finally a new chapter! i feel like i should apologize for the wait but i was never happy with this chapter, still not fully but i didnt want to wait any longer. let me know what you think :)

The three young ninjas went home and prepared for their survival training again, their new teacher. Naruto created a crude dummy of Kakashi and practiced striking it, trying to come up with tactics that would keep him on his path toward becoming Hokage. Sasuke spent the night much the same; he had confidence that he could take on a man like Kakashi. He might have had misjudged him initially, but he was still sure that his skill level could take on someone who had fallen for a simple eraser prank.

Sakura was a bit of a different story.

She went home after buying dinner she thought over all of the information that had been on the paper Kakashi had given them. At first, she had been worried about this test because surely, the three of them against one ninja, even a jounin, couldn't be a fair fight. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that there had to be a catch of some kind.

Despite what Kakashi had seemed like Sakura guessed that he had to be much more skilled than he appeared to be on the surface. There was probably something she was missing, but it was getting late, and since she had to skip breakfast the next day, she at least wanted a good night's sleep. So she headed to bed.

The next day Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura met up at the training field with their bags full of survival tools and waited for Kakashi to show up. Time stretched on, and the sun rose higher and higher in the sky. Sasuke stayed quiet, leaning against a nearby tree, Naruto complained, and though Sakura didn't disagree with him she would urge him to be quiet; complaining wouldn't help.

"We got stuck with the worst teacher!" Naruto complained loudly as he plopped down on the ground.

"Naruto, enough," Sakura huffed, "Maybe this is part of the training. Patience is key; some times, you'll have to be on stakeouts for nights on end. Are you going to complain then?"

Even though she had said that Sakura was getting annoyed as well, her empty stomach did not make the situation any better.

"Ah, you're all on time! Good morning!"

The young ninja turned to see their new teacher walking on to the training ground.

"You're late!"

Kakashi waved a hand as he looked through his bag and pulled out an alarm clock. He set the timer to go off at noon. Once he finished with that, he pulled out two bells and held them up.

"You see these two bells?"

The three nodded.

"You have to take them from me before the timer goes off. If you don't you'll fail," Kakashi explained, "Not only will you fail, but whoever doesn't get a bell from me will get no lunch. You'll be tied to one of those stumps over there, and I'll eat your lunch in front of you."

'That's why he didn't want us to eat?!'

Kakashi went about securing the bells to his waist. "Since there are only two bells, one of you will fail this test. So you've got to come at me with everything you've got. Strike to kill, or else there will be no point."

Naruto snorted. "Please, you couldn't dodge a blackboard eraser. If we strike to kill you, you'll definitely die!"

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Loud ones are usually the weakest. So, we'll start when I say 'go'."

Naruto's annoyance and anger spiked; he caught a glance of Sasuke from the corner of his eye with a smirk on his face. Where do either of these two get off talking down to him like that? He got the better of both them the other day! He was not weak!

In a flash, Naruto pulled out a kunai and moved to strike Kakashi. Sakura gasped, surprised by the outburst. Sasuke thought it was a dumb move on Naruto's part, but he admired his drive. But, just as quickly, Kakashi stood behind Naruto, holding him in place and using his own kunai against him.

"I didn't say 'go' yet," Kakashi as if nothing happened.

Sakura blinked a couple of times. 'I couldn't even see him move.' She knew this test would be much more difficult than it seemed.

Sasuke looked impressed. 'So this is the real power of a jounin...' Sasuke finally felt like this was going to be worth his time.

"Though you did strike with intent to kill," there was amusement in Kakashi's voice. "Seems like you're starting to take me seriously. Perhaps...I'm starting to like you guys. Alright, let's begin!"

Minutes ticked away, and so far, Kakashi found these young ninjas to be pretty competent. They had hidden very well; he didn't have any sense of where they could have been.

"It's time for the battle to begin!"

Well, he didn't have a sense for two of them.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto charged forward, "What do you think? I'm going to get one of those bells!"

"First lesson of today will be taijutsu," Kakashi said as he dug into his pouch.

Naruto stopped, watching Kakashi closely. 'Why's he going for a weapon if he wants to do hand to hand?' He shook his head. He couldn't get distracted. He had to get one of those bells!

Kakashi ended up pulling out a book.

"Okay," Naruto said, "What are you doing?"

Kakashi glanced over at him. "Reading, obviously. Don't tell me you're unfamiliar with the concept."

An irritated vein popped out of Naruto's forehead.

"Besides, with your skill level, this book won't make much difference."

Naruto had had enough. He charged forward and attacked, kicking and punching at Kakashi, trying to beat that smug attitude out of him. Kakashi dodged and parried all of his attacks like they were nothing. Sakura and Sasuke could see the whole thing from their hiding spots.

Kakashi swiftly ended up behind Naruto and sighed. "A ninja isn't supposed to get caught from behind."

Sakura shifted her position a bit to get a better look and could see the hand seal Kakashi had made. Her eyes widened when she realized what it was.

From his hiding spot, Sasuke looked impressed. 'That's a fire style hand sign...he's really serious.'

"Naruto," Sakura yelled, giving herself away. "Naruto, move! He's going to use ninjutsu on you. You're going to get yourself killed!"

But it was too late, Kakashi struck. "Secret technique, ultimate taijutsu! One thousand years of death!"

Naruto went flying and landed into the nearby lake.

'Our teacher is an idiot,' Sasuke thought to himself.

Sakura rubbed her temples as she quickly ran off to find another hiding spot. 'He's just toying with us,' she thought, and her stomach growled. 'How are any of us supposed to take him out on our own?'

Naruto pulled himself out of the lake, coughing while he did so.

"Oh, what happened? If you don't get one of these bells before noon, you won't get any lunch."

"I know that!"

"You don't have a lot of strength for someone who wants to be the next Hokage."

"Oh shut up," Naruto yelled, "I can still fight on an empty stomach. I was just too careless before!"

"That can be your worst enemy, y'know?"

"And you talk too much," Naruto yelled. "Now!"

From the lake, multiple shadow clones emerged and charged at Kakashi.

"My shadow clone jutsu," Naruto said. "Better not get careless now, sensei!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. 'Is that how he jumped me the other day!?'

"That's pretty impressive, shadow clones are difficult to maintain, especially on an empty stomach," Kakashi said, "but you're still just Naruto. More of you won't make a diff-"

He was grabbed from behind, whoever was behind him hand looped their arms under Kakashi's armpits and over his shoulders, restricting his movements.

"I thought ninjas weren't supposed to get caught from behind Kakashi-sensei!"

Other shadow clones grabbed at Kakashi's legs, and Naruto felt very proud of himself.

"Now, here's payback!"

He struck, but when Naruto looked, he had punched one of his clones instead of Kakashi. The initial surprise wore off quickly, though, because Naruto knew what this was; it was a transformation jutsu! Well, Naruto wasn't going to fall for a simple trick like that.

"Reveal yourself, Kakashi-sensei!"

A fight between clones broke out, but once the dust settled, only Naruto was left in the open field.

"Dammit!"

From his hiding spot, Sasuke rolled his eyes. From where he sat, he could easily tell that that had been a substitution jutsu, which meant Kakashi had vanished. He spent all that time watching him goof around with Naruto, and Sasuke couldn't find a single opening. He knew he couldn't sit there all day, but he wouldn't be brash like Naruto and charge in without a plan.

Naruto had ended up getting caught in an obvious trap, and Kakashi showed up to lecture him.

"Shinobi have to pay more attention; they have to be aware of what's-"

"I know that!"

"No, you don't, that's why I'm telling you."

Sasuke thought that that was his chance. It was small, but it would be just enough; he took out his shuriken and threw them. As quick as lightning, the shuriken flew through the air and struck their target.

"Holy shit, Sasuke! That's too much!"

But in a puff of smoke, Kakashi turned into a log. Sasuke cursed and quickly discarded his current hiding spot.

"I fell right into his trap..." Sasuke couldn't believe he had been so sloppy.

He looked around but couldn't see Kakashi anywhere. Sasuke landed on the ground, near Naruto, who was still caught in the trap.

"Dammit..."

"Hey, hey, Sasuke!" Naruto called down to him. "Get me out of here."

Sasuke glared up at him and snorted. "Shouldn't future Hokages be able to get out of a simple trap such as that?"

"You bastard!"

Sasuke didn't stay around long enough for Naruto to say anything else. He had to rethink his strategy to secure one of those bells.

Sakura ran through the bushes and trees of the training area. She kept low to the ground, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Kakashi.

She had the beginnings of a plan forming in her head; she needed to find Sasuke. After she had watched Kakashi play around with Naruto, she knew that there wouldn't be much she could do against him alone. While Sasuke had been at the top of their class, she wasn't sure if he'd be able to handle their sensei on his own. But Sakura was sure if they worked together, then they may have a chance.

A small part of her felt bad for leaving Naruto out of it, but there were only two bells. All of them wouldn't be able to make it. She had to be smart about this.

She rounded another tree before dropping to her knees. Kakashi stood only a few feet away, still reading his book. She sighed softly when it looked like Kakashi hadn't noticed her.

'Good, I can still sneak away.'

"Sakura, behind you."

She didn't have much time to react before a whirlwind of leaves obscured her vision, and Kakashi seemingly disappeared.

"What was that!?"

She looked around but couldn't see Kakashi anywhere. Sakura swallowed, something had definitely happened, but everything seemed fine. Maybe it was a fluke.

Sakura took a couple of deep breaths; she wasn't out of this just yet.

"...ku...ra..."

She turned around.

"Sasuke-kun?"

"Saku...ra..."

"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" He didn't sound too good, but Sakura was sure he wasn't hurt too badly. This was simply a survival test, after all. Kakashi wouldn't do anything to them that would cause serious injury. He was a jounin after all. "I've been looking for you, listen, I've got an idea."

She moved closer to the direction she had heard Sasuke's voice.

"I think if we..."

Sakura's breath caught in her throat. Sasuke sat in front of her his body littered with kunai, shuriken, and other blades. He was bleeding profusely from blade wounds, one of his legs was broken, and he was missing an arm. Sasuke's face was covered in cuts and bruises with a shuriken buried into one of his eyes.

Her stomach twisted in on itself, and she felt the ground disappear from beneath her feet. She didn't hear herself scream before she passed out.

Kakashi watched the short display from the treetops. "She fell for the genjutsu...though I suppose that I went a tad overboard. But...it did seem like she was on the right path...maybe there's hope yet."

Sasuke had found a decent spot, not too open and not too closed off, with a good amount of coverage. It allowed him to lay his traps but still gave him enough space for him to take on Kakashi hand to hand if he needed to.

After falling for Kakashi's trick earlier, Sasuke decided that it would be best for Kakashi to come to him on his turf, so to speak. Sasuke wasn't like either of his so-called 'teammates'.

"Standing out in the open. That's pretty bold."

Sasuke turned to face Kakashi; the man still had his relaxed pose and his book in his hand. Sasuke moved, throwing shuriken at Kakashi. The man dodged easily enough and tried to throw a snarky remark at him, but Sasuke ignored him and activated his trap.

Rows of blades shot out from their hiding place. Kakashi dodged those blades as well, but Sasuke had already moved. He was quick, delivering three consecutive blows to the man, but he blocked all of them.

Knocking Kakashi wasn't Sasuke's goal, though. The position Sasuke maneuvered himself into left him within reach of the bells. He reached out to grab it before Kakashi pushed him back.

"Hm...I guess I have to admit it; you certainly are different from the other two."

Sasuke didn't waste any time; Naruto may have wanted to talk Kakashi's ear off during the fight, but as Kakashi said, Sasuke was different. Sasuke quickly did the hand signs and grinned at the look of surprise on Kakashi's face.

'Naruto's not the only one with a surprise jutsu,' Sasuke took a deep breath, "Fire style, Fireball jutsu!" He blew out a massive ball of fire toward Kakashi.

He had been sure he had hit his mark, but once his jutsu ended, Kakashi was nowhere in sight.

'Crap, crap, crap!' He had been duped by Kakashi again. Just when he thought Kakashi had let his guard down again. Well, he wasn't going to get Sasuke again. Sasuke pulled out a kunai and looked around for the jounin. "Where the hell is he!?"

"Earth style, Headhunter jutsu!"

Before he could do anything, Sasuke was pulled into the ground beneath him until only his head was left out. Kakashi knelt in front of him, and though Sasuke could only see one of Kakashi's eyes, he knew he had an annoying grin on his face.

"The final lesson, ninjutsu, though you seem to have a basic understanding of that yourself. But you certainly are a cut above the rest. Couldn't even read my book

while dealing with you." Kakashi patted Sasuke's head mockingly. "But, you know they say; the nail that stands out must be hammered down."

With a final wave, Kakashi vanished, leaving Sasuke there by himself.

Sakura felt drowsy as she slowly sat up, rubbing her head. She looked around, looking for both Sasuke and Kakashi, but she saw neither.

"Sasuke-kun," she called. "Sasuke-kun!"

What she had seen...that couldn't have been real. There was no way Kakashi would have done that to Sasuke; sure, they could attack him with lethal force, Kakashi wouldn't do that to them. It would be completely unfair!

Sakura shook her head; she had to stay focused. What she had seen wasn't real unless she found some kind of evidence. Until then, she still needed to find Sasuke and get him to work with her. Sakura stood and went through the bushes and trees, keeping her eyes out for Kakashi while she looked for Sasuke.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun," she called when she had finally found him. "What happened to you? Why are you buried up to your neck?"

"What do you think happened," he snapped at her. "Help me out of here!"

Sakura huffed at his tone but did help him out of the ground. Once Sasuke was free, he dusted himself off and started to leave.

"Sasuke-kun, wait," Sakura grabbed his shirt. "Listen, Kakashi-sensei is...he's too powerful for us. But maybe...maybe if we came at him together we'd have a better chance."

Sasuke pulled his shirt free from Sakura's grasp. He glared at her. "It's almost lunchtime. I don't have time for you to follow me around and nip at my heels."

Sakura was starting why anyone found Sasuke cool. "I'm not-"

"I'm an avenger," he cut in, "there's a man out there that only I can kill. I have to get stronger. I can't waste any time fooling around with you and Naruto. I have to-"

The time rang out, and Sasuke cursed. Sakura felt her heart drop.

"We're too late."

Sasuke and Sakura sat in front of two of the stumps while Naruto had been tied to one. Kakashi stood in front of them, his hands in his pockets and a bored look in his eyes.

"Well, that could have gone better," he said.

The three young ninjas looked despondent.

"But, as far as I can see," he sighed. "I mean, the three of you don't need to go back to the academy."

"Wow, really!?"

"Yeah, you should all simply give up."

"W-Wha..."

"Quit being ninja."

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, kicking his legs. "Just because we didn't the stupid bells doesn't mean we should quit! What the hell!?"

"You should quit because you're all brats, and you don't deserve to be ninja."

"Excuse me," Sakura exclaimed.

"I thought there had been a bit of hope...that you all would figure it out, but ultimately its no use."

Sasuke shot forward, running straight for Kakashi, but just like last time, Kakashi moved far faster than any of them could see and had Sasuke pinned to the ground.

"This is exactly what I mean."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, "I think you're too harsh. Both Naruto and Sasuke clearly showed that they have skills and I-"

"Sakura," Kakashi cut her off. "You went out looking for Sasuke even though Naruto had been much closer to you. Did you even try to work with him?

Naruto simply ran in all by himself and Sasuke...you thought that both Naruto and Sakura were so beneath you that you didn't even try to work with either of them.

I thought that Sakura had found the right track, but she was so singularly focused it was still a disappointment."

"What the hell were we supposed to do then," Naruto shouted. "You keep talking around in circles why don't you just say what you mean!"

Kakashi rubbed his forehead. "The answer is 'teamwork'. That's why you were split up into teams in the first place. The duties a ninja is responsible for is done in teams. Yeah, individual skill is important, but it's nothing without teamwork.

You can't just go rushing off by yourself when you're out there on a mission. You could ruin the entire mission and end up getting yourself or teammates killed."

He pulled out a kunai and held it Sasuke's neck. "Sakura, kill Naruto or Sasuke's dies."

"What!?"

Kakashi sighed. "You'll find yourself in situations like that, and you have to make tough decisions."

He stood up and walked passed them, resting a hand on carved stone behind them.

"This is a memorial...for the fallen heroes of the village. My best friend's name is carved here," he said. He turned back around toward the group. "I'll give you three one more chance. If any of you want to try again, then you certainly can, but I'll make it even harder for you to get these bells.

You can have the lunches, but Naruto can't have any. Since he tried to steal and take the lunches himself, he'll continue to go hungry. If either of you give him any food, it's an automatic fail. We'll begin as soon as you're finished."

Then Kakashi vanished.

Sakura flopped back down on the ground and glanced over at one of those lunch boxes. Sasuke stood up and retrieved one for himself.

"Blah, I don't need any lunch, I'll be just fine," Naruto shouted, though the growl of his stomach said otherwise.

"Here," Sasuke said. "If we split it all evenly, there should be enough for all three of us not to be hungry anymore."

"Wow, seriously," Naruto said and licked his lips.

"Yeah," he looked over at Sakura. "You were right, Sakura, putting our skills together could help us win this time."

Sakura picked up the other lunch and looked around. "Yeah...let's be quick though, we don't know when Kakashi-sensei will be back."

"I don't sense him anywhere," Sasuke said as Sakura split up their lunch. "We should be fine."

Sakura and Sasuke took turns feeding Naruto as well as themselves, while Sakura talked about some potential ways they could attack Kakashi.

"Congratulations."

Standing above then in one of the trees was Kakashi, his face unusually bright. "You all pass!"

"What!?"

"You heard me, you all pass," he said as he hopped out of the tree and walked toward them.

"We didn't even get a chance to get the bells this time, though..."

Kakashi waved a hand. "It was never about the bells. Previous students would always simply do exactly what I told them to do...a ninja who breaks the rules and disregards ninja codes may be lowly trash...But those who don't take care of their comrades are even lower than that."

"Woah..."

"That'll conclude the training for today," Kakashi said with a grin in his eye. "Tomorrow, we'll start our duties as team seven officially."

Naruto and Sakura cheered. Sasuke let out a relieved sigh. Naruto was untied from the stump, and they all headed home, ready for whatever awaited them in the upcoming days.