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Disclaimer: I don't own Hunter x Hunter or Naruto.

Friends x and x Teams

Naruto woke up with a start when he heard his alarm clock ring. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and scrambled to turn it off before looking around. He was in his room, but he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. One look out the window told him that it was really early in the morning, and his clock confirmed that it was 6 AM.

He got out of the bed and stretched before seeing a note on his nightstand. Picking it up, he read,

"You passed out, so the three of us brought you home. Don't forget to be at the academy at 8 AM for your team assignment. I'm really proud of you Naruto!"

- Iruka

"Hi Naruto! I set your alarm clock so you wouldn't oversleep. So hope you had a good rest! See you at the academy!"

- Gon

"Nap time's over. Now get up and go to the academy. Me and Gon will see you there. You can't get rid of us that easily."

- Killua

P.S. "Forget about what that bastard said. Iruka explained the situation to us. You aren't the fox. The fox is just sealed inside of you. Don't be stupid."

- Killua

Naruto smiled and felt tears come to his eyes. Iruka's acknowledgement made him really happy, but he was especially touched by the friendship Gon and Killua seemed to be extending to him. When he first met him he figured they just pitied him and would eventually come to dislike him just like everyone else. So he chose to just keep his distance from them, not wanting the disappointment.

As he raced around his apartment, brushed his teeth, took a shower, and quickly boiled the instant ramen that was left on his table (no doubt by Iruka), he was excited to see the two boys again in a more normal setting and actually get the chance to form real friendships for the first time. He felt like he was a step closer to his dreams. Not even the revelation of the Nine-tailed fox being sealed inside him could bring down his spirits.

Tying on his new ninja headband and jumping out his window, Naruto felt on top of the world.

"I'm definitely, going to become Hokage!"

Later that morning, Gon and Killua had just entered the academy. Gon wore his Greed Island outfit: white tank top, green shorts, and green boots, with his Paladin's necklace proudly on his neck. Killua had on the black long-sleeved sweater, purple jeans, and brown shoes he wore back at Heaven's Arena. One was happily greeting everyone who walked by and the other was too busy looking for their assigned room.

"Where is... 103? We should've passed it already..." Killua wondered, looking around absentmindedly. They were next to Room 105.

"Hmm..." Gon hummed, looking around. "Maybe we missed it?" Killua nodded and they both turned around to walk back down the hall to no avail. "Or... maybe not?" Gon laughed sheepishly while Killua's eye twitched. Suddenly, Gon perked up and Killua looked at him confusedly. "What if this is part of the test? The Hunter Exam had tricky puzzles like this too!"

Killua considered that for a moment, but doubted it. He had a feeling this would be a lot different from the Hunter exam. "Maybe..."

"U-umm... d-do y-you two n-need help?" Gon and Killua turned around to see a timid looking pale girl with short blue hair and white eyes. "I c-couldn't help b-but overhear... s-s-sorry..."

Killua raised an eyebrow. This girl was a mess. Gon, on the other hand, beamed at her. "Yeah, thanks! We're looking for room 103. Do you know where that is?"

The girl pointed at a wooden door that was all the way down the hall. "I d-don't k-know why but... 103 is t-the door a-all the way a-at the end of the hall..." She stuttered out. Killua raised his other eyebrow, because what the hell was the sense in that?

Gon smiled and nodded at her. "Hey, what's your name?"

The girl looked surprised and started twiddling her fingers. "H-Hinata... Hinata H-Hyuga…"

Gon held out a hand. "I'm Gon Freecs!" Hinata shook it, blushing a bit. Gon then pointed at Killua, who had a blank look on his face. "This is Killua Zoldyck!" He turned back to her. "We owe you a lot, Hinata-san! We probably would've been late to our genin exam if it wasn't for you!"

The girl looked surprised when he said genin exam, but started blushing more before nodding and bowing. "I-it was my p-pleasure." She picked her head up and smiled shyly at the two of them. "G-good luck... G-gon-kun… K-Killua-kun…" She turned around and walked into a room, probably where her class was taking the test.

"I'll never understand how you make friends so damn easily," Killua said dryly. Gon grinned at him and laughed slightly. "Whatever. Let's go get this test over with." They started walking towards the room, where they already sensed one person inside. Probably the proctor. "We'll see the others after we're done."

"Right!"

"I hate tests..." Gon drawled, walking out of the room drowsily.

Killua raised a brow at him. "Weren't you the one that was so confident in passing? You even passed all the practice tests me and the old lady gave you and the real test was basically the same. Don't tell me you think you failed?"

"No... the test was easy with all the memory tricks Sakura-chan taught me..." Gon said. "But jeez, it was so boring! Sitting there for over two hours for a test? Ugh!" He sighed. "That was even worse than the tests I took back home when Mito was homeschooling me."

Killua could relate. He had gotten a lot of tests like that given to him by his mother, but he had never particularly liked taking them. But of course it was imperative that each Zoldyck was highly intelligent, especially the heir. "Yeah, well, be thankful that now that we're ninja, we won't have to take anymore written tests." Gon relaxed slightly and Killua couldn't help but mess with him. "Probably."

Gon's head dropped. "Let's just go to the room we were told to go to. Bisky and Kite should get here soon."

Killua nodded, chuckling at the boy's expense. As they walked down the hall, they saw three people walking out of a classroom ahead of them. One was a woman with long black hair and red eyes. Another was a boy with a blue jacket, brown hair and black shades on. The other two were familiar faces.

"Hi Hinata-san!" Gon said, waving at the girl they had met just a few hours before. She turned to look back at Gon, surprised that someone had actually called out to her, and blushed before shyly waving back. The woman and the boy with the shades also turned to look at them curiously before turning and leaving. Hinata bowed to them and left to follow her teacher, mumbling something about having to go and seeing them around. She seemed to be a particularly shy girl.

There was only one person left standing there, glaring at them.

"You again," Kiba snarled. Gon just stared at him unbothered, and Killua had to restrain himself from laughing. He wondered if Gon had any idea how funny he looked. "I don't know who the hell you are, but one day I'm gonna kick your ass." He was speaking specifically to Gon.

Gon wasn't phased. "Right back at you." Him and Kiba had a stare off for a few moments before the woman called out to Kiba and he turned around to leave with his team.

"...Well that was fun," Killua commented. "We'll have to tell Sakura, Shikamaru, and Choji about that later."

Gon laughed and continued walking to the main academy classroom, Killua following. When they walked in, they were instantly met with four familiar faces and two new ones.

"Hi Sakura-chan! Naruto! Shikamaru and Choji!" Gon greeted, waving at each of them. Sakura was sitting near the front next to a grinning Naruto and a dark haired boy with her newly acquired leaf village headband replacing her old ribbon. Shikamaru and Choji were further in the back next to a blonde girl. Killua walked in behind Gon and smirked at all four of their friends, even winking at Naruto when he looked at him and Gon with happiness.

Sakura turned and smiled at them. "Hi Gon-kun, Killua-kun. How was your test?" Gon groaned and Sakura looked at him in confusion. "That bad?"

"Nah, we both passed," Killua explained. "There weren't really any hard questions." He felt the dark-haired boy and blonde-haired girl eyeing him, but he continued regardless. "Gon just finds it hard to sit still and take a test for more than a few minutes."

"I bet," Shikamaru commented. "Every time we played shogi he was bouncing up and down until his brain finally fried. Kid's got too much energy." Gon stuck his tongue out at Shikamaru, Killua smirked, and Sakura giggled.

Choji, who had taken a break from eating chips, also commented. "Imagine Gon in the test room with steam coming out of his head again! Ha!" Shikamaru, Choji and Killua all busted out laughing while Sakura covered her mouth and giggled. Gon pouted but eventually started laughing too. Killua laughed harder when he remembered how the test proctor had kept asking if Gon was okay when he saw the smoke coming out his ears. He would have to tell the others about that later.

Everyone but Naruto, the dark-haired boy and blonde-haired girl laughed. Naruto was still smiling but he seemed to be feeling left out.

Gon, picking up on this, walked over to Naruto and began talking to him. "Hey, Naruto, you made it! We were kinda worried you would oversleep after last night." He laughed and Killua saw Naruto smile in gratitude. No one likes feeling out of the loop.

"Yeah, well, I probably would have if you didn't set my alarm for me. Thanks guys!" Naruto said. Killua noticed Sakura, Shikamaru, and Choji all staring at him and Gon in curiosity. He couldn't blame them, they didn't know that they had become friends with Naruto. The last time he was brought up in conversation was when Killua told them about what Gon did to Kiba and how Naruto had kind of distanced himself after that. He was glad they got a chance to get through to him.

"Ok, who are these guys and how do all of you know them? I've never seen them in the academy before!" The blondie said. Gon and Killua turned to look at her but Killua was confused when she blushed after meeting his eyes. Normally, people had a very different, more fear-based reaction when they met his eyes. It was Gon who made people blush.

"The one in the just a tad too-short shorts is Gon. The one trying too hard to make a fashion statement is Killua," Shikamaru said, smirking lazily at them. "They're going to be genin too. But they were homeschooled."

Killua smirked back and Gon looked down at his shorts and asked himself 'what's wrong with them?'

When Naruto, Choji and Sakura started laughing at their expense, Killua couldn't help but think back to a time when he couldn't even dream of having playful moments with his friends like these. He briefly looked over at Gon and mentally thanked him for everything good that was coming his way. He even wanted to see Kurapika and Leorio again so he could deepen his bonds with them. He hoped they were doing ok, especially Kurapika.

"Homeschooled ninja? There's no such thing!" Blondie said, waving her hands in frustration at being out of the know.

"Well, they're standing right there, Ino. Believe us or not. But me, Shikamaru, Sakura and apparently Naruto are all good friends with them," Choji said. Killua noticed out of the corner of his eye that the dark-haired boy was outright staring at them, so he turned to meet his gaze. The boy was giving him a cold look. What's with that?

"Got an issue?" Killua asked coolly. Everyone quieted once they realized who he was talking to. The dark-haired boy just closed his eyes and turned away. "Oi, duck hair, I'm talking to you. What's with the cold stare?" At this, the boy's head turned to him with an even colder stare.

"Who the hell are you." The way he said it, it didn't even sound like a question. "I've never heard of a homeschooled ninja."

From the way he looked, spoke, his arrogant demeanor, the way Sakura was nervously looking between them and shaking her head 'no' at Killua, and the way Shikamaru was rolling his eyes, something clicked and he figured out that this was the 'Sasuke' Sakura said she admired and 'liked'. Killua narrowed his eyes and smirked, ready to mess with his ego. From the corner of his eye, he saw Gon look back and forth between them with curiousity while Naruto, Choji and Ino watched on with anticipation.

"Oh, because the world just revolves around you, huh? It MUST be impossible if YOU never heard of it!" Killua fake laughed and saw Sasuke getting irritated. "Well have you heard of manners? I don't think you have, Duck-san."

The tension got thick as ice. Sasuke and Killua were in a staring match so intense the others swore they saw sparks in the atmosphere.

Suddenly, Sakura stood between them. "C'mon guys, there's no need to fight. We're all becoming ninja soon after all. We'll be comrades." She gave Killua a look that said 'Stop messing with him! You're causing conflict!' Killua made a cat-like face in response and he could tell she didn't appreciate it.

"I don't see any of you as my comrades. We're becoming ninja in the same village and a few might be on the same teams. That is all. I have my own goals that I plan to achieve myself. I don't care about the rest of you," Sasuke said, eyes closed. Sakura and Ino flinched, Shikamaru looked annoyed, Choji was eating without a care, Gon just stared at him blankly with a tilted head and Killua raised an eyebrow. He was worse than he thought.

Naruto, who was sitting right next to Sasuke, turned to glare at him. "Why are you always such a bastard? You think you're better than anybody?"

"And you're the worst of all, loser. You're an embarrassment to all ninja. I'm not even sure why you're still here."

Oh no. Killua tensed, but he doubted anyone but Sakura noticed. Why the hell would this Sasuke idiot insult Naruto, of all people, while Gon was in the room? Wary of how his friend would react, he turned his head to glance at Gon. To his surprise and confusion, Gon wasn't angry and getting ready to defend Naruto or attack Sasuke. He was simply staring at the dark-haired boy with curiosity. Like he was trying to figure him out. Gon could be really damn unpredictable at times.

"Sasuke-kun, that's not nice!" Sakura said in Naruto's defense. "Naruto is going to be our teammate. You shouldn't be so mean to him. At least try to be nice?"

"We're not here to play at being friends. I have my goals, and you either have or don't have your own goals. All I want from my teammates is that they stay out of my way. But even that will be a problem with the dead last over here."

Ok, now Killua was getting annoyed. This guy really thought he was hot stuff. "If anything, Sakura and Naruto should be worried about you getting in their way." When Sasuke turned to glare at him, he continued. "I don't know who you think you are, but let me tell you, you're nothing special." Sasuke's eyes narrowed even more. "You act all high and mighty as if you're the most capable ninja here, but I doubt you've even been in a real fight. Meanwhile, Naruto was in a real fight against a chunin and won. Alone." At the shocked and disbelieving faces that turned to Naruto, Killua smirked. Naruto put his head down on the table in embarrassment at all the attention.

Sasuke, especially, was in total disbelief. Right before he was about to retort, somebody else spoke.

"You don't mean Mizuki-sensei?!" Blondie questioned. All eyes turned to her. "I heard rumors on my way here this morning that he went traitor and someone stopped him but... I thought it was just regular old village gossip..."

"Yup. That's him. He was defeated by Naruto last night. Whether you think I'm lying or not." Everyone in the room besides Gon, Naruto, and Sakura gave him disbelieving looks, but Killua just turned back to Sasuke. "Meanwhile, what have you done? Stay at the academy your whole life and train a bit?" He laughed again and could tell he was really grating on Sasuke's nerves. "That's nice, but putting things into practice in the real world isn't as easy as you think. Naruto has already pulled it off. Have you?"

Killua knew Mizuki was barely chunin level. Iruka had told him and Gon that Mizuki has been off the force for years and was primarily a teacher now, so he was rusty and not as combat-oriented, which allowed Naruto to defeat him. Plus, there was the fact that Mizuki was tired from fighting Iruka and Naruto caught him off guard by jumping him with 100 shadow clones. But hey, Sasuke didn't need to know that!

Sasuke suddenly got up out his seat and started marching over to Killua. "I'll show you—" He was cut off when suddenly a man with long whitish-blonde hair appeared in between the two boys.

"Kite! I was wondering when you'd show up! You've been on the roof for a while!" Gon said. Killua mentally agreed. They'd sensed that Bisky had also been up there with him, but she left for some reason.

Kite smiled slightly. "Sorry Gon, Killua. I had things to discuss with Biscuit-san." Gon nodded in understanding while Killua shrugged. "But it seems like you've been stirring up trouble in the meantime." He looked pointedly at Killua, who blushed and looked away.

Before anyone else could ask who this guy was, another man entered the room. He was dark-skinned with dark hair, a beard, and a cigarette hanging from his lips. "The name's Asuma Sarutobi. If you're on Team 10, it's time to go." He looked straight at Shikamaru and company, already knowing who his students would be.

Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome..." He nodded at Sakura, Killua, Gon and even Naruto. "Me and Choji will catch you guys later I guess. Duty calls."

Gon and the others said their goodbyes to Shikamaru and Choji, with Sakura and Ino making brief eye contact before looking away. Killua noticed this, but decided not to bring it up. He also noticed Shikamaru give Sasuke a side-eyed look, which made Killua smirk. Shikamaru was a cool guy to have as a friend.

Asuma walked up to Kite with a friendly smile and shook hands with him as they exchanged words too low for the rest of the ones present to hear. The two men laughed as Asuma patted Kite on the shoulder. "Good to have you back in the village Kite. People have missed you. Hopefully you'll be around more often than not nowadays." Kite nodded at him and Asuma turned to his team. "Alright, let's get going team."

Shikamaru gave a long-suffering sigh in response as him and Choji waved at their friends before following their teacher and Ino out of the classroom.

"We should get going too, Team 11," Kite said. "Biscuit-san is waiting."

"Okay," Gon said before turning to Sakura and Naruto. "Bye guys! We'll see you later!"

"Yeah, good luck," Killua said, looking at Sasuke and back to his friends. "Seems like you'll need it." He turned around without even bothering to see Sasuke's reaction. If looks could kill, Killua would be missing his heart right about now.

Sakura waved at them. "Bye Gon-kun! Bye Killua-kun! I'll see you guys later!"

"And don't worry! I'll kick Sasuke's ass if he acts up!" Naruto chipped in. Sakura lightly smacked him in the head and told him to 'be nice!' Sasuke scoffed and turned to the window, ignoring their existence.

After walking out the room, Kite turned to look at the two boys. "Seems like you've made some.. interesting friends..."

Gon sheepishly laughed and rubbed the back of his head while Killua looked at him dryly.

"You have no idea."

"My name is Kakashi Hatake. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like talking about his likes and dislikes! My dreams for the future are none of your business... but anyway, I do have a lot of hobbies."

Silence.

Sakura's eye twitched and she was sure her other teammates shared her annoyance. "So in the end..." she whispered to them, "...All we learned was his name?" This team meeting wasn't going so well.

"Well, I went. Now it's your turn sunshine," Kakashi said, pointing at Naruto, who grinned.

"The name's Naruto Uzumaki! I like ramen, pranks, and nice people!" He paused for a moment. "I hate... liars. I hate people who judge others... Hmm.. I hate people that act like they're better than others and try to talk down to them too!" Sakura could literally feel the shade Naruto threw at Sasuke. If Sasuke noticed, he didn't react. "My hobbies are pranks, jokes and jumping across rooftops I guess... but my dream... is to become the best Hokage this village has ever had! That way, every one will have to acknowledge me!"

Sakura was taken aback at that, but she could see why Gon and Killua would befriend him but dislike Sasuke. She had always found Naruto obnoxious due to how he acted so she stood clear of him and even was mean to him to get him to leave her alone. Her parents told her to steer clear of him too. But now that she thought about it, he did always seem to be on his own. If she had to guess, he doesn't actually want to cause trouble, he just craves attention. Maybe she could try being more understanding and pay more attention to him now that they're teammates.

"You're next, Prince Brooding." Sakura was snapped out of her musings by Kakashi, who was pointing a finger at Sasuke. Naruto was clearly trying and failing at holding in his laughter and she mentally admitted that it was a fitting nickname.

Sasuke didn't show any reaction. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There's many things I hate, and I don't particularly like anything. It seems worthless to talk about dreams... that's just a word..." Wow. What a pessimistic view on everything. Is it bad that a part of Sakura still found this cool?

"NOPE!" Annnd there goes her inner. Sakura once again pushes her to the back of her mind when she hears Sasuke continuing.

"...But what I do have... is an ambition." Sakura shivered at the steely resolve in Sasuke's eyes. "I plan to restore my clan. And there's someone that I have vowed... to kill." Silence, once again. Part of Sakura found Sasuke even cooler than before, but the side that had been steadily brought to the forefront the past few weeks felt uneasy about him. There was something about that look in his eye that made her uncomfortable. One look at Naruto and she could tell he was nervous too. Maybe Killua shouldn't have messed with him.

"Ooh... how edgy." Leave it to their new sensei to break the tension. Naruto busted out laughing and Sakura had to bite her lip to stop a giggle from escaping. Sasuke glared at Kakashi, who just eye-smiled. Their new sensei was funny. "You next Pinky." Scratch that.

Sakura's eye twitched. "...Pinky?" First Killua, and now her sensei?

"Can we punch him?"

"No! Go away!" Sakura sighed and began talking. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I like... being with my friends, reading, gardening, running, and just improving myself I guess..." Kakashi hummed at that. "Um..." She figured it would be best to give him a mature answer. Especially when she wouldn't exactly be lying. "I dislike... certain things about myself... but I've been working to change them." Kakashi hummed once again. He didn't do that for the others, so maybe she made a good call? "My hobbies are the same as my likes, but recently I've gotten a new hobby of going to the library and reading shinobi books and using them to teach myself things." Kakashi hummed even louder while Naruto 'wowed' and Sasuke said nothing. "My dream or goal or whatever... is something I'm still trying to figure out... I just know that right now, I want to be a shinobi. It just feels right, I guess."

Kakashi started clapping. "Well, well, well, I'm impressed." At Sakura's inquiring look, he continued. "You seem to be quite a bit more mature than your peers in a lot of ways, even if you're still a bit naïve in other ways. I was also very impressed by your academy grades. Very good, hard to believe you're as young as you are." Sakura blushed at the praise, thanking her sensei silently. She felt Sasuke eyeing her, but she decided to not meet his gaze. "Anyways, now that we understand each other better... let's get down to business. Formal training begins tomorrow."

Naruto jumped up in excitement. "Our first real ninja mission? What will it be? What will it be?!"

Kakashi surveyed them before speaking again. "Our first project involves exclusively members of this squad... and I wouldn't really even call it a mission... more like an evaluation..." Something about the way he said it made something click in Sakura's mind.

"I get it," She thought. "I remember Killua telling me that him and Gon would have a combat-based practical exam to see if they were qualified to be genin. Even though they're foreigners, why would they get it but not the academy students? All we got was a test for the basic three ninjutsu... Even back then I thought that was kind of suspicious... but..." She looked at Kakashi in thought. "Maybe this is when we'll get our real test? And everyone who does well will be allowed on missions?"

"It's a survival exercise... but the catch is..." He paused for tension, "...You three will have to survive against me. It won't be like the typical survival exercises you did at the academy."

"What type of survival exercise will it be then?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi, the bastard, started giggling.

"...I thought this guy was funny, but he's actually pretty weird..."

"You could say that again."

"Why are you still here?!"

Meanwhile, Naruto was getting impatient. "What the hell is so funny sensei?"

Kakashi, beginning to sober up, just waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, it's nothing. It's just that, if I told you, you'd want to chicken out."

"Chicken out? Why?!" Naruto asked.

Suddenly, Kakashi's face switched to serious mode. "Of the twenty-seven members of your graduating class, only nine will be actually accepted as genin. The extras will be sent back to the academy for more training. This test has a 66% failure rate." All three kids flinched at the tone shift and the man's words. "We aren't desperate for genin, we only seek those with potential."

Only nine will be picked?! It was even worse than Sakura thought! She thought everyone who did well would be accepted! But now they had to do extraordinarily well! Sakura gulped and glanced at her teammates. Naruto looked incredulous and even Sasuke looked nervous.

Kakashi started giggling once again and pointed at them. "See?! You're chickening out already!"

After Kakashi went over a bit more of the details and gave them handouts, he disappeared in a plume of smoke. But not before telling them not to eat breakfast before their test tomorrow.

Sakura was trying to stay calm. She had only recently realized she really wanted to become a shinobi and now that desire was being threatened in a way like never before. She turned to look at her teammates. Naruto was sitting with a stressed look on his face and Sasuke had gotten up to leave.

"Wait Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called out. He stopped and turned to glance at her. "This is a team exercise right? It's us three versus sensei. So the three of us should use this time to come up with some plans against him. Even if we don't know exactly what the test will be, we could plan for different scenarios, right?"

"That's a great idea Sakura-chan!" Naruto beamed. "If we work together we can pass this stupid test no doubt about it!"

Sasuke scoffed. "Hn. Stupid. I don't need your help." Naruto turned to yell at him but Sakura put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"It's not about what you need Sasuke-kun... but don't you think it would be smarter to plan ahead with this? We're barely genin and we're going up against a jounin! You can't possibly think that you can win!"

"He doesn't seem too worthy of respect. He got caught in the dead last's prank after all." Before Naruto could retort, Sasuke kept going. "I doubt the test is going to be beating him in a one-on-one fight anyway. Therefore, his rank is irrelevant. Whatever the test entails of, I can still pass. Don't loop me in with you." Sasuke turned on his heel and started walking away again.

Sakura gritted her teeth. He was acting really differently from how he had that day when the two of them were alone. He was more closed off and his words held much more bite. She didn't know if he was putting on a show because Naruto was there, but she was starting to see how annoying he could be.

"LOOK, Sasuke!" Naruto looked shocked, no doubt because she raised her voice at Sasuke and dropped the '-kun.' Sasuke stopped once again and turned to look at her in annoyance but slight surprise. "I don't know what's going through your head, I never do... but do you remember what you told me a few weeks ago? About you wanting me to be a useful teammate? Well now I'm trying to do that and you're brushing me off! I'm just trying to help! We're a team!"

They had a stare off for a few moments before Sasuke turned his back on them. "I thought I made myself clear in the classroom. I don't need anyone, especially not you two. Do whatever you like. As long as you don't get in my way." He jumped off the roof, not even bothering to respond to the blonde boy shouting after him.

"Damn it! Why is he always such a bastard..." Naruto said angrily. He had a confused look on his face that Sakura couldn't relate to more.

Sakura sighed. "It's because of his past... I guess..." Not that she knew the full details on that. The adults always kept the truth from the children. All she knew was that his family was killed.

"Yeah right! As if that's an excuse..." Naruto huffed and looked away. "...He's not the only one that's had to tough it out." At that line, Sakura had to really take a good look at Naruto. He said that almost as if he related to Sasuke a bit. "That doesn't give him a free pass to act like an arrogant ass..."

Sakura had to agree with him, remembering that Killua said something along those lines. She sighed. This team would be a handful.

"But anyway Sakura-chan," Naruto said, smiling at her. "Let's forget about him and go plan for the test!"

Sakura smiled at him and began walking to the edge of the roof. "Let's do it over ramen." Naruto looked stunned for a moment but smiled brightly and nodded. The two jumped down from the roof and Naruto lead the way to the ramen shop, chatting happily and making jokes the whole journey.

Sakura really was glad she met Gon and Killua. If it wasn't for them, she doubted she would've been able to see Naruto in a different light than she had all these years. Obnoxious. Dumb. Annoying. Troublemaker. Ideas that were all placed in her head by her peers and parents, although she herself wasn't free of blame. But just from the positive vibes that exuded from the boy as they travelled to the ramen shop, she felt annoyance at how she's treated him all these years. All because she never took the time to associate with him or try to understand him. He really was misunderstood, wasn't he?

With that, her thoughts wandered to Sasuke. She had begun to see him in a less than ideal light, and his negative traits were just fully exposed for her to see. She felt uneasy because of him, but she still wasn't put off. She had a feeling that at least part of what he shows is a mask. If anything, she just wanted to break it.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she dug into her ramen bowl beside a chatting Naruto. Only he would use prankster knowledge to plan for the test. Fool or genius? The world may never know.

The next morning, at 8 AM, Gon and Killua stood before Kite on a training ground field, ready for their practical exam. Bisky and the Hokage were spectating in the background, one wanting to see how her students did and the other to evaluate the boys' prowess. He had used a sealing jutsu that closed off the whole training ground, so nobody outside of it would be able to enter until he removed the seal. Nobody on the outside would be able to see or sense what's going on either.

"You boys seem very energetic this early morning," Kite commented lightly. He suddenly got serious. "Are you sure you're ready? I won't be going easy on you. Kids or not."

"Right back at you." Killua said while stretching his arms. He was wearing a navy blue long sleeved shirt with light gray kung fu pants, a black belt, black kung fu shoes, and a navy blue weapon holster strapped to his right leg. He had gotten the new outfit when Sakura had taken the boys to the shinobi clothing shop the other day.

Gon, too, was wearing a new outfit. He wore a light mint green tank top, green kung fu pants with a black belt as well as black kung fu shoes. He was currently warming up doing leg stretches. "We aren't just kids Kite. We're Pro Hunters."

Kite hummed. "So it seems." He was wearing a dark red long sleeved shirt, a matching hat and brown shoes along with black pants. A brown weapon holster was strapped to his right leg and his katana was sheathed on his left hip. Overall, he looked ready for battle.

As the boys finished stretching, he started speaking again. "I assume Bisky told you what this exam will entail of? I told her everything yesterday." The boys nodded. "Just to clarify, I will go over it once more. The objective is to either remove or destroy at least two of these targets that I have placed on my body." There were four different targets placed on Kite. One on the stomach, one on his back, one on his left shoulder, and the last on the back of his right leg. "But it I were you, I wouldn't just blindly try to go after the targets. That would be too predictable. Treat this like a real battle."

"You can use hand-to-hand combat, weapons, nen, and basically anything in this fight. But so can Kite, someone who has you guys beat in almost every area, if not all. This will definitely not be easy," Bisky chimed in. "But you'd better pass or when we start training again, I'll make it twenty times harder."

If the stakes weren't high enough before, they definitely were now. Not only would failing mean they couldn't be genin yet and Gon would have to put his search for Ging on hold for even longer, but Bisky's training would kill them before they even got the chance to retake the test!

"Don't worry Bisky..." Gon said. "We'll definitely pass!" He got into a ready stance, waiting for Kite to give the signal to start. Killua, too, got in a ready stance, now even more resolved to pass.

Hiruzen hummed. This seemed like it would be an interesting fight.

"Ready..." Kite started. The two boys tensed in anticipation. "...Go!"

In a blur of motion, Kite vanished from their sights.

He appeared behind them and knocked them to the ground.

Gon was the first to recover. He backflipped and dashed at Kite with a cocked back fist.

At the same time, Killua attempted to sweep Kite's legs.

Kite jumped over the sweep and dodged Gon's punch.

He twirled in midair and kicked both Gon and Killua away from him with minimal effort.

Gon was clutching at his face, where Kite had kicked him. There was blood trickling from his nose and a bruise forming on his cheek. Killua had managed to block the kick, but his arms were trembling from the force behind the attack.

"In case you haven't realized, boys..." Kite started. "Being a ninja will not be easy. With being a Hunter, you could somewhat avoid conflict. But as a ninja, one who is assigned missions and can't choose where they go or what they do, there is no avoiding it. Chances are you will end up fighting people stronger and more experienced than you are as well. If you can't even defend yourselves against this basic level of attack, give up. This isn't child's play."

Gon and Killua both looked at Kite with eyes full of determination, particularly Gon's eyes. They both stood up and wordlessly activated their ren.

Hiruzen hummed. "I've only seen Kite-kun do this a few times but... nen is still so beautiful to see," He said to Biscuit.

Biscuit said nothing, just nodded and smiled while watching her students prepare for battle. "Get him boys!"

The boys slowly started walking towards Kite. Gon wiped the blood from his mouth with one arm and Killua began pulling up his shirt sleeves.

"Weren't you listening, Kite?" Gon said.

"We're also Pros." Killua said.

After a moment of slowly walking towards Kite, they both dashed forward with renewed vigor, ready to face this test together.

"DON'T TREAT US LIKE KIDS!"

Chapter 8 End