimmer of hope that he'd be able to pass this team on their merits.
At first the three seemed hesitant, and as he'd taken out Icha Icha Paradise and started reading it, they started to attack with basic shuriken techniques. It had taken them a couple minutes before they finally all came at him together as one. He had announced the first area of ninja skills: taijutsu. And then he'd hit all three and they'd all three burst into chakra smoke.
That glimmer of hope had grown brighter. Maybe Naruto wasn't as hopeless as reports made him out to be. That was pretty clever, buying time create a strategy.
Now, a few more minutes had passed and nothing was happening. Technically, he didn't have to do anything except wait until noon if they didn't make an attempt to get the bells, but that was too boring. He'd go out, show them how easy it was for him to defeat them one-on-one and hopefully convince them to join together as a team despite the ostensible parameters of the test making that impossible.
Kakashi left the small clearing at the center of Training Ground Three and headed into the surrounding forest to see what his little genin were planning. If they were together and made a concerted effort to get the bells and showed some signs of loyalty to each other once he declared which would be being sent back, they'd all pass. If they were all separate, well….there was always Phase 2.
And, oh, how disappointing. There was the pink-haired fan girl standing all by herself. A little genjutsu and…
A score of kunai and shuriken flew out of the trees with high velocity and unerring accuracy.
Sasuke.
Kakashi quickly replaced himself with a log, adding an area genjutsu to make it appear as if the attack had been successful. That was when the real trap was sprung.
A dozen Naruto clones jumped from around the spot the log had been, trying to grapple, punch, kick, or even stab him with a kunai. Despite the blond's poor form, the placement of the ambush was perfect, leaving Kakashi only one avenue of escape (without breaking out more serious techniques and possibly murdering one of his prospective students.
"That's playing dirty," Kakashi complained. "Log camping is an unfair practice!" But, against a superior opponent like himself, playing dirty was absolutely the right thing to do.
Sasuke's voice called out, "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!"
That was when Kakashi realized that his escape was exactly what his opponents were anticipating and he had to use the replacement technique a second time to avoid being burnt to a crisp the massive fireball attack that roared out from Sasuke's mouth.
Back in the spot where he's first found Sakura, he was now surrounded by over thirty clones, each transformed into a different member of the prospective Team Seven. This was seriously impressive.
Kakashi kicked it up a couple notches.
He moved and three clones immediately burst into smoke. The good thing about shadow clones was that he could hit them in non-fatal or crippling areas and they'd burst into smoke just the same as if he hit them in the chest, throat, or heart. That way he could eliminate them without fear of doing anything permanent to his students.
And at this point, they were his students, because after this they definitely passed.
Kakashi put his kunai through the leg of an oncoming Sakura clone, only for the clone to not burst into smoke at all. A standard bunshin! Kakashi felt the kunai that was passing through the clone slice an inch from his vest. So, that had to be the real Sakura. The real Naruto was obviously outside of the melee, and the real Sasuke had not yet arrived back from where he'd used the grand fireball technique.
Kakashi put one hand on the ground to duck under an attack, kicked several clones, and then shot up into the air and put his fingers to his mouth. "Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!" he exclaimed as he launched a series of small fireballs at the half of the clones away from Sakura. The devastating attack wiped the majority of clones away.
"Now, Sasuke!" Naruto's voice called out.
Six kunai flew towards Kakashi at high speed just as Kakashi was landing from his attack, forcing him to parry the four that were on target with his own kunai. It was a well-timed attack, but against someone of his caliber—
When Kakashi heard the "poof" behind him, he knew he'd made a mistake.
There was a jangle of bells, and then there was a copy of Naruto standing behind him, both bells in his hands. It was truly a genius ploy that Kakashi in all his years as a shinobi had never seen. He'd have to ask them about it in the team debrief.
"Well," Kakashi said, rubbing the back of his head. "That was unexpected."
"Here you go, boss!" the clone said, tossing the bells to Naruto before it dispelled.
"So, do we pass?" Naruto asked.
"You do," Kakashi replied. Tradition demanded Phase 2 be carried out, even if he had already determined that they would all three pass as a team. "Since you have the bells before the alarm goes off."
Then Naruto did the most surprising thing that had happened all day. He tossed both bells to his two teammates. Without hesitation.
"How about now? They have the bells"
"Are you sure you want to do that, Naruto?" Kakashi asked. "If the alarm rings and they have the bells, you fail and go back to the Academy. And you'll have to be tied to the post and watch your teammates eat lunch while you go hungry."
"No!" This time it was Sakura who was speaking. "I—I was almost worthless out there. It was Naruto and Sasuke who did almost all the work." She walked over and put the bell in Naruto's hand. "You deserve this more than me. Really."
And it was shockingly true. As much as she wanted to be with Sasuke and have her dream with him on her team….it was Naruto who had done most of the work and Sasuke who laid out the positioning for the plan and the traps. And it was Naruto all along who had been trying to work together. She really had misjudged him.
The alarm rang in the distance.
Naruto was a little puzzled that Sakura had been tied up and that he and Sasuke had been told that they were on a team together an Sakura would be sent back to the Academy. She'd been told that maybe, he might consider giving her a second chance to take one of the boys' places after lunch, but she'd have to go without lunch as a penalty for not having a bell. Naruto and Sasuke had been warned not to feed her, or they'd fail instantly. Which didn't make any sense. They'd shown they could all work together! What was the point of this?
"Here," Sauke said, giving Sakura some of his food. "You're going to need this. Don't get any ideas, though. This is just because we're comrades."
That was all Kakashi needed to see. They passed, clearly. But would the Uchiha have it him to sacrifice for his team like the other two had? Even just some of his lunch?
Exploding in between them all, he happily declared, "YOU….ALL PASS!"
Ⱥ Ɲɑɤμƭɵ ίȵ Ʈίϻϵ
Back at his apartment, Naruto made another temporal shadow clone, using enough of the Nine-Tails chakra to last an entire week.
Yatta!
Finally! He'd done it. Team Seven was back together! And they'd start missions tomorrow!
D-rank Missions.
Tora.
Naruto screamed in denial.
Ⱥ Ɲɑɤμƭɵ ίȵ Ʈίϻϵ
Author's Note: Sorry for the delay between chapters. I had ideas for things that would happen further on in the story, so I'll post those when I get to that point in the story. There is no official update schedule, but I intend to keep writing until I get to a specific point.
This might go to 100K or it might end at 40k. Who knows? I have a direction I want the story to take but I don't know how long it will take to get there.
New Japanese terms:
Katon: Hosenka no jutsu- Fire Style: Phoenix Flower/Phoenix Sage Fire. Creates several small fireballs which scatter over an area, controlled by the user.
Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu- Grand Fireball Technique. Creates one large fireball that streams from the user's mouth and erupts into a huge ball of flame.